Chris Jericho believes that wrestling characters and storylines have helped catapult the industry to new heights once again.
Following turbulent years of bland storytelling and characters that failed to connect with the audience at home, multiple promotions have found their spark once more with the likes of Roman Reigns, Rhea Ripley, MJF and Toni Storm captivating fans with their promo work along with their matches. With stars given more creative freedom and the ability to be more authentic, this has been reflected in the wider world as wrestling has entered another boom period and fan interest is at an all-time high.
Appearing on KCAL News Jericho, who recently unveiled his latest character The Learning Tree, detailed how wrestling is unique as like sports it needs to be viewed live and how the stars of the show can have a positive impact if they can make that connection:
“It’s the characters and it’s the stories. It’s live sports. In this day and age, it’s kind of the most valuable entity. It’s the one thing people still watch and don’t stream. You mentioned the NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs or AEW Dynamite – it’s live, it’s happening right here, right now. So you want to be a part of it. You don’t wanna really go watch it the next day when you find out what’s gonna happen.
I think that keeps it very valuable. But wrestling’s always been about characters and about engaging people with stories. If you can connect with the fans then you’ll always interest them and they’ll always wanna come be a part of what you’re doing, come see and watch you.”
Chris Jericho Discusses Likelihood Of Major WWE Star Joining AEW
With All Elite Wrestling being the second biggest promotion in the United States, many former WWE stars have since gone on to sign with the company such as Adam Cole, Adam Copeland and Bryan Danielson. With Becky Lynch yet to sign a new deal with WWE at the time of writing, Chris Jericho discussed how likely it would be that The Man became All Elite.
In a separate interview, Chris Jericho recalled a hilarious interaction with Tom Brady.
H/t to SEScoops.