Steve Austin reveals Vince McMahon's reaction to Chris Jericho's return to WWE programming
WWE recently dropped a bombshell by revealing former AEW Champion Chris Jericho as the next guest on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions. Austin has shed some light on how the whole thing came together, and he addressed whether or not Vince McMahon was hesitant to have Y2J appear on the show.
Chris Jericho is best known for his time in WWE where he held multiple championships and feuded with many top stars. He captured his first WWE Championship by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin at Vengeance in 2001, the same night he defeated The Rock to win the WCW World Championship. Jericho and Austin will come face-to-face once again on the next episode of Broken Skull Sessions.
According to Sports Illustrated, Stone Cold Steve Austin came up with the idea for Chris Jericho to appear on the show. The Rattlesnake sent Vince McMahon a text asking for his approval and the WWE Chairman gave him the thumbs up:
“I was having a beer one night after my Broken Skull Sessions interview with The Undertaker aired, and out of the blue, Chris Jericho reached out and said, ‘Man, that was a great interview' ... I sent him back a couple of those emojis, one of a beer mug and the other of an eagle, and then he called me right then and there."
“I texted Vince and said we had this badass idea about Jericho coming on the show ... Vince goes, ‘It’s cool. Go ahead.’ But me and Vince don’t always do well with phones and texts and all that, so I texted one more time, ‘Are you sure it’s OK to have Chris Jericho on the show?’ Vince gave me the thumbs up, and Chris came out to do the show.”
The report also states that AEW President Tony Khan gave Jericho permission to appear on the WWE-produced show.
Stone Cold Steve Austin reveals why he wanted Chris Jericho as a guest on the WWE Network series
Stone Cold Steve Austin was the driving force of WWE during the Attitude Era, and the same applies to Chris Jericho for AEW. Both men have tremendous respect for each other and it's a win for both companies, especially WWE, whose Network content recently made the move to the Peacock streaming service. Steve Austin added,
“Having someone from there on a WWE show, especially the caliber of Chris Jericho, is pretty damn cool. Chris spent almost 20 years in WWE. When you talk about best runs in the history of the business, Chris Jericho’s name is going to come up.”
“He’s a worker’s worker and a student of the game. Think about all the holy s--- moments he’s had in his matches, or how he can light up a place on the microphone. Chris is one of the biggest personalities in the world, he’s the real deal.”
“We go into everything. Jericho is one of the all-time greats, and it’s going to be cool to have someone from AEW on a WWE show. To bottom line it, I’m excited for people to watch this show.”
Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions featuring AEW's Chris Jericho will air on Peacock in the US and internationally on the WWE Network on April 11th, 2021.