Recently, Randy Orton broke the record for most PPV matches in a WWE ring with his 177th match taking place at Survivor Series. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, when non-WWE PPVs are factored in, there are a few wrestlers who top him on that list.

When both TNA and NJPW PPVs are included, AJ Styles holds the record with 289 PPV matches. This is including the TNA weekly PPVs from their early days, however. Anyone involved in this era of TNA has a big advantage as a result. James Storm also has 228 PPV matches when TNA’s weekly shows are included.

Excluding TNA, ROH or NWA shows, however, Chris Jericho tops the list with 187 PPV matches between his time in WCW, WWE, NJPW, and AEW.

“If you don’t include TNA, ROH or NWA, the top person on the list would be Jericho with 187 between WWF, WCW, AEW and New Japan. Jericho was unaware of this,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

The Undertaker has had 183 PPV matches when his time as “Mean” Mark Calaway in WCW is factored in. Triple H also had 7 PPV matches in WCW, bringing his total tally to 180. Big Show/Paul Wight is also at 180 when his non-WWE PPV matches are included.

Including TNA PPVs, Jeff Jarrett has wrestled on PPV 179 times and Kurt Angle 178 times.

The top-10 in WWE history are as follows:

1. Randy Orton – 177
2. Kane – 176
3. The Undertaker – 174
4. Triple H – 173
5. John Cena – 163
6. Chris Jericho – 144
7. Big Show – 142
8. Edge – 135
9. The Miz – 121
10. Kofi Kingston – 117
11. Shawn Michaels – 117

Jay Lethal has officially joined All Elite Wrestling. The former ROH Champion has commented on his dream opponent in AEW.

Lethal had been a mainstay for ROH for a decade. Despite constant questions about a potential WWE run, Jay Lethal remained loyal to Ring of Honor.

The wrestling world was stunned by the news that ROH will be going dark in an attempt to undergo a “reconceptualizing” process. All ROH talent will be released and Lethal ended up being granted a request to have his release expedited.

Jay Lethal Wants To Wrestle Chris Jericho

During the Full Gear PPV, Tony Schiavone brought out Lethal as the newest member of the AEW roster. Speaking with the media after the event, Jay revealed that Chris Jericho is his dream opponent.

“I have said in several interviews that I’ve ever had, they’ve asked me plenty of times, at least 7-8, ‘Who’s your dream opponent?’ And on the top of that list is Chris Jericho.

“I’ve been a fan of his growing up, of course, I’m only 36 so I watched him growing up on television. So, on the top of the list, he’d be my number one pick.

“But I would love it if I got to step into the ring with everybody and I know that may sound like I’m trying to escape the question, but I really can’t wait to step into the ring with every AEW superstar.”

For the immediate future, Lethal will have his sights set on TNT Champion Sammy Guevara. The TNT titleholder is a member of Jericho’s Inner Circle faction.

At Full Gear, Jay Lethal issued the challenge to Guevara. The TNT Champion made his way out to accept. The match will take place on the Nov. 17 episode of Dynamite.

Please H/T SEScoops with a link if you use any quotes from this article

During a recent interview on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch, Chris Jericho noted that he thought a line from a recent MJF promo got the “wrong kind of heat.” MJF was addressing Sting and commented on his long-time friend Lex Luger being in a wheelchair.

“There was a line a few weeks ago that MJF used about Lex Luger being in a wheelchair to Sting. I don’t think that gets heat, I think it makes people feel uncomfortable. I think it makes people feel bad, and you don’t want that,” Jericho said of the comment.

Jericho continued to talk about the intricacies of using real-life issues in wrestling promos.

“There is a fine line between using real life issues, and going too inside baseball, where it’s like, ‘I don’t know what this guy is talking about, but it just doesn’t feel right.’ To me, that is the fine line of a pro wrestling promo.”

“That’s how I feel. I don’t think it gets more heat, I think it actually gets reverse heat, which has people going, ‘ugh. We know it’s a show.’ It’s like watching the new Star Wars movie and someone going, ‘Kylo Ren, your mom in real life had an abortion when she was sixteen.’ What does that have to do with Kylo Ren? It’s two different things. So, I think there’s a fine line to it. You can make things seem real with your intentions and the way you say things and the words you use. That makes it real.”

