Chris Jericho Issues Challenge To Fans Over AEW’s ‘Jericho Vortex’
Chris Jericho has hit out at fans who accuse him of dragging other AEW stars down.
Although he started as one of the hottest stars in AEW due to his position as one of the best-known stars in the fledgling company, in recent years Chris Jericho has been the subject of criticism from fans. This is in no small part due to the perception that other wrestlers he works with go on to achieve little after they leave what fans have dubbed the “Jericho Vortex.” Jericho played into the idea when he started The Learning Tree, antagonising fans by referring to allies like Big Bill and Brian Keith as being in that vortex.
In the past Chris Jericho has accepted that there will always be people who “hate him,” but In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, he has addressed the criticism head-on, arguing that everyone he’s worked with reached a higher level.
“I always love the concept of the Jericho Vortex and how anybody that works with me gets dragged down. Name one. Name one person that got dragged down from working with me. Maybe afterwards they didn’t go higher, but that’s not up to me. I’m not in charge of booking the entire company. All I can do is influence the storylines that I work on. But everybody that I can think of who worked with me certainly went to a higher level.
Jericho went on to name MJF, Sammy Guevara, and Daniel Garcia as stars who he believed have benefited from their programmes with him.
“I did a year with MJF and look where he’s at, Danny Garcia, Sammy Guevara, Daddy Magic last week comes off of commentary and gets a big pop. Who do you think put him in that position? All of those guys. I mean, I think Big Bill and Bryan Keith have grown by leaps and bounds from working here with me. I’m not going to go through the entire cast of characters, but I definitely know what my intentions are, and it’s not to bury anybody. It’s to build as many people as I can and give them experience so they can learn how to start shouldering things on their own.”
Chris Jericho Does Not Book His AEW Storylines
During the same interview, Chris Jericho revealed that Tony Khan is behind all of his AEW storylines. While The Nueve says he makes suggestions about things he would like to do or improvements to storylines, ultimately, Khan is his boss, and he does what he is told to.
H/T to ITR Wrestling for the above transcription.