Chris Jericho: ‘I don’t demand to be on every show every week’

More than 30 years into his career, Chris Jericho is still wrestling because of the creative fulfillment it brings.

Jericho joined Chris Van Vliet for a conversation on the latest episode of Insight. The 54-year-old AEW star said that, at this point in his life, he’s not wrestling for the money. He keeps going because he loves wrestling and the fulfillment it brings him. Addressing criticism he’s received, Jericho said he doesn’t demand to be on every AEW show every week — Tony Khan books him because of the value that he brings.

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. I mean, 34 years. And listen, I always laugh when people will say like, ‘Do you still love it?’ If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it. I’m not doing it for money at this point. It’s the creative fulfillment, there’s a challenge. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t demand to be on every show every week. It’s like, my boss books me for shows because of what I bring to the table. And still enjoying it and still really working on how can we make things better, and how can we do more storylines, and what can I do this week that was different from last week,” Jericho said.

“So yeah, I do love wrestling still. Especially now, I think probably from a financial standpoint, as a business, I think wrestling is the biggest it’s ever been. Maybe not from a complete ratings standpoint, but things have changed. Ratings don’t mean as much as they used to, and selling tickets in buildings don’t mean as much as they used to, because there’s so much money in television alone, and that’s never been that way before. It’s just ridiculous amounts of money towards the companies now, because of the popularity and because of the ratings that wrestling draws.”

Jericho said he still reads fan criticism on the internet, but he doesn’t read it as much as he used to and doesn’t put as much stock into it as he did 10-15 years ago. How the live crowd reacts and how the show does in the ratings are the most important things to Jericho. He believes he’s doing a good job as a heel with the way fans are responding to him.

“It’s funny how I’ve become kind of public enemy number one — as a heel, by the way. Isn’t that kind of the idea? Aren’t you supposed to be public enemy number one as a heel? Aren’t you supposed to not like somebody’s character when that character is a heel? Maybe I’m actually smarter than everyone and I’m manipulating people to what I want them to do. ‘Well, f*ck off, just retire already.’ It’s like, ok, doesn’t that make you mad? Because what I look at is the ratings, and nine times out of 10 my segments always go up, and they’re still some of the biggest ones on the show,” Jericho said. “So that tells me that whatever it is that I’m doing is working. But I do have a target on my back for that, and that’s once again kind of the idea. It’s like, I am a bad guy on the show. So, yeah, it’s public opinion. And it goes in cycles. And when you’ve been in the business as long as I have, especially at the top level, that makes people mad.

“I always love the concept of the ‘Jericho Vortex’ and how anybody that works with me gets dragged down. Name one. Name one person that got dragged down from working with me. Maybe afterwards they didn’t go higher, but that’s not up to me. I’m not in charge of booking the entire company. All I can do is influence the storylines that I work on. But everybody that I can think of that worked with me certainly went to a higher level. I did a year with MJF and look where he’s at, to Danny Garcia, to Sammy Guevara, to Daddy Magic last week comes off of commentary and gets a big pop. Who do you think put him in that position? All of those guys. I mean, I think Big Bill and Bryan Keith have grown by leaps and bounds from working here with me. I’m not going to go through the entire cast of characters, but I definitely know what my intentions are, and it’s not to bury anybody. It’s to build as many people as I can and give them experience so they can learn how to start shouldering things on their own.”

When asked if he chooses the opponents he works with, Jericho said he might have suggestions sometimes but mostly it’s Khan coming up with his feuds. Jericho said his program with Mark Briscoe is an example of a feud where both of them wanted to work with each other and suggested it to Khan.

“I still work for my boss,” Jericho said. “And I have never once — as far as I can remember — in the six years I’ve been in AEW ever said no to something. I might not like something, but I’ve got to try and do my best to make it work or maybe come up with something that is a better idea, as long as the boss likes it. If the boss wants to do what he wants to do, then that’s my job. That’s what we do.”

Jericho is the current ROH World Champion and looks to be set for a title defense against Bandido in the near future.