Chris Jericho In AEW

Chris Jericho is scheduled to team with his Inner Circle teammates against The Men of the Year and American Top Team at Full Gear. This week on AEW Dynamite, Dan Lambert power-bombed Jericho through a table.

Jericho noted in September that the year-long feud he had with MJF was the longest of his career and also one of the best. The angle evolved from MJF joining the Inner Circle and causing dissension, to a stable war between the Pinnacle and Jericho’s faction. Jericho took to Instagram to comment on what the angle meant to him. His comments are available in the link below.

H/T To Wrestling Inc. for transcriptions

Former WCW manager Sonny Onoo has detailed how Chris Jericho helped get the cruiserweight division noticed.

When it comes to the Monday Night Wars, many fans remember WCW’s NWO members as well as the likes of Sting and Goldberg going head-to-head with WWE’s best such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. One thing that helped WCW stand out, however, was its cruiserweight division.

Chris Jericho Helped WCW Cruiserweights

Onoo appeared on the Perched on the Top Rope podcast and he revealed that Chris Jericho deserves credit for helping the WCW cruiserweights get some storyline direction.

“Storylines for cruiserweights didn’t really start until Chris Jericho started demanding more story background. So, if there was an Ultimo Dragon vs. Eddie Guerrero [match], you didn’t need a background, right? I mean, at least I didn’t. I think many of the fans will tell you they didn’t because they know how great these guys are going to perform. So the match was worth tuning in. You didn’t want to miss that. If you watch their show, if you want to go back and watch Nitro [cruiserweight matches] bridging into the second hour, where we go head to head against when WWE was putting on their show. So that, you know, when you’ve got stuff going on, you don’t want to miss that. You know, they didn’t want them to tune into their stuff. So they used these guys strategically, you know? A lot of the time, in the second hour or to open the show with a bang.”

Jericho was known to fight for a better spot when he was with WCW. He didn’t really end up getting his wish, so he signed with WWE. Jericho would end up being a multiple-time world champion in WWE. He is currently in AEW and is a former world champion with the promotion.

H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

The SuperBrawl VIII was an important event for the careers of Juventud Guerrera and Chris Jericho. It saw the latter unmasking the former in order to keep his WCW cruiserweight championship.

These two wrestling veterans recently sat down together on an episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast. They discussed their time in WCW among other things.

During the episode, Juvi asked Jericho if he was the one who pitched the idea of his unmasking. Replying to it, Chris explained that it was all Eric Bischoff,

“It wasn’t me at all. I had no power or anything at that point. You and I worked many times and Eric went through this idea that luchadors should lose their mask and you were a handsome guy. I was never really asked or consulted.

We were working and it was, ‘You’re going to have this match with Juvi and you’re going to take his mask.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, that’s what Eric wants.'” said Chris Jericho, “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Y2J explained how you develop influence as you go up the ladder in any company but at the time he was not an important enough star in WCW to be pitching ideas.

Chris Jericho joined WCW as a cruiserweight star in 1996. Jericho was never really seen a main event talent during his three-year-long run with the company and he only won the cruiserweight title and the TV title during his time there.

• Chris Jericho Responds To ‘Cosplay Competition’ Remark From Eric Bischoff

Chris Jericho has responded to Eric Bischoff calling the rivalry between AEW and WWE a cosplay competition. His boss Tony Khan previously called the remarks amusing. The former world champion took on his Twitter to respond to the former WCW president. He claimed that AEW has decreased the market share of their competitors:

“Not sure what a “cosplay competition” is Eric, but @WWE market share has definitely been decreased by @AEW. To the point whenever they forced themselves into “real head to head competition” w us (most recently last Fri) they lost. I’m gonna shut the fuck up now & keep wrestling.”

Eric Bischoff On The Competition Of AEW and WWE

The comments Chris Jericho is referring to came during a recent episode of 83 weeks. Bischoff claimed that he was actually having a real competition with Vince McMahon:

“And by the way, Tony, in 1996 I was kicking WWE’s ass. Every week! In a real head-to-head competition, not a cosplay competition.”

Bischoff was discussing how Tony Khan said he wouldn’t make the mistakes of WCW. The WCW official also claimed that Khan is inventing some new mistakes. His advice to the AEW owner would be to shut up and focus on his own product.

