Building up talent for the future isn’t an easy thing to do in wrestling, but that is something AEW has attempted with the ‘four pillars’ from the inception of the company, and Chris Jericho told Sporf that he believes the company “done a great job in building these guys.”

Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin, and MJF have been positioned as the top homegrown stars in AEW over the years and while they have all had varied levels of success since that point, this Sunday they get the chance to prove themselves when they headline Double Or Nothing in a fatal four-way match. 

“To have four of them in the main event and to see how they’ve all flourished as talkers, because they can always wrestle but character and talking is the most important thing,” he said. “So I really enjoy that side of it, to see those guys in that spot.”

Jericho has had a hand in developing all four men during his time in the company, having worked alongside and feuded against MJF, while he has had Sammy Guevara in both of his factions. He also had a brief angle with Jungle Boy as well, allowing him to pass on his expertise and knowledge to all of the pillars to help them reach this stage. 

“It’s funny when I get buried online for ‘burying’ the young guys, it’s like you really don’t understand what I’m doing and don’t even really watch the show because it’s been the exact opposite of that,” he said.

The former AEW World Champion also has a backstage role within the company as a producer and creative advisor to Tony Khan, allowing him to place even more focus on pushing the future stars for AEW’s long-term success.