Chris Jericho's backstage reaction to intense fan criticism and memes mocking him - Reports
Chris Jericho was given tremendous heat by AEW fans. The legendary Canadian is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-round grapplers in the world, and new leaked backstage details on recent crowd reactions may have backed up those G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all Time) claims.
The Learning Tree has been praised for various aspects of his career, but he is often singled out for the ability to reinvent his character throughout his 34-year career. Jericho has succeeded at making the back-and-forth turn from babyface to heel numerous times.
The 53-year-old added another title to his list at the inaugural AEW Dynasty pay-per-view last month as he defeated Hook for the FTW Championship. The match was held under FTW Rules and went just over 17 minutes.
Jericho was met with heavy heat from the fans at Dynasty, which included "Go home Jericho, go home!" and "Please retire!" chants. The negative reactions seemed to pick up after he won the title, and now a new report from Fightful Select shows how the inaugural AEW World Champion anticipated the reactions.
AEW sources and people close to Jericho reported that the Dynasty crowd reactions played out almost exactly as he had laid it out to them in the week before the pay-per-view. However, the changes to the FTW Championship were not expected by many. Jericho's alterations to the title came as a surprise to many in AEW, including Taz. The belt being used in AEW is the original FTW belt from ECW.
The "Jericho Vortex" was a backstage topic of discussion recently, with several wrestlers wondering who smartened The Demo God up to the phrase. This is an online joke about people getting sucked into feuding with or working with Chris Jericho.
Since winning the FTW Championship, Chris Jericho has defended the title once. He retained over Katsuyori Shibata on the May 1 edition of Dynamite.
Chris Jericho's AEW Double Or Nothing opponent
All Elite Wrestling will present its sixth annual Double Or Nothing pay-per-view next weekend. Chris Jericho is set to defend the FTW Championship on pay-per-view for the first time.
Jericho won the title from Hook at Dynasty in April. This week's Dynamite is scheduled to feature a Three-Way Eliminator with Hook, Katsuyori Shibata, and Bryan Keith, with the winner being named the new number-one contender to face Jericho at Double Or Nothing.
Hook defeated Johnny TV on AEW Collision to qualify for the Eliminator. Shibata defeated Rocky Romero, and Keith qualified by defeating Beefcake Boulder.