Chris Jericho has given his take on when we could be seeing AEW make its way to the United Kingdom.

It’s no secret that fans in the UK love some wrestling. The crowds always seem to be red hot for WWE shows in the UK and even Impact Wrestling had success there under the reins of Dixie Carter. AEW had plans of making the trip to England in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to that idea.

Chris Jericho spoke to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT and discussed when he believes AEW will finally put on a show in the UK.

“It’s kind of out of my pay grade. I do know that we just saw a WWE tour in England. I know that Fozzy is coming to England in December and I know that we’re almost 100 percent sold out the whole tour, like 14 gigs or whatever. So that’s a good barometer that people are waiting to see us again.

“Obviously with the connection of Tony and Fulham and his relationship in the UK, we have a place to go in Craven Cottage for a stadium show. I think it’s just a matter of time. I’d say probably, if I had to guess, probably in the summer when all questions are gone. I think once the Khans start going to England to attend some of those games, that’s a good indication because I don’t think they’ve been to the UK since.”

Tony Khan did tell Busted Open Radio that he’s hoping to pull off an international tour in 2022. Khan didn’t have an exact date in mind but it definitely appears to be a goal for next year.

AEW Dynamite beating WWE Raw in the key demo rating for a couple of weeks has been one of the most talked pro wrestling stories recently. Chris Jericho thinks it was made possible because of their cool factor.

The former AEW world champion recently made an appearance on Reinvented with Jen Eckhart. He discussed things such as Tony Khan deciding to run the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York instead of Madison Square Garden and more.

Commenting on their demo win in the interview conducted right after Dynamite: Grand Slam, Jericho described how AEW has a different attitude and a cool factor:

“The last three weeks, we have done bigger demo numbers than WWE RAW has done, which is the flagship show. I think our company came out of nowhere, basically, and really exploded because of a different attitude,

And you can see that when you watch our shows, It seems to me that we are the hottest wrestling company in the world,” said Chris Jericho, “And more importantly, we have the cool factor.”

During the same interview, Y2J also revealed some interesting backstage details on AEW’s initial TV deal with WarnerMedia. He detailed that they were originally not being paid a TV rights fee for airing their show on TNT.

The company was initially only getting a revenue share from advertisements. Though according to Chris Jericho their deal was upgraded after the first three months. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.

All Elite Wrestling talent Chris Jericho calls AEW President Tony Khan a genius for running Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Jericho appeared on Reinvented with Jen Eckhart and discussed AEW’s first show in New York City. Eckhart asked him what it was like wrestling at Arthur Ashe Stadium on September 22nd. Jericho shared that he enjoyed the experience and praised Khan for hosting an event in that venue.

“It was unbelievable. There is a little bit of genius on Tony Khan’s part because everyone was talking about the Garden in NYC, Madison Square Garden,” said Jericho. He continued, “What people don’t understand is to play the Garden is very expensive for one. So you don’t really make money when you’re at the Garden. You just do it because it’s MSG.”

Khan Decision to Host AEW at Arthur Ashe Stadium

AEW became the first wrestling company to have an event at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Khan called their NYC debut event AEW Grand Slam, promoting a live AEW Dynamite show and a taped AEW Rampage show for September 24th. However, fans attending the event were able to watch the four-hour event on September 22nd. AEW Grand Slam was so successful that Khan wants to run Arthur Ashe annually.

In the interview, Jericho explained what made the stadium unique and thought it was better than MSG. “…The moment I went in there, I was like, oh my gosh. This place is amazing. It’s better than the Garden,” said Jericho. He continued, “…The seats go straight up in the air, so all the noise comes right down into the ring. People are just kind of just over top of you, and it was just really cool to see this place. I was going this atmosphere is off the charts crazy. We don’t need to go to the Garden now because we’ve created a new place for us.”

He suggests other wrestling companies may be trying to run an event at Arthur Ashe Stadium. However, Jericho also believes that the stadium will always be the home for AEW in professional wrestling.

AEW will make its return to New York on December 8th. It will be AEW’s first event in Long Island, NY, at the UBS Arena. Both AEW Dynamite and Rampage will be taking place at the venue.

Getting their weekly show picked up by a television network like TNT was a major step in establishing AEW as a real alternative to WWE in people’s eye. Though they initially didn’t get paid any TV rights fee for their program, according to Chris Jericho.

