Chris Jericho has opened up about working under AEW President Tony Khan and explained why he believes wrestlers ultimately have a responsibility to deliver what their boss wants.
Speaking on TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, Jericho recalled an occasion when he and Samoa Joe disagreed with an idea Khan wanted them to incorporate into an AEW match.
“You work together to create the best possible match you can. I remember I was working with Samoa Joe once in AEW, and Tony wanted something that neither one of us felt. We basically said, ‘Maybe we should think about it,’ or whatever. And Tony, you could tell, he just was very—not disappointed, but he very much wanted us to do this.
The moment he left the room, Joe and I looked at each other like, ‘All right, how are we going to make it work?’ We had a conversation. We had to reshuffle the deck and move this there, move this there, get rid of this, and add this. Then we went back and told Tony, and he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s so great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.’
He’s happy, and we’re going to make it great. It’s completely different from what we originally wanted to do, but he’s the f*cking boss. He’s the one who tells us what he wants. And if you don’t like it, you go make $8 billion and start your own wrestling company.
And that’s what a pro does. That’s what you do. And it’s not always the way you want it. But I’m not the boss.”
Jericho’s example highlighted the collaborative process behind AEW matches, with himself and Joe ultimately finding a way to incorporate Khan’s request while restructuring their original plans around it.
For Jericho, that willingness to adapt is part of being a professional, even when the finished product differs significantly from what the wrestlers initially envisioned.
