Chris Jericho Reveals the Biggest Difference Between WWE and AEW

Leaving WWE was a crucial step for Chris Jericho. Time and again, Y2J reiterated that he was leaving in pursuit of more creative freedom.. Another reason for Y2J to leave the WWE was the treatment of its talent.

WWE has had a long history of ill treatment towards their employees. Granted, some wrestlers are treated like royalty, but some are treated like dirt. Off-screen and on-screen, WWE’s wrestlers are always at the mercy of the company that pays them the big bucks.

Chris Jericho had a very special guest

Former Democratic Presidential Candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang revealed his feeling towards wrestlers’ treatment in the WWE. He made an appearance on Chris Jericho’s ‘Talk is Jericho’ podcast, as reported by Wrestlinginc. Andrew Yang announced his run for the Office of the President in 2017, but had to bow out of the race in 2020.

He said, “I’m friendly now with a number of performers, and they message me. That’s how I got this contract and other things. They’re sick of the bulls–t, but there’s no way they can actually raise their hand and be like, ‘hey Vince, this is messed up’ because of the power dynamic. It’s so uneven.”

Chris Jericho explains the difference between WWE and AEW

Jericho went on to describe how differently AEW and WWE treat their Superstars. “The biggest difference is kind of what we’ve been talking about this whole conversation is that WWE treats the business as a wrestling business because that’s what it’s been for 60 years from Vince’s father and Vince’s grandfather.”

Vince took over from his father, Vince Senior, and united all the American promotions under one global wrestling juggernaut, the World Wrestling Federation (now Entertainment). AEW is a result of the independent scene that Vince’s son-in-law Triple H is trying to consolidate. Many wrestlers like Jon Moxley (in above picture) jumped ship to AEW because of their treatment in WWE.

“AEW treats things from a sports team perspective. The Khan family owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. They own Fulham Football Club in England. So they treat the company like they treat their football team, and that’s a whole different vibe as how the talent,” said Jericho describing exactly how AEW treat their talent.

Andrew Yang praises AEW

Yang went on to praise All Elite Wrestling for the treatment of their wrestlers. “I have natural sympathies for AEW because it seems like the scrappy upstart that is more sensitive to how talent gets treated trying to go against the goliath or juggernaut in the form of WWE,” said Yang.

He believes AEW’s representation as an alternative to WWE, thus working hard to overtake it, makes him like AEW more.