AEW star Chris Jericho appeared on Busted Open Radio earlier today with David LaGreca and WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray, to discuss the possible Wednesday Night War between AEW and WWE’s NXT brand.
Jericho was asked if NXT does air on Wednesday nights, if it could “bite them in the ass” because AEW is presented as a revolution with fans who want something different. Jericho said he doesn’t think AEW and WWE share a lot of fans, and Vince McMahon is starting a war when AEW doesn’t care about that war. Jericho also said he thinks WWE is great, but there’s too much of it.
“I think it is because once again, we still don’t know who our fanbase is,” Jericho responded. “I don’t think there are a lot of crossover between WWE fans and AEW fans. With a lot of people who are into AEW are like you just mentioned, that maybe haven’t watched wrestling in a long time or maybe looking for something different, maybe they don’t like WWE. I think WWE is great, but the point is there’s too much WWE as it is and by adding another two hours, that really dilutes their product, it dilutes their mind-set, it dilutes their focus. It’s a reactionary move, it’s done by a guy who wants to start a war when we don’t care if you want to start a war, that was never our intention, there’s no war for us. We’re just doing what we’re doing, and some people don’t like that and they’re reacting to it, and it just dilutes their own product.”
Jericho continued, “If you remember in the 90s, Nitro would start at 7:57 and RAW started at 8, and the reason why they got that 3 minutes early is because we [WCW] wanted our pyro to be on before theirs. Who gives a crap, who cares what the pyro is? What’s the show like? Don’t worry about what other guys are doing, worry about your own stuff. And I think that’s something with AEW’s attitude, and what we’re thinking, at least what I’m thinking, I don’t care about any other wrestling company in the world. Everybody, I want everyone to do good, everyone do what you want to do, be the best that you can be. Whether it’s WWE or Ring of Honor or Impact or New Japan or AAA, or friggin’ Joe Schmoe down at the Armory on a Friday night. Do your thing, we don’t care. And I think that’s one of the reasons that makes us cool, and it’s a typical thing, the more other people do the more it makes us look revolutionary and cool, and we haven’t even started yet. Just wait until we start.”
As noted, it’s believed that tonight’s RAW will see WWE announce NXT’s premiere on the USA Network for Wednesday, September 18, airing from 8-10pm ET each week. AEW is set to premiere their weekly show on TNT, beginning Wednesday, October 2 from 8-10pm ET.
Below is the audio of Jericho discussing AEW and WWE:
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 In the wake of #NXT's potential move to a live Wednesday night show on the USA Network, @IAmJericho tells @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 that @AEWrestling is just doing their thing and not trying to start a war 👇 pic.twitter.com/OsR8lYMnC3
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 19, 2019
