Chris Jericho has looked back on the massive gamble he and AEW as a whole took in 2019.
At the start of 2019, Jericho, some of the biggest names not signed with WWE and stars of the future got together in a parking lot with Tony Khan and laid out their mission to offer wrestling fans a new promotion. With the financial backing of Tony Khan, All Elite Wrestling became a reality and established itself quickly as the second-largest promotion in the United States.
The first-ever AEW World Champion was very aware that he was taking a huge risk when departing a guaranteed job at WWE to go to a promotion that had no guarantees, but the people around him gave him the confidence that he had made the right decision.
Speaking with Allison Hagendorf, Jericho acknowledged that he could have taken the safe option but instead wanted to make an impact:
“Probably leaving WWE to go with AEW. We didn’t even have TV at the time. Just my boss, Tony Khan, had a lot of passion, and he had the money for it, and we had a roster of guys that I felt could do something.”
“When I got involved, we were able to get on TBS and kind of went from there. So I just think it was one of those things where I thought, ‘I’ve done all I can do in WWE, and I can stay here, but I don’t want to just stay here. I don’t want to just be a guy. Let’s try and change history. Let’s make wrestling a better industry.’”
Jericho continued by looking back on the longevity of All Elite Wrestling as many critics did not believe that the new promotion would last for more than a year:
“And we’ve done that because now there’s a viable second company that people can work at and fans can watch. But it was a real risk, man, because WWE had such a monopoly for so many years. For us to come in there and get such a great demo and a great fanbase out of the gate is something I don’t think anybody really expected.”
“They thought we’d be dead and gone in six months.”
Chris Jericho Wants To Keep Surprising People
Le Champion has constantly reinvented himself to remain relevant with the fans and not let an existing iteration go stale. Looking to diversify once again, Chris Jericho has revealed aspirations to perform on a Broadway stage.
H/t to TJR Wrestling.