Chris Jericho recently appeared on Busted Open Radio and we covered a story just a few days about him discussing AEW having more backstage meetings to cut back on repetition with segments. Jericho also discussed the upcoming Blood & Guts match and said the build to match of this caliber is similar to the build for a WWE Hell in a Cell match.
Jericho said, “It’s one of those things, where you only have a certain amount of time to build such a big match. You have to figure out ‘okay we have three or four weeks to do this.’ How do you do it best? And there’s some suggestions like, okay, maybe Sammy vs. Spears, whoever wins, that team gets the advantage. I was like ‘I don’t want us to even touch each other before Blood and Guts.’ Santana is a great promo, Ortiz is a great promo. Sammy is stumbling in to figure out how to be a great promo with his intensity. And Jake Hager is no slouch either. You might not know him as a promo guy, but he has something to him. You have to give these guys a chance, because it can’t just always be on Jericho and MJF when you have two five man factions. At least for me I won’t do that. I don’t want it to be Jericho and his band of merry men. It’s a five point star, where everyone’s expected to hold up their weight and they’re all wanting to do that.”
Jericho continued to discuss the build to this match, saying “I think this is a great case of building this match up, so much, that you’d pay money to see it on a pay-per-view. We’ve sold more tickets for this match and this show for next week for any other we’ve done post pandemic. I think the rating is going to reflect that as well. People are really excited for this match. Because we’ve made it intense and we’ve made it real in the three to four weeks we’ve had to build it up. I’m a big proponent that the match has to fit the story, not a story just to have a match. For example, Hell in a Cell. ‘Oh we’ve got Hell in a Cell pay per view coming up next month. Let’s put together a three week story and put them in the cell. Then we’ll have a tag team in the cell, we’ll have a women cell, we’ll have a midget cell.’ It’s like, you’re just prostituting this gimmick. For Blood and Guts the story needs to be there first. And for the first time since last March we have this story between these two factions that, right out of the gate, there’s a lot of intensity and a lot of interest. So let’s put it in the Blood and Guts.”
Jericho admitted that the match has a lot to live up to, but is ready for the challenge. He said “So there is a lot to live up to, because a lot of people are saying ‘oh you’re doing it too early.’ We disagree. Why does the Blood and Guts have to happen four months down the line when it really demands to happen now? And trust me; we have a long way to go. There’s a lot of twist and turns in the pipeline between the Inner Circle and the Pinnacle. And I think Blood and Guts, if we do it the way I think we’re going to do it, it’s just going to kick it off at the highest of levels to where people are just going to want to see more and more and more and more.”
Chris Jericho will be a staple in the first ever AEW Blood & Guts match this coming Wednesday on TNT. Credit to Busted Open Radio for the interview and big thanks to Wrestling Inc. for providing transcriptions.
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