The former champion recently appeared on Reinvented with Jen Eckhart. Discussing the start of the company, Jericho mentioned how being the inaugural world champion meant that the first three months of the promotion were on his shoulders.

Y2J went on to reveal the terms of their initial TV deal. He mentioned that their first deal was on a revenue share basis. Though Jericho revealed that the network upgraded their contract after seeing their performance:

“We had a TV deal, but it was an ad rev share was what had for a contract, which means, people buy ads and we get a piece of that. Three months later, after the show’s been doing super amazing in the ratings, the demos, we suddenly had a contract for $175 million over four years from TNT. “

Chris Jericho defeated Adam Page to become the inaugural AEW world champion in the main event of the first ever All Out PPV in August 2019. He held the title for 182 days before dropping it to Jon Moxley at the Revolution PPV in February 2020.

AEW and WarnerMedia initially announced their TV deal for a weekly wrestling program in May 2019. The show named Dynamite made its debut on TNT on October 2, 2019. AEW is celebrating the second anniversary of Dynamite’s TV debut this week.

Chris Jericho has mentioned in numerous interviews and his own books that Owen Hart was a huge influence on him. Jericho has also spoken of how when he was growing up, he dreamed of being in a tag team with Owen. Unfortunately, their careers never crossed paths and Jericho never did get to wrestle with or against his childhood hero.

During a recent interview with Stephanie Chase, Jericho spoke of what AEW’s deal with the Owen Hart Foundation means to him.

“It was a passion project for me and obviously for Martha and Tony,” Jericho said (Transcriptions via Fightful). “We worked on it for a long time, about a year and a half, to put the deal together and figure out what we wanted to do. I just knew I wanted Owen’s legacy to be something positive and something great as far as wrestling goes, rather than just be dwelling on his death. That’s the main reason why we all wanted this to happen, so we can celebrate Owen Hart’s career and the contributions that he made. He was a pioneer.”

There have been some fans questioning what connection Owen Hart has to AEW. Jericho commented on that during the interview as well. Jericho noted that he was the first world champion in AEW and he is an Owen Hart disciple.

“‘What’s his connection to AEW?’ some people are saying. Well, one of the connections is that he’s specifically the reason I got into wrestling. Owen Hart was the guy. To an extent, Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat, but Owen Hart, to me, I thought, ‘I want to be like that guy.’ There is your connection to AEW.”

Jericho also commented on how the Owen Hart Cup will allow fans of Owen’s to celebrate his life and career rather than focus on his death. The tournament is set to be an annual tradition.

“We’ll do the Owen Hart Cup and tournament and make people feel good about Owen rather than sad. We know what happened, but that was over 20 years ago. Let’s move forward remembering his amazing contributions and legacy in the ring that still resonate to this day.”

In addition to the Owen Hart Cup tournament, AEW’s agreement with the Owen Hart Foundation also permits them to use his likeness for merchandise. This includes the upcoming AEW console video game. Owen Hart apparel is currently available at Pro Wrestling Tees here.

Chris Jericho welcomed Adam Cole on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho. Among other things, these two also revealed their thoughts on the recent rebranding of NXT and discussed whether AEW’s win in Wednesday night wars is the reason for it.

Jericho claimed that he can say just from observing things that WWE had no idea what they were dealing with when they put NXT against Dynamite. He then claimed that Mr. McMahon holds a grudge against NXT for not beating AEW:

“When they put NXT up against AEW, it really hurt the brand to where you lost the cool factor, and AEW was the cool one. NXT just got steamrolled, and I think, as a result, Vince kind of holds a grudge against NXT. You had the chance to beat AEW, and you didn’t. Now I’m going to take over, and I’m going to do it my way.”

Discussing if AEW’s win in the Wednesday night wars played a part in the recent NXT revamp, Cole said that it absolutely did. He explained that from Vince McMahon’s standpoint, NXT is the breeding ground for main roster stars. So he understands if the boss wants to have a little bit more control over things.

Chris Jericho also talked about his time in WWE and working with NXT stars. He recalled how he encouraged Vince McMahon to bring Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura to the main roster.

The Elimination Chamber was originally supposed to be a WarGames match but Vince McMahon changed it because its association to WCW, according to Chris Jericho. The former AEW champion welcomed Adam Cole on the latest episode of his Talk Is Jericho podcast. The duo discussed Cole’s time in NXT and more during the episode.

