Chris Jericho Credits Social Media For Influencing AEW Gimmick
Chris Jericho is using the hate that he receives on social media as something that helps him while he portrays “The Learning Tree” in AEW.
Throughout his 30+ year career as a pro wrestler, Chris Jericho has been known as a master of reinvention. That’s because Jericho has spent a lot of time in different roles whether he was a good guy getting cheered heavily or a bad guy who is hated by the fans.
In recent months, Jericho has transformed himself to become the FTW Champion known as “The Learning Tree.” While Jericho remains the FTW Champion, he also leads a group consisting of Big Bill and Bryan Keith.
While talking to Sports Illustrated, Jericho said that The Learning Tree group started because of the reaction Jericho was getting from online wrestling fans.
“I’m a big proponent of letting the story lead you, not the other way around. That allows me to evolve. The whole Learning Tree is taking negativity from social media and getting a reaction out of it. That’s what wrestling is all about–getting people to react to what you’re doing. There’s a serious side, too–look at the vicious beatdowns we’ve given Samoa Joe and Hook and [Katsuyori] Shibata.”
That babyface of Hook, Samoa Joe, and Katsuyori Shibata have all been taken out by Jericho’s group in recent months although Shibata and Hook have returned to television.
Chris Jericho Has No Interest in Being A Nostalgia Act
As he continued, Jericho spoke about how he didn’t want to be a nostalgia act or just rest on his laurels based on what he had done earlier in his career.
“It’s something I made a career out of, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve been doing it for so long at the highest of levels, which makes some people mad. This is what I do. I’ve never wanted to be a nostalgia act, I’ve never wanted to rest on my laurels. I’ve also never been afraid to take chances and do something different, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
In the same interview, Chris Jericho also praised current AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland while also taking a shot at WWE for releasing Swerv in the prime of his career.