If you haven’t heard by now, AEW won the first night of the Wednesday Night Wars by getting 1.4 million viewers while NXT only drew 891,000.
To the surprise of many, WWE sent out a statement congratulating the competition on their success for their debut episode; however, AEW World Champion sees right through the company’s game and actually blasts WWE for trying to start a war that AEW didn’t want in the first place (transcript courtesy of fightful.com)
“They're embarrassed. I know how they work. I haven't seen the actual rating, but I'm assuming they what it is, and I think we probably kicked their ass," said Jericho on
Complex. "They started this. Everything that they’ve done has been a reactionary move to us. We’re not in a war with anybody besides ourselves. I don’t care if you resurrect John [Lennon] and George [Harrison], and it’s the reunion of The Beatles at the Super Bowl or whatever. All that matters is our show. You can put anything up against us, and we can’t compete with that. We can compete with what we’re doing.”
Jericho continued,
“They kinda started this war, and the very first night they got destroyed. Big deal, it’s our first debut, great. But they have to come back and say, ‘It’s a marathon and not a one-night sprint.’ Whoever said it’s a one-night sprint? It’s not a war for us. Now, we’re placed in one, and we’re gonna kick ass because we’re gonna do what we do very, very well. There’s a little bit of an arrogance towards us that’s now gone."
Next week’s show should be very interesting to see whether AEW can maintain this momentum. At the moment, Jon Moxley vs. Shawn Spears, and the first round of the tag team tournament match between Private Party and The Young Bucks are confirmed for the show.