Chris Jericho knows the electric drill shocked fans at AEW Redemption. That’s exactly why it ended up in the match. After one of AEW’s most violent matches left the wrestling world talking, Jericho has revealed the thinking behind the spot—and it all came down to one goal: doing something fans had never seen before.
Speaking to Beef Vegan, Jericho said every time he brings back his Painmaker persona, the challenge is finding new ways to push the hardcore style without repeating what’s already been done countless times over the years. According to Jericho, that’s become harder than ever.
“Yeah. I mean, that’s kind of the thing. You always want to come up with new stuff that people have never seen before, which is hard because there’s been so many, you know, so many of these types of matches. I haven’t done a lot of them, which is kind of like the Painmaker signifies it’s going to be, you know, kind of a crazy death match. So what can we do that’s different?”
That search for something fresh is what led to several of the match’s most talked-about moments. Instead of using glass, Jericho said they swapped it out for mirrors. Thumbtacks ended up on hockey pucks. And then there was the weapon that had everyone talking: The drill.
Jericho admitted it sounds completely ridiculous on paper, but said it wasn’t thrown into the match just for shock value. It was introduced as part of the story, and once they had it, the decision was made to build the finish around it.
“You know, even like we’ve had panes of glass before and this time they got mirrors. Well, that’s kind of cool. I can hold it up and look in the mirror and just all that sort of stuff, man. You just want to come up with ideas. I mean, obviously a drill is ridiculous, but the drill was part of the story and we just thought, ‘Well, why don’t we end the match by using it and kind of incorporate it into the rest of it?’ So yeah, man, all of that stuff you just try and be as innovative as possible.”
The explanation comes just days after Jericho and Tommaso Ciampa tore through each other in their No Holds Barred match at AEW Redemption, where the Bell Centre crowd erupted into loud chants of “This is murder!” the moment Ciampa pulled out the drill. The match only became more chaotic from there, featuring chairs, tables, thumbtacks, mirrors and the drill before Jericho forced Ciampa to submit to close out the bout.
For Jericho, though, the controversy surrounding the finish simply proved the idea worked. His goal wasn’t just to have another hardcore match—it was to give fans something they hadn’t seen before.
What did you think of the electric drill finish? Was it an innovative spot or did AEW take things too far? Let us know in the comments below.
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