Chris Jericho recently celebrated his 30th anniversary in the wrestling business, but that was marked by his new home, All Elite Wrestling, rather than WWE. The "Demo God" certainly ruffled a lot of feathers by signing with the company, and now plays a huge role in Dynamite beating NXT in the ratings most weeks.
In an interview with Busted Open Radio, Jericho shared his thoughts on what he brings to AEW and the ratings raw which has ensued between the two companies over the past year or so.
"It’s hard to say this without sounding egotistical. I’m not saying this from a place of ego. I’m talking from a place of fact. It really did change the business," Jericho explained. "When I signed with AEW, it was the equivalent of when Bobby Hull signed with the WHA in 1972. He was the biggest star in the NHL and when he left to go to this new upstart league, everybody in the NHL got a raise including my dad, Ted Irvine, and a big one because they didn’t want to lose any other players. That’s what happened with me."
"The day I signed with AEW, everybody in the WWE got a raise," he continued. "Finally, the guys were making money, but still not what they should get in some cases, but still more than they got a whole lot more than what they were getting. I think if those guys think about it, they all owe me a steak dinner because they are all making double what they were making all because Vince didn’t want them to go to AEW. He didn’t give a sh*t about their talent level or what they were doing or who they were. It became a real war at that point more than there has ever been."
"But all this could have been avoided by Vince if you think about it, but he was the one that kind of allowed me to go and now look where we are a year later. We are kicking their ass and if there wasn’t NXT on a Wednesday, and it’s only there to stop our momentum. They don’t care about their own show," Jericho claimed. "They care only about stopping our momentum. We would be getting close to RAW ratings on certain nights."
Jericho isn't wrong, and Vince McMahon must realise he made a big mistake by letting Jericho go. It's done wonders for Le Champion's career, however, and his point about NXT being on Wednesday nights just to hurt Dynamite is correct, especially as the WWE show recently did much better on a Tuesday!
Check out the full interview below: