Chris Jericho Confirms He Told AEW To Sign Action Andretti

All Elite Wrestling created a new star at the 2022 edition of Winter is Coming as Action Andretti shockingly defeated Chris Jericho in what had been promoted as a tune-up match for the eight-time world champion. Andretti has continued to feud with Jericho since then and he is set to team with Ricky Starks against The Ocho and Sammy Guevara on the January 25 edition of AEW Dynamite. 

Following Andretti's win it was announced that he had officially signed with AEW and reports noted that Jericho was instrumental in the young talent's push after deciding he would be a star in October after a Dark: Elevation match with QT Marshall. 

Jericho spoke about losing to Andretti with Marc Maron on WTF with Marc Maron, and The Painmaker revealed he told AEW to sign him in October.

"We did something, just a few weeks ago. I saw this kid back in October. Good looking kid, pretty agile, and I said, 'Let's do an interview with him.' He was a good talker. I said, 'Let's hire him, but keep him at home, I have an idea.' Two or three weeks ago, I lost my title, and now I'm going to have a tune-up match against some jobber and I'm going to get back on track. This kid comes out, we have a match, and I'm treating him like a jobber, a squash match. Throwing him around, he gets no offence, people are chanting, 'Let's go jobber.' They're behind it and laughing along.

"Hit him with my finisher. One, two, he kicks out. People are like, 'Oh s**t.' Then the buzz starts going. 'What's going to happen now?' We've never seen this guy on TV, ever. Then, we continue forward and suddenly, he gets me again. He hits me with this and that. Boom, boom, boom, hit me with a move. One, two, three. He wins. Crowd goes f*****g crazy. He's running around, slapping hands, people are going nuts. It's one of the greatest moments we've had in AEW history because no one knew this guy, and by the end, we made a new star. It doesn't hurt me to lose, and we made this guy. It's about making stars and making people react. No one would've guessed he was going to win."

H/T to Fightful