Talking about NXT’s version of WarGames, Jericho revealed that the Elimination Chamber match was originally supposed to be WarGames. He explained why the boss did not want to do it:

“Just a little tidbit, Elimination Chamber was originally going to be WarGames, but Vince didn’t want to do WarGames because he said it was too WCW, So then we created our own. Hunter (Triple H) always wanted to do WarGames, and then he brings it to NXT and there you go.”

AEW has introduced its own version of the classic WarGames match dubbed Blood and Guts. Chris Jericho was part of the first Blood and Guts match and his Inner Circle competed against MJF’s The Pinnacle in a losing effort.

The Elimination Chamber was first introduced on WWE programming back in November 2002. Y2J was part of the first-ever Elimination Chamber match that took place at Survivor Series 2002 as well

Chris Jericho has revealed the time TNT was infuriated with him.

AEW has been enjoying great success on TNT. The television network even gave AEW a second show, Rampage. That show will remain on TNT, while Dynamite will soon be heading over to TBS starting Jan. 5, 2022.

TNT continues to tout AEW’s viewership and key demo success. While everything seems to be sunshine and rainbows with the TV network and AEW, there was one time when TNT executives were quite ticked off with something AEW did.

During an interview with Stephanie Chase, Jericho revealed the time TNT didn’t take too kindly to something he did during a segment on Dynamite early in the show’s life.

“For me, there’s two times that I can recall where they said ‘Don’t ever do that again’ and I was like ‘Okay, won’t happen again.’ One of them actually was when we beat up Dustin Rhodes when I was feuding with Cody way back in the beginning. We beat him up in the parking lot and then as we left, I lit up a cigar. And [TNT] did not like that. No smoking allowed on the show.”

Chris Jericho said TNT went as far as to threaten to pull the show if anyone was seen smoking again. The inaugural AEW World Champion said he questioned TNT’s reasoning as there are a plethora of other things to be picky about. Suffice to say, no one is threatening to pull AEW programming in 2021.

Some additions and removals have been made to Chris Jericho’s Rock N’ Rager at Sea Cruise.

We’re just under a month away from the return of Jericho’s cruise. Some big names have already been announced such as Kurt Angle and Will Ospreay. The additions keep on rolling, but there have also been two omissions.

Here is the latest update on the cruise courtesy of Sixthman.

“We’re happy to announce these awesome AEW wrestlers joining the Triple Whammy! Welcome Wardlow, Rebel, Sonny Kiss, Chaos Project, and Ashley D’Amboise to Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea!

“Kick Axe and Sitting Ringside with Dave Penzer are no longer able to join us on Triple Whammy, however we hope to welcome them aboard in the future.”

Jericho’s cruise is set to begin on Oct. 21. It’ll run through Oct. 25. Jericho says he’s been working with AEW head honcho Tony Khan in putting together talent for the event. AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Lance Archer, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter, and more AEW wrestlers are set to compete.

Stick with SEScoops for more changes including additions or removals that could be in store for the Rock N’ Rager at Sea Cruise.

The Inner Circle formed on the 1st ever edition of AEW Dynamite on October 2nd, 2019. Jericho was already the first AEW World Champion at this point. Jake Hager would make his debut that night as well. The faction has been a focal point of the promotion since it first debuted on TNT but according to Jericho, he recently pitched for it to be disbanded.

Jericho was speaking to Stephanie Chase when he mentioned that he pitched to Tony Khan that the stable be broken up.

“My idea was for us to respectfully disband and go on our own ways,” Jericho said (transcriptions via Fightful). “Tony didn’t want to do that. He said, ‘Why would you want to disband? You don’t have to be together all the time, but you’re still The Inner Circle.'”

“After this year, the whole storyline was based around MJF wanting to join, Wardlow is in the Inner Circle, The Pinnacle, five-on-five and that sort of thing. It was a well told year long story with the five of us,” Jericho continued. “It’s good for us to go our own ways and not be in each other’s business every week. It’s good that we’re still aligned. For me, I thought it was a good time for us to go our own way, but we can still do that without officially disbanding the band or breaking up the band.”

