AEW World Champion Chris Jericho recently appeared on Grado’s new Wrestling Daft podcast and was asked about the Wednesday Night Wars between WWE NXT and AEW. Jericho said he was always confident that AEW would win in the ratings because they had the star power.
“NXT is still the minor league,” Jericho insisted. (H/T to Cultaholic) “Those guys are still unknown performers, it’s not a competition to us and I knew we’d win because we have more star power. When you look at the end of our first week of TV who was out there at the end? Chris Jericho – we know him! Dustin Rhodes – we know him! Jon Moxley – we know him, he used to be another name and but we know who that is. Jim Ross is commentating – I know that guy!”
Jericho also said Vince McMahon chose to put NXT up against AEW to keep the competition away from WWE’s flagship brands, RAW and SmackDown. Jericho called the move a stroke of genius, and said AEW is here to compete with guys like Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.
“Our competition is RAW, is SmackDown, is Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, and all those guys!,” Jericho said. “I think it was a stroke of genius by Vince McMahon to put NXT on against up because it took the focus off ‘the main show and AEW’ and put it on ‘the minor league and AEW.’”
It’s interesting that Jericho referred to NXT as the minor leagues because WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins recently made similar comments about AEW.
As noted, Rollins appeared at the Fandemic convention in Houston this past weekend with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and during a panel appearance, Rollins said AEW is the minor leagues of pro wrestling. Rollins made the comments when asked about a possible match against Kenny Omega to prove who is the best.
“When Kenny’s done playing in the minor leagues over there [AEW],” Rollins said. “Then he can come and work at the absolute top professional wrestling company in the world, in front of the most people, and make the most money, and have the biggest matches, which is with me at WrestleMania.”
WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW announcer Jim Ross was not happy with Rollins’ comments.These recent comments by Jericho and Rollins come after Kenny Omega made a similar statement back in the summer.
