Chris Jericho was arguably AEW's biggest draw when the company was established in 2019. However, he soon got a reputation for attaching himself to younger stars, typically picking up wins over them under the guise of getting those wrestlers "over."
As the years have passed and the trend continued, a narrative has been created about Jericho leeching off AEW's up-and-comers to keep himself relevant.
Deserved or not, it's resulted in AEW fans turning on the one-time fan favourite.
However, for Jericho, his new gimmick is all about poking fun at those same fans. "It’s amazing. When you have been in the business as long as I have, 33 years, you always wanna evolve and revamp your character," he says in the video below. "Kind of get some diversity with what you're doing."
"So I think reestablishing myself under this Leaning Tree gives you a new vibe, reinvigorates you, and keeps things fresh and fun."
Jericho went on to address his controversial decision to change the FTW Championship to the "For The World" title despite its history as being the "F**k The World" title.
"The one thing about wrestling, and it's very important, is you have to understand the concepts of being a good guy and, when it starts getting stale, of being a bad guy. It's kind of like when people say, 'It's like a soap opera.' In that way, it is a soap opera. You're a good guy, and then suddenly something happens, and then you don't like 'em for a while. You have to be able to read the room on that and know when people hate you."
"People are really not liking me right now so it's time to kind of change. And that's ok, that's the beauty of wrestling, you can just lean into it. I take great pride in kind of making people angry with things cause that's what you want to do. You're playing a character. When Chris Jericho comes on screen in AEW, it's different from the Chris Jericho you're talking to right now. That's the way it should be. A larger-than-life character is kind of what wrestling is all about, and I embrace that wholly."
The best possible move right now would be for Jericho to return to WWE. However, he's expected to remain with AEW for the foreseeable future and seems to have little interest in going back to his former home.