Two members of the Inner Circle, Jericho and Hager, will face off against the Men of the Year in tag-team action on Rampage Friday night. Santana and Ortiz will also team with the Lucha Bros to take on the Hardy Family Office that show. Next week on Dynamite, Sammy Guevara will receive a TNT title shot against Miro.

The rivalry between Chris Jericho and Maxwell Jacob Friedman had many twists and turns. At one point the two delivered a song and dance routine over dinner. Then MJF defeated Chris Jericho to earn a spot in the Inner Circle. Then MJF formed the Pinnacle to feud with Jericho’s faction. Eventually, there was the 5 Labors of Jericho and then The Final Fight at All Out.

Jericho recently reflected on the longest storyline of his career in a post to Instagram.

“Jericho vs MJF was THE longest storyline of my career…and one of the best,” Jericho wrote. “The angle started in Sept of 2020 and it ended last night at one of the greatest PPVs of all time, with the good guy making the bad guy tap out.”

“The angle between the The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle was full of twists and turns, comedy, tragedy, friendship, betrayal, blood, bubbly and genuine animosity. But overall, I feel it was a brilliant, expertly told tale that was one of the best in the business from the last 20 years. I hope all of you enjoyed watching this pro wrestling magnum opus as much we did telling it!!! On to the next challenge….”

Chris Jericho vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman Statistics

The first singles match between Jericho and MJF took place at Full Gear on November 7th, 2020. MJF won that match, as well as the Fifth Labor of Jericho before Jericho won at Final Fight, giving MJF a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series in singles matches.

Jericho and MJF teamed together 7x throughout the storyline as well. They went a perfect 6-0 in these matches before losing a title match to the Young Bucks At AEW Revolution 2021.

MJF and Jericho were also on opposing sides of 2 different tag-team matches during the angle. The Pinnacle won the Blood and Cuts double-cage match while the Inner Circle won the Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing.

Chris Jericho battled MJF once again in a match, but this time, he put his career on the line at the AEW All Out pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL. If Jericho had lost then his in-ring wrestling career would’ve been over. 

However, as expected, that didn’t happen as Jericho won the match. MJF had Jericho’s old countdown titantron. Jericho had a guitar player do his entrance song.  The match started slowly. MJF with Judas Effect and pinned Jericho, who had his leg on the bottom rope. The match was restarted. Jericho with the walls to win the match. 

On the August 25th edition of Dynamite, Jericho cut a promo about how he couldn’t end the feud between him and MJF without getting a win. He pitched the All Out match with the stipulation that if he could not beat MJF, he would no longer wrestle for AEW. MJF came out and accepted the match.

The week before, MJF submitted Jericho with an armbar in what was billed as the fifth labour of Jericho. Leading up to their previous match, they had been the leaders of two different stables with MJF leading The Pinnacle and Jericho leading The Inner Circle. 

In May, both teams worked a Blood and Guts match that saw The Pinnacle win as  The Inner Circle surrendered after MJF threatened to throw Jericho off the cage. After the match, MJF threw Jericho off the cage anyway.

Chris Jericho will be making an appearance on the upcoming edition of AEW Dynamite.

Jericho is set to put his in-ring career on the line against MJF on Sept. 5. The match will be featured on the All Out PPV card. If MJF wins, then Jericho can never wrestle for AEW again.

The official Twitter account of AEW revealed that Jim Ross will be doing an in-ring interview with Jericho on the Sept. 1 episode of Dynamite.

Chris Jericho made the challenge to MJF on the Aug. 25 edition of Dynamite.

“I am proposing one final match. One final fight at All Out on September 5th. And I’ve been thinking about this long and hard, and I’m serious when I say this, if I can’t beat MJF maybe I don’t belong in AEW anymore. It’s inside my head. If I can’t beat MJF maybe I don’t deserve to be ‘Le Champion’ anymore.

“So this is what I propose. If you beat me MJF, I will go to that commentary table full-time on Rampage, hell maybe someday I’ll commentate Dynamite as well because if you beat me I will never wrestle in AEW again.”

MJF responded, accepting Jericho’s challenge but he gave him a stern warning.

“Being able to say that I ended Jericho, now that’s legendary. So you know what, Chris? You want the match? You got it.

