The professional wrestling world took the hit of a mental Judas effect in the days leading up to SummerSlam 2022, as longtime WWE head Vince McMahon announced he was stepping down as CEO. The decision came as the 76-year-old is investigated for allegedly paying silent money to resolve past misconduct complaints from former employees, although retirement is not directly related. Chris Jericho, who worked under Vince McMahon for nearly two decades, spoke with CinemaBlend about his post-WWE success with AEWbut weighed in on McMahon’s resignation after so many years.
Jericho, who recently appeared as a guest star in Inconvenient Wildcards, sat down with CinemaBlend at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, where he shared why he thinks Vince McMahon is probably a good idea overall. In his words:
The thing is, for me, I haven’t worked in WWE since 2017. And I worked there for almost 20 years. I’ve always enjoyed working with Vince. I learned a lot from him. And, you know, he had a great run. And then stepping back is, you know, probably for the best for him, even from a physical standpoint, because he conducts himself so ragged because of the workload he has.
After taking over the promotion from his father in 1982, Vince McMahon basically did everything he could to maintain as much control and popularity as possible in the professional wrestling industry, with more than a few bridges burned along the way. The fact that he himself spent a good chunk of those years in the ring as the villain in the story certainly added physical stress to everything else, so it’s kind of surprising that he remained the face corporate audience for as long as it did. . (Not so surprising when his ego is factored in, but still.)
As much as Chris Jericho was able to learn from Vince McMahon during his WWE years, he and others within AEW also learned lessons about what not to do to make their organization stand out. . Not that they pay so much attention to current events anyway. Here’s how Jericho said it:
I think one of the best things we’ve done as a company with AEW is obviously we know WWE exists, and obviously we know they’re out there and they see us as competition at 1 000%. But we don’t really care what’s going on in their world. We’re much more concerned with our own shows, sharing the best shows we can and improving whatever we can, telling the best stories we can. So to me, they’re kind of a ship in their own right, and we’re much more diligent about AEW in general. I mean, like I said, I care, but I don’t really care.
With Vince McMahon’s full resignation – his daughter Stephanie McMahon served as interim CEO as WWE’s board of directors investigated at the start – it could potentially change the way the company handles the things in the future. We already know that the creations will be moving forward with more mature content, but having someone outside of the McMahon family in the driver’s seat would be bonkers, assuming that person had legitimate control. Is it just gonna be Triple H when he’s back in full? It’s not out of the question.
For what it’s worth, Chris Jericho doesn’t see how Vince McMahon’s retirement will affect things at AEW, but he’s not saying anything is impossible when it comes to potential crossovers. In his words:
Will it affect us anyway? We’ll see… I don’t know if there will ever be, you know, a pay-per-view WWE vs AEW crossover. But stranger things happened. So we’ll see.
While no one should raise expectations for the day WWE and AEW will cross paths in the ring to Peacock subscribers (Where HBO Max subscribers), it certainly seems like the best time to start making noise about it online to convince any powers that be that we’d like it to happen someday. Assuming the card is awesome. Or even just good enough.
AEW Rampage broadcast on Friday evenings on DTT at 10 p.m. ET, with dynamite broadcast on Wednesday evenings on TBS at 8:00 p.m. ET.