Chris Jericho says wins and losses are no longer his primary concern as he focuses on helping AEW’s younger talent reach another level.
Speaking on TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, Jericho discussed his approach to working with emerging stars and said that building both AEW and new names has been one of his goals since the company’s earliest days.
“My goal was always to build the company and build and build names from day one, like I just told you, for the Inner Circle and all the stuff that we did.
And, you know, sometimes—most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s just the way it goes sometimes. But if you look at MJF, we literally had an angle for 366 days, a year and a day. Literally.
I would say that was the beginning of MJF’s true ascension to being what he is now, you know? I mean, it really was.
He’d worked with Cody for a bit, which was good, and then we did our thing. So, you know, if you look at any of the guys who are now our basic main event superstars, I mean, when I worked with Will Ospreay at Wembley, he wasn’t even signed to AEW yet. We were hoping to get him to sign. Now he’s a champion.
There you go. Same with Bandido. When I had the first match with Bandido, that was a really great match. He gets signed to AEW. Now he’s a champion, you know, and this is the idea.
I don’t have to win ever again. Sometimes I do because if not, then you’re just losing all the time, which isn’t great for stories. But, you know, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It’s about putting on the best performance and putting on the best match and helping guys or girls find something maybe that they didn’t quite know that was there just yet.
And suddenly, you help. That’s what people did for me.”
Jericho pointed to his lengthy program with MJF as an example, crediting their year-long storyline as an important part of MJF’s rise. He also highlighted his matches with Will Ospreay and Bandido, both of whom went on to sign with AEW and become champions.
For Jericho, the priority at this stage of his career is less about adding victories to his own record and more about delivering strong performances while helping other wrestlers discover something that can elevate their careers.