“I want you to really consider this, Chris. I want you to really mull this one over. Because you are putting your in-ring career on the line against the same man who has mopped the floor with you not once, not twice, but three times! You sure you want this match, bud? Because if I were you I wouldn’t because I’m better than you and you know it.”

Santana and Ortiz have revealed the role that Chris Jericho played in bringing them to AEW.

Santana and Ortiz made a name for themselves in Impact Wrestling as the younger generation of LAX. Many have praised the team not only for their abilities but their authenticity. The team debuted for AEW back in Aug. 2019 at All Out. On the debut episode of Dynamite, Santana and Ortiz aligned themselves with Chris Jericho. Soon, Santana and Ortiz, Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager would form The Inner Circle.

During an edition of the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Santana and Ortiz spoke on their decision to sign with AEW over WWE.

“That was one of the deciding factors for us coming into the company because right before we went in, we had offers to go to WWE or AEW. We were on the fence initially, but one of the swaying decisions for us was Chris specifically wanted us to be a part of The Inner Circle. We were like, wow. He’s a huge part of our bonding experience. When we started becoming a tag team, we both read Jericho’s first book, ‘A Lion’s Tale’, so we were like this is the blueprint to be a wrestler.

“This is it right here. He was a journeyman. He wrestled everywhere. This is what we want to do. Watching guys like him, Dean, Eddie, we wanted to be true journeymen. We bonded over his first book, so fast forward to us hearing Cody saying Chris wants us to be in this stable, we were like, ‘What? What’s going on right now.’ It was just one of those real weird, full circle moments where we were like, we bonded over his first book, and now we are a part of his journey, and a part of his legacy.

“We will be tied into his career. It’s crazy when you look at it that we grew up watching him and all of these guys. This whole experience the past two years has been insane. With everything that’s gone on personally in my life, with everything professionally, the whole pandemic, it’s just been crazy insane.”

Santana & Ortiz are currently involved in a feud with FTR. The two will meet on the Sept. 1 edition of AEW Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz lost their first meeting against FTR on July 28, which ended early after Cash Wheeler suffered a nasty arm injury.

As for Jericho, his rivalry with MJF has led to the ultimate stipulation. Jericho has challenged MJF to one last match at All Out on Sept. 5. If Jericho loses, he will put his in-ring career with AEW to rest.

All Elite Wrestling talent Chris Jericho and his cruise organizers have announced a few names that’ll appear at the Rock N Wrestling Rager Triple Wammy Cruise. The cruise will travel from Miami to Grand Bahama Island from October 21 to 25th. The performers revealed were AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Colt Cabana.

The announcement also said that “…More additions to come SOON – stay tuned!”

AEW Dynamite Not on The Jericho Cruise

AEW announced that AEW Dynamite would have a Saturday night episode on October 23rd in Orlando, Florida. However, AEW will be taping their event at the Addition Financial Arena. While not official, it seems AEW Dynamite will not have an episode on the cruise.

AEW Dynamite took place on the cruise last year and was considered a success. Heel By Nature reported after the event that Cody Rhodes said that AEW would return in 2021. “…Following the AEW Dynamite taping, Cody Rhodes announced that AEW will have more involvement in next year’s cruise and will air Dynamite live from onboard the vessel on 2/3/2021,” said Heel by Nature.

Jericho scheduled the cruise for earlier this year, but he postponed it due to Covid-19 concerns. The cruise organizers released a statement that said, “After careful consideration and caution for everyone’s health and safety, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the Triple Whammy.”

It’s unclear if AEW will air some of the matches that will take place on the cruise in October. Jericho has also shared that AEW President Tony Khan is working with him to get AEW talent to appear. Jericho will hope to replicate his success for his third voyage, with more names added to the cruise lineup.

Chris Jericho will put his in-ring career on the line against Maxwell Jacob Friedman at All Out on September 5th. The match was made official last night on Dynamite. With Jericho’s in-ring career in jeopardy, many fans have wondered how much time is left on his AEW contract.

Jericho’s contract was addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio. According to Dave Meltzer, Jericho’s deal with the promotion has essentially one and a half years left on it.

“There is a 1-year option. So in a sense, it’s up at the end of next year. So, a year and a half basically left,” said Dave Meltzer.

