Chris Jericho Says No Real War with AEW and WWE
Written by SOURCE on October 4, 2019
Less than 24 hours after being a part of All Elite Wrestling‘s premiere episode of Dynamite on TNT—on which they more than delivered—current AEW World Champion (and Hot Ones alum) Chris Jericho stopped by for a special edition of Life at Complex. While the full interview (which will be up in the very near future) discussed everything from Jericho’s evolution as a pro wrestler to his work with Fozzy and his extracurriculars in the world of film and music, the conversation kicked off with a discussion on the “Wednesday Night War” that many have been waiting to see between AEW’s Dynamite show and the WWE’s NXT program, which moved to the USA Network, going head-to-head with Dynamite.
At the time, the ratings for both shows—which show that AEW won the night, 1.4 million viewers to NXT’s 891,000 viewers in their first night of head-to-head competition—weren’t made available, although a statement from the WWE had been released, saying “Congratulations to AEW on a successful premiere. The real winners of last night’s head-to-head telecasts of NXT on USA Network and AEW on TNT are the fans, who can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint.”
In response to asking Jericho about the statement, he quickly noted that the WWE was “embarrassed.”
“I know how they work,” Jericho continued, noting that while (at the time) he hadn’t seen the actual rating, he assumed they knew what it was and that AEW “kicked their ass.”
Later, he said “they started this. Everything that they’ve done has been reactionary to us. We’re not in a war with anybody besides ourselves…all that matters is our show.”
Jericho notes that “they kinda started this war, and the very first night they got destroyed. Big deal, it’s our first debut, but they have to come back and say ‘it’s a marathon and not a one-night sprint.’ Who’s ever 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.”
Check out the full clip up above for Jericho’s comments on the first night of AEW and NXT’s head-to-head “war,” and keep it locked for the full Life at Complex interview with Jericho via Complex on YouTube.
