On March 9, the Jericho Appreciation Society came together to solidify Jericho’s split from Santana & Ortiz. This also was the official end of the Inner Circle.
Jericho noted that he wanted to “cordially split up” the Inner Circle after the Stadium Stampede with The Pinnacle. He also said that he had an interest in forming a group with Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley.
During his feud with Kingston, Jericho unveiled his Jericho Appreciation Society. The group features Daddy Magic Matt Mennard, Cool Hand Angelo Parker, and Daniel Garcia.
Many times during the feud, Kingston brought up the possibility of Jericho being the one to hold Santana & Ortiz back.
The Formation Of The Jericho Appreciation Society
On Talk Is Jericho, he talked about how the group and the idea for it came together.
Jericho said, “I thought, ‘this [Kingston bringing up Santana & Ortiz] is interesting, we can have some dissension here.’ Then, the fateful moment where Daniel Bryan is going to align with Moxley and he goes, ‘We can bring in Moriarty, we can bring in Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia.’ I was like, ‘is this a thing? If it is, we’ve built up these three guys who have beat up Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho and now they’re going to break it apart? These guys have to stay together. They have to stay together with me! It’s perfect.’
It hit me like, ‘Holy shit.’ Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz have history, they do their thing, I start a new faction with you three and Jake because Jake and I have always been together since day one and I need a killer. ‘This could really work.’ That’s the original idea I pitched to Tony and said, ‘What do you think about this? I know it’s weird.”
The Origin Of The Jericho Appreciation Society
Chris went on to talk about the formation of the name as well.
“The original idea for this whole plan, the name of it was going to be The Citadel. I thought The Citadel was great. I said it to Tony and there was no pop for it whatsoever. I was like, ‘The Citadel sucks. I need something better.’
I was looking at the Art Appreciation Society or something like that, some weird email of ‘if you like this, maybe you should check out the Art Appreciation Society in downtown Detroit.’ Then, The Jericho Appreciation Society was just cheesy enough. It’s pretentious,” Chris said.
The former AEW World Champion also added how The Inner Circle were five guys with different identities and opinions but the JAS group was just four guys meant to be together to appreciate Jericho.
Jericho Appreciation Society At AEW Double Or Nothing
At Double Or Nothing, the JAS will take on Danielson, Kingston, Moxley, Santana & Ortiz in an Anarchy in the Arena match.
To view the current lineup for AEW Double or Nothing and how to watch, click here.
H/T to Jeremy Lambert Fightful for the transcription
