Chris Jericho, who is set to defend his AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley at AEW Revolution, talked about the difference between working in WWE and AEW.
Jericho talked with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and discussed a variety of topics, among which the subject of difference working between the two wrestling companies came up.
Jericho said that if he’d be in WWE he would still be doing “The List!” gimmick, even though it’s “archaic and outdated”. Jericho said that since he left WWE he has reinvented himself and tried out different things like the Painmaker, his work in Japan and now in AEW.
Jericho revealed that there are no bookers and writers in AEW as opposed to WWE. “There’s no bookers, no writers. I’m coming up with these ideas and bouncing them off of a couple guys. These are all our ideas,” Jericho said.
Jericho noted that he’s not the only one involved in the process. He can lay down the groundwork and a basic idea for the storyline, and the rest of it goes from there. Jericho added that this way of working is something new for him.
“Also, it’s not like I’m coming up with every single thing. But the basic skeletons, like, ‘Here’s what I’ve got for the first six weeks for Jericho-Moxley.’ Then each week we tighten it up and focus it. I’ve never been in that position before.”
While working for WWE, Chris Jericho’s process involved getting a phone call Sunday night from a writer who would tell him the plan for the next day’s Raw. Jericho said that he would do as directed if he liked the idea, but if he didn’t, then he would have to wait three hours outside Vince McMahon’s office to explain to him why it would work better in a different way. “We don’t have that. All that stress is gone. It’s fun, it’s creative freedom,” said Jericho.
Jericho said that he loved working in WWE, and anyone who signs a contract with them knows what they’re getting into. They’ll have to work in Vince’s way. Jericho didn’t want to work Vince’s way anymore and that’s why left.
