Chris Jericho explains idea behind AEW name change
Chris Jericho took inspiration from some of his favorite bands when coming up with the idea for his recent AEW name change.
Since returning to AEW at the start of April, Jericho has mostly just been going by “Jericho,” dropping his first name from his wrestling moniker. He told Ringer Wrestling that the idea came from self-titled or overly basic album names. When fans hear the name “Jericho,” he feels like it brings back all of the memories they’ve experienced throughout his career.
“I like the idea of what I’m doing now with ‘Jericho.’ And by not using that first name a lot, it created this whole intrigue online like, ‘What’s he doing? What’s the idea? What’s the reason?’ And honestly, it’s like a self-titled album,” Jericho said. “That’s where I kind of got the idea from.
“I could create a dozen other nicknames, but how many more do I need? Everyone knows who Jericho is. And when you hear that name, then you can go remember whatever memories you have on your own. So it really is like Metallica, ‘The Black Album.’ It doesn’t need to be called anything. You know who Metallica is, you know what’s going on. The Beatles, ‘The White Album,’ same thing. That’s kind of what the idea is for the ‘Jericho’ era. And I like it. I like what’s been going on and going with the flow and seeing what’s working and what’s not.”
When asked if he has a favorite period of his career, Jericho said he feels like it’s always best to name the current era. He returned to AEW last month after persistent rumors that he could be heading back to WWE. Jericho would not directly address that speculation in this interview with The Ringer but said he enjoyed how fans interpreted rumors as fact. Because of the tribalism that exists in wrestling, there would have been a portion of fans happy and a portion of fans unhappy with whatever happened.
“I never said the rumors became fact, I said that the rumors became fact to the fans. But I’ll leave that for another day,” Jericho said. “I like the idea of the intrigue.”
This Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view in New York City will see Jericho compete in a Stadium Stampede match. It’s Jericho, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, The Young Bucks, Jack Perry & Kenny Omega vs. Ricochet, The Gates of Agony, Mark Davis, Andrade El Idolo, Clark Connors & David Finlay.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.