Chris Jericho has a message for the fans who cannot stand seeing him on television every week: You might miss him when he is gone.
Speaking to Fox News, the AEW star addressed the criticism he receives from wrestling fans who believe his time in the spotlight should be over. Jericho argued that some of those people will eventually look back and realize they failed to appreciate what he was still bringing to the table.
“I think a lot of the people that you mentioned, social media wise, that don’t like me just because I’m still doing this will realize, ‘Hey, we had something pretty cool there. We should have been watching a little bit more,’ because all I ever do is give my best 1,000% for whatever situation I’m in—to make it better, to make my opponent better, to make me better, to make the company better, to make the show better. And I’m very proud of all the work that I’ve done.”
Jericho has spent 35 years in professional wrestling, transforming himself countless times while working for promotions across the world. Whether fans have loved him, hated him or simply wanted him off their screens, Jericho has remained one of the industry’s most visible names.
The former AEW World Champion also made it clear that his continued involvement in wrestling is not limited to competing inside the ring. Jericho currently serves as a narrator for Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring and continues taking part in projects built around the business.
“That’s why I still do it. That’s why I still love wrestling and making documentaries involving wrestling, per se, because I think it’s such a wonderful sport that really does tie the world together—a wonderful form of entertainment.”
Jericho then reflected on the length of his career and the fact that he is still performing at a major level more than three decades after breaking into the industry.
“I live my dream doing something that I always wanted to do, and here I’m doing it almost longer than anybody else at a high level. I think that’s something to be proud of.”
Jericho is not preparing to quietly disappear, either. During this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, he brought back his “Painmaker” persona and issued an open challenge for AEW Redemption on July 26. Tommaso Ciampa answered the challenge, setting up another match between the two after Ciampa defeated Jericho during the Beach Break edition of Dynamite.
Jericho clearly believes the loudest critics will eventually change their tune once he is no longer appearing on wrestling television. Until that day arrives, he has no plans to stop reinventing himself or forcing fans to keep talking about him.
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