Jericho has wrestled 47 matches in his AEW career. His overall record is 34-12-1. So far in 2021, Jericho is 9-3. He is also the promotion’s inaugural world champion. Jericho held the title for 182 days between August 31st, 2019 and February 20th, 2020. He defended the title successfully against Darby Allin, Cody Rhodes, and Scorpio Sky before dropping it to Jon Moxley.

Chris Jericho’s in-ring career being put on the line at All Out struck a chord with WWE producer Shane “Hurricane” Helms. He posted the following to Twitter shortly after the match stipulation was made.

Chris Jericho is set to end his feud with MJF but it may come at the expense of his in-ring career.

Jericho addressed his future on the Aug. 25 edition of AEW Dynamite in Milwaukee. He admitted that MJF’s three victories over him are stuck in his mind. It’s gotten to the point where he laid down one final challenge to MJF for the All Out PPV. If Jericho loses, he will end his in-ring career with AEW.

Here’s the challenge from Jericho.

“I am proposing one final match. One final fight at All Out on September 5th. And I’ve been thinking about this long and hard, and I’m serious when I say this, if I can’t beat MJF maybe I don’t belong in AEW anymore. It’s inside my head. If I can’t beat MJF maybe I don’t deserve to be ‘Le Champion’ anymore.

“So this is what I propose. If you beat me MJF, I will go to that commentary table full-time on Rampage, hell maybe someday I’ll commentate Dynamite as well because if you beat me I will never wrestle in AEW again.”

It didn’t take long for MJF to respond to Jericho’s proposal. He gladly accepted but urged Jericho to consider the consequences if he loses to him a fourth and final time.

“Being able to say that I ended Jericho, now that’s legendary. So you know what, Chris? You want the match? You got it.

“I want you to really consider this, Chris. I want you to really mull this one over. Because you are putting your in-ring career on the line against the same man who has mopped the floor with you not once, not twice, but three times! You sure you want this match, bud? Because if I were you I wouldn’t because I’m better than you and you know it.”

All Out will take place inside the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Sept. 5. The event will feature the in-ring return of CM Punk, who will face Darby Allin. Also set for the card will be an AEW World Title match between champion Kenny Omega and Christian Cage.

Chris Jericho competed in a hard-fought match against MJF in the main event of this week’s episode of Dynamite. While MJF managed to win this bout, Jericho’s performance was still recognized after the match.

Legends such as Ric Flair took on their Twitter to praise both the stars for their work in the main event match after the show. Flair claimed that Y2J made the business better for everyone.

Jericho also got applauded by the audience in the arena after the bout. As seen in the video below, the fans in the arena gave a standing ovation to the wrestling legend after the show went off air:

Chris Jericho’s storyline with MJF began last year when the former MLW star requested to join Jericho’s Inner Circle stable. The two even formed a tag team for a short while and unsuccessfully challenged for the tag team titles.

However, MJF turned on the former AEW champion during the March 10 Dynamite earlier this year. He formed his own faction called The Pinnacle in the process.

When Jericho demanded a singles match, MJF told him that he would have to go through several opponents. Chris defeated four different opponents over the last few weeks to get the bout on this week’s Dynamite.

• AEW Dynamite Results (8/18): MJF vs. Jericho, Tag Title Match, Darby Allin & Sting

AEW star Chris Jericho recently confirmed on his Talk is Jericho podcast that two former WWE NXT Superstars have signed deals to stay with All Elite.

2.0, Matt Lee and Jeff Parker have apparently signed deals with AEW and will remain with the promotion going forward.

The tag team were previously known as Ever-Rise in NXT and were released from their WWE contracts in late June as part of the ongoing budget cuts from the company.

Chris Jericho Reveals 2.0 Signing

Interestingly, AEW has not posted the now-iconic graphic confirming that the stars are now contracted to All Elite. Cody Rhodes did mention back in November that there was a tier system for contract in AEW:

“The exclusivity thing is case by case, but we guarantee you x amount of dates. The goal is you don’t want to pay someone agree to appear, Chris Harrington would handle this much better than I am, you don’t want to keep giving them their weekly, their weekly, their weekly, their weekly vs. tier 1-ing them, which is our base contractor agreement. That’s another thing, we’re just talking about Tony, we built a middle card and a lower card. We have tier 1’s, tier 2’s, tier 3’s, tier 4 and tier Jericho.”

It is not clear what tier 2.0 are on, but they are officially signed to the company.