“How could you Mess up Jake Hager”- Chris Jericho Takes a Dig at WWE

AEW Superstar Chris Jericho recently sat down with Adam Wilbourn of Whatculture and spoke about his career in AEW. The WWE veteran dove into the two decades that he spent as a pro-wrestler in the promotion.

He spoke extensively about how AEW was different from WWE, and how he enjoyed working at the relatively new promotion.

Jericho was asked about AEW’s success, and if he had anticipated it.

“I didn’t anticipate it would get so big so quickly. I knew we had a chance to become a huge entity in pro-wrestling. It all happened basically in a few months. I just like being able to tell these stories, like wow, we have total freedom in AEW to entertain, and give people a viable option, an alternative to WWE.”

Also Read – Chris Jericho Reveals WWE Backstage Secrets

Jericho addressed the elephant in the room, AEW’s competition with WWE. He had an interesting perspective on the matter.

“Are we competition [to WWE]? Of course, by proxy, but we don’t think of it that way. We’re just doing our thing and want to give people an alternative, something different in what wrestling is supposed to be. And in our world, it’s about letting the artists be artists, be as creative as you can, and let’s do it!”

Chris Jericho has never been freer

Jericho then spoke about how much creative freedom he had in AEW, and how it was better for artists and wrestlers like him. He opened up about something he had done in AEW recently, and how he would never be allowed to be so open-minded in  WWE.

“I did something last night, that I came up with at 6 o’clock that night. The show starts at 8, and in WWE, there’s no way that would happen. It would have to go through 10 heads of stage to get approvals and blah blah blah.

“I had the idea, I told Tony Khan my idea, and 10 minutes later we’re doing it. That’s what being creative is all about. There’s no time limit on being creative,” explained Jericho.

Since signing with AEW, Jericho has always been vocal about how refreshing the new promotion is. He had made it a point not to compete with WWE directly, but in fact, give fans a different kind of entertainment from pro-wrestling.

“So for me, AEW has been very liberating, and it’s reinvigorating my love for wrestling,” admits Jericho.

The 20-year veteran spoke about how former WWE performers have blossomed into bonafide superstars in AEW. He spoke about Jon Moxley (who Jericho will fight soon) and Brodie Lee, and how they became completely different, once AEW figured out how to use him.

“Look at Moxley now, compared to what he was in WWE. It’s a different guy, not the same. Look at Brodie Lee. They wouldn’t even put him on TV, now he’s headlining pay-per-views and kicking ass while doing it.”

Another notable Superstar Jericho spoke about was  Jake Hager. Jake went under the name ‘Jack Swagger’ in the WWE, and was severely under-utilized as a performer. Swagger had a small reign as Heavyweight Champion, but nothing beyond that. Jericho spoke about how badly WWE used Jake in that case.

“I always knew what Jake Hager could do, and they didn’t let him do that in WWE. And now, he’s our killer. He’s bearing the sh*t outta everybody, he looks good and he’s big, like, how could you mess up Jake Hager in the pro wrestling business.”

Jericho opened up about his career and stated that he was apprehensive about wrestling on, until AEW. He is reportedly much more comfortable and wants to ride out his career in AEW.

“I’m not bagging on them [WWE], but they do things differently from AEW. I wanna do things like AEW till the end of my career.”

Jericho clearly is in a good spot with AEW. His recent performances in the promotion have been excellent, and we may have more to come soon enough.