Chris Jericho Fires Back At Critics Who Say He Is 'Selfish' And 'A Spotlight Hogger'

Chris Jericho has had a difficult 2024 on All Elite Wrestling programming, with the 53-year-old regularly receiving "please retire" chants at shows as the audience, in arenas at least, appear to have grown tired of seeing the former AEW World Champion on TV.

TV Insider asked Jericho why he thinks people see him as "selfish" and "a spotlight hogger", to which Jericho responded: 

"I love using the Jericho Vortex as a positive thing. Not every single feud or story you tell in wrestling will work, but I have to say in AEW that 90 per cent of the guys I've worked with and stories told have been pretty good. That goes back to day one. I think I worked with Darby Allin in week three without knowing who he was. Orange Cassidy, Jack Perry, Scorpio Sky and beyond that. Even Cody Rhodes. Cody was not who he was now. He was a guy who had been a journeyman and then became one of the top guys in AEW. He was earmarked to be, but I did a lot to put a spotlight on him. Same with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, Hangman Page. Jon Moxley was not Mox and was still the remnants of Dean Ambrose when he came into AEW. We worked together and he was on the road to where he is now, which is completely next level. MJF we worked together for a year. Max became way better after working with me. Eddie Kingston, too. The Inner Circle, The Jericho Appreciation Society, Danny Garcia."

Jericho then attributed the negative sentiment towards him to never suffering a major injury while in AEW. 

"I think one of the reasons is I've never been hurt. I've been here since day one and on all the shows by necessity. Not because I demand TV time. My boss wants to put me on the show and do these segments and draw the ratings I draw. I'd say 80 per cent of the time or more ratings go up when I'm on TV. That's another misconception that I have this go-away heat. Go look at ratings and I'm in one of the highest rating segments each week. Once in a while, you do lose, but that's the law of averages. I don't know. I just think there are a lot of angry people that are unhappy I'm still doing this at a high level. Only five years in and here we are on the verge of this gigantic television deal that will change the course of wrestling history the same way we did it in 2019. The same way me and Kenny Omega did it in the Tokyo Dome in 2018," Jericho continued.

"People were mad at The Rolling Stones. I remember 1989 when the 'Steel Wheels' record came out and critics dissed them and called them steel wheelchair, and that they were too old. I just saw them a couple of weeks ago and at 80 years old they're still f'n amazing. They didn't listen to anyone when they were told to retire. Why should I? I'm having a great time and still contributing," he added.

"When that time comes when it's not good or feeling the same way, I'll make that decision. Nobody will tell me what to do, especially wrestling fans who are very fickle anyway. People are going to react the way they are going to react. It's my job to read the room and create stories and characters accordingly. I'm doing everything I can to make AEW a better team and make the guys I work with better performers and pro wrestlers and as a result, I'm getting better working with them as well."

Chris Jericho will be in a featured spot at AEW All In on Sunday, August 25 inside Wembley Stadium. The leader of the Learning Tree will defend the FTW Championship against HOOK.