AEW star Chris Jericho has spent decades in the world of professional wrestling, beginning his career in 1990 and working around the world in Mexico and Japan as well as the United States and Canada.
In 1995, Jericho began wrestling for Extreme Championship Wrestling under the leadership of Paul Heyman, working there until going to WCW in August of 1996. His final ECW appearance came against 2 Cold Scorpio at The Doctor is In on August 3rd, and during a recent interview with fellow All Elite star Renee Paquette on The Sessions, he revealed that none other than future AEW President Tony Khan was in the audience for his final bout in the promotion.
“[Khan] loved ECW. My last match in ECW, Tony Khan was in the crowd watching. He was like 14 or 15. He had done really well in school or his parents had put him in some school — some high IQ school that he didn’t really want to go to — and his dad said, ‘If you go to this school, I’ll let you do anything you want. He wanted to come see Chris Jericho’s last match in ECW which was August of ’96, I think it was.
“So he is there. You can see him. It’s me versus 2 Cold Scorpio, and you can see Tony Khan. If you pause it, you can circle him and he’s right there.” (h/t WrestlingInc)
“He’s One Of The Most Valuable People In Wrestling” – Tony Khan On Chris Jericho
During a 2021 interview with The Dan Le Batard Show, Khan opened up about his relationship with Jericho, saying that he’s been invaluable to All Elite Wrestling since its inception.
“Jericho has been a great investment. Chris is one of the all-time great wrestlers and still one of the great wrestlers today and also one of the greatest minds in wrestling. In addition to being in some of the most famous matches in AEW like the Stadium Stampede or his title win over Hangman Page or defending the title against Cody Rhodes or losing the title to Jon Moxley, the Blood & Guts match, Chris has been in a lot of big matches in AEW.
“He’s also, with his mind, helped me organize AEW. He’s brought in great names, helped with story ideas. He’s one of the most valuable people in wrestling. I was very fortunate to be linked up with Chris.” (h/t Fightful)