Chris Jericho also noted that the competition between WWE and AEW similarly boosted WWE’s product, just as their rivalry with WCW did, and criticized the fact that wrestling became a monopoly again after the aforementioned promotion’s acquisition. “When I first had a meeting with Tony Khan about this new company, I thought there was no way it would work, because I’d heard it so many times before,” he admitted.

The veteran then shared his belief that a successful wrestling company needs three important things to start: plenty of money, new talent, and a strong TV deal. According to Jericho, Khan had all of that. “That’s all you need to start a company. And then once we started, I knew I had about three months to build as many guys as I could while the spotlight was on me, since I was the only nationally recognized star besides Jim Ross,” he added.

Jericho then claimed that he closely began to work with the likes of Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Adam Page, Darby Allin, Scorpio Sky, and Jungle Boy, to all pass on the torch in different ways. “Then I put together the Inner Circle with Sammy, Ortiz, Santana, and Jake,” he recounted. “Suddenly it’s not all on my back — it’s on six backs, then ten, then twelve. That’s how you build a company.”