Chris Jericho Compares Recent AEW Betrayal To Classic WWE Raw Segment

Chris Jericho says his betrayal at the hands of Don Callis “mirrored” a classic segment on WWE Raw.

During his near two-decade career in WWE, Jericho was part of many fondly-remembered moments, but the one he is most proud of is the ‘Festival Of Friendship’ on the February 13, 2017 edition of Raw that saw his partnership with Kevin Owens come to a dramatic end.

At the time, the pair had been allies for weeks, with Jericho helping Owens defend the Universal Championship. However, things turned sour when Jericho accepted a title match with Goldberg on Owens’ behalf, leading to KO brutally attacking him in a segment that was meant to reaffirm their friendship.

Speaking on the latest edition of Superstar Crossover, Jericho claimed the segment was one of the greatest in Raw history, explaining it was influenced by both David Lee Roth and Game of Thrones.

“I say that completely un-egotistically. I wanted that segment to start off like an ’80s David Lee Roth video and end like the Red Wedding from Game Of Thrones, where you’re just like, ‘No, don’t do it, don’t do it.’ I had to fight for that, I had to fight for it a lot.”

One of the people he had to fight to get the storyline approved was Triple H, but a message from Vince McMahon himself soon ended any protests.

“Vince [McMahon] was actually not there that day so I texted Vince and he was on a plane and he’s like, ‘Well, what’s the problem? We are doing it just like we said we were going to do it.’ I was like, okay, ‘There’s the evidence.’ Show the phone, everyone shut your ass, shut the f*** up.”

Jericho said he had wanted the scene to be like something from a horror movie, where the audience could see what was about to happen but he was oblivious until it was too late.

He also noted that he used the same idea for his betrayal by Don Callis in AEW, where the Hidden Hand seemed about to accept Jericho into his ‘Family’ before unveiling a painting of him holding Jericho’s severed head and setting Will Ospreay on The Ocho.

“I think that’s why it worked so well it was such a great betrayal moment. We kind of mirrored that with Don Callis with the painting, and I thought that worked really well too.”

Chris Jericho set to continue Don Callis feud at AEW WrestleDream

Jericho and Callis are still at loggerheads today, and a new chapter in their feud will take place at AEW WrestleDream on October 1st. There, Jericho will team up with Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi to take on Callis Family members Konosuke Takeshita, Will Ospreay, and another man who turned on him, Sammy Guevara.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.