Chris Jericho comments on wrestling outside of AEW; reveals how Tony Khan truly feels about it
Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho managed to venture out of AEW at the start of the year to wrestle for a company that he always wanted to work for, but what did Tony Khan think of it?
On January 8th, 2023, "The Ocho" and the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society made a surprise appearance at the Battle of Los Angeles event for California-based promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Jericho's group already has a close association with PWG, as Daniel Garcia has reigned as the company's champion since May 2022, as well as winning the annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament in January 2022.
Chris Jericho is in #PWG!!!! #bola2023 https://t.co/vNigvKSwG0
Speaking on his "Talk is Jericho" podcast, Chris Jericho opened up about how the surprise appearance came about. The former AEW World Champion also expressed that he had always wanted to wrestle at a PWG event.
"Excalibur and I had spoken about it months ago. After a show, we were having some drinks and I was like ‘Yeah sure, I’d like to do PWG. Let’s try and figure it out sometime.’ Then, about a month or so ago, Danny [Garcia] mentioned that he’s in BOLA and that there’s always this tournament. He said ‘Why don’t you and Sammy come and we’ll do the six man.’ I was like ‘Why don’t we make it the whole gang, all eight of us and do like a ten man, but still have Anna and Tay and Jake on the outside with us as well.’ I think that was kinda the cool part was that the entire group showed up." (H/T Fightful)
Chris Jericho even stated that AEW President Tony Khan was extremely excited about the appearance once he brought it up. The Ocho also referenced The Elite's appearances at smaller promotions as an example of how to do it well.
"Once I suggested it to Tony Khan, he was super excited about it. When we first started AEW, I think the Bucks did a few of these [types of shows] and I think Kenny and I showed up at a small indie in Georgia. Not to have a match, but I think I did a run in. We were kinda like the new company that was just showing up wherever we wanted to and we kinda had this street credit because of it. I felt like this kinda took us back to that. No one’s gonna expect this and everyone’s gonna be talking about it. So no matter what we do in this match, it doesn’t matter because they’re going to be going nuts because it’s such a cool surprise.” (H/T Fightful)
When was the last time Chris Jericho wrestled on an independent show?
Chris Jericho's appearance at a PWG event isn't the first time that The Ocho has been allowed to venture out into the world of the independents. He was also able to do so while part of the WWE roster.
Jericho featured on the Gary Albright Memorial Show in April 2000, a show held by World Xtreme Wrestling to commemorate the late wrestler who died of a heart attack in January of that year.
Many wrestlers from WWE were allowed to appear on the show, with Chris Jericho being one of them as he took on Eddie Guerrero, with Y2J picking up the win. WWE performers such as Rikishi, The Headbangers and Scotty 2 Hotty appeared, with The Rock even providing a video message to open the show.
What other wrestlers do you know that appeared on independent events while under contract? Let us know in the comments section down below!