Chris Jericho has been an important part of quite a few new match types that have been introduced in All Elite Wrestling.
Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho was the latest guest on AEW Unrestricted with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about all the first-time matches he’s had in All Elite Wrestling that have helped the company stand out, Jericho credits his past for paving the way for the future.
“Well, I mean, look where it came from, right? Even WCW, but it wasn’t the same Starrcade and The Great American Bash. I came from Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble; you know those. Survivor Series, we’ve known those since we were kids. Those are the four pay-per-views. Money in the Bank. I named that.
“So it’s funny when I think back to — we talked about the Orange Cassidy feud earlier. Like we were doing everything we could just to keep the plates spinning, keep the lights on and keep people entertained and haters talk about Mimosa Mayhem. That match was so much fun, and also it fit. It fit that feud. It was a great blowoff to the feud, and it fit! So you can bag on it till the cows come home.
“To me, I remember after the match is done, everybody wanted to be in a Mimosa Mayhem. The Bucks were like, ‘We had no idea what the hell you guys were gonna do. That looks so much fun.’ So it’s like everything once again. Let the story lead you, and give it a name that you can put a tagline to. Stadium Stampede, I think that might even have been Cody’s. But Anarchy in the Arena, I think Tony originally wanted to make it a Blood and Guts, and Mox is like it’s not a Blood and Guts; it’s different.
“I remember he was thinking Gang Warfare. And we’re thinking maybe that’s too cliche. It’s anarchy, and it’s like a Stadium Stampede in an arena. Okay, let’s go with Anarchy in the Arena. It’s a little bit different. And it was it. None of us knew what the hell to expect, and that thing was great. It was a great match. It was just completely, absolutely f*cking insane. But we didn’t know, I remember once again walking into that empty Arena in Vegas with the ten of us, and there’s not even chairs set up. There’s no ring, and just like, what are we going to do?
“Same thing with Stadium Stampede; we walk into an empty giant stadium. There’s no template for this match. What are we going to do? Well, let’s put a ring in there, and then all of us can start in the ring, and we’ll do a tackle drop-down leapfrog just so people can say there’s some wrestling content, and that’s funny. Now what? I don’t know what. There’s a pool there, and maybe some guys go to the pool.
“Matt Jackson is like, I want to jump off at the crossbar, and some of us walk over here. There’s a bar; why don’t Jake and Hangman have a bar fight? They seem like they’d be bar fighters. What else have we got? So all that stuff, and then you just kind of start putting it together. Anarchy in the Arena was the same, Blood and Guts is the same. So that’s the beauty of it. Like there’s so much creativity going on.
“And we’ve created so many matches once again that we had to create. If you want to make a play set of Blood and Guts, you can, or Mimosa Mayhem, you can. Or whatever and need that identity to establish that your company is different from any other company. Which I think is very important, and it looks like we’ve done that.”
READ MORE: Tony Khan: It’s Scary How Good Chris Jericho Is Right Now, He Has Found The Fountain Of Youth
What do you make of Chris Jericho’s comments? Did you enjoy matches like Mimosa Mayhem and Stadium Stampede? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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