Chris Jericho comments on the possibility of Becky Lynch leaving WWE for AEW
During an interview with TMZ.com, Chris Jericho commented on the possibility of Becky Lynch leaving WWE for AEW now that her contract is expiring…
“It’s very important because the best thing that ever happened to pro wrestling in the modern era was AEW existing. My dad played for the NHL for ten years. He was playing for the New York Rangers in 1972. And Bobby Hull signed with the WHA and got a million dollars to jump from the NHL. And what did that do? It raised everybody’s salaries. He went from 135. He went from 35 grand to 135 grand just so they wouldn’t go to WHA. That’s what happened when All Elite Wrestling started when Chris Jericho signed there. Suddenly, everybody’s getting these huge raises in WWE right not to come to AEW. Tony Khan, our owner, owns the Jaguars. You know, they have a lot of money in the family, so he can play that game all day long. And that’s why we brought in Will Ospreay, Mercedes Mone, and Kazuchika Okada.
You mentioned Becky Lynch. Five years ago, Becky would have no other options. [I’m] Not saying that she’s coming, but there is an option. And who knows what could happen? You know, no one thought that Jericho would come to AEW, no one thought that Moxley would come, or Bryan Danielson, or Adam Cole, or any of these guys that have come over. So it’s exciting for the fans. And it’s exciting for the wrestlers and the talent because now, suddenly, there’s a bidding war that benefits us. So I think it’s very important. And listen, that was one of the things of being in the Attitude Era, and the Monday Night Wars with Nitro and Raw, you never knew who was going to show up, right? You know, and when somebody new would come from whatever side it was to the other, it made things so much more exciting, so many more matches that you can write so many more possibilities of seeing guys go up against each other that you never thought about. So it’s a really exciting time in wrestling.”
Jericho also said the following…
“Whether it happens or doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter that the buzz about it is there. The possibility is there. And, like I said, I think we’ve done a great job of bringing in some really huge names into our roster. We just had Sting retire earlier this year. I think Sting meant more in AEW than he ever did anywhere else except for maybe WCW. And in the late 90s. You know, we’ve done a really good job with building our legends, building the talent that we’ve brought in, and building our home base stars. I love working for the Khan family because they have a very sports-oriented mentality, from owning the Jags or owning Fulham in the Premier League in England; the football team their soccer as we say, you’ve got your season vets that have won Stanley Cups. And you’ve got guys in their prime that are scoring 40-50 goals a year. Then you’ve got the guys that are the grinders that are still starting to feel, then you’ve got the rookies that are up and coming right, and you’ve got the farm team of guys waiting to get onto the roster. I think we’ve got a great team, and AEW is a good mix. And you have to have a team mentality when you’re in pro wrestling because every segment, every match on the show, has to build to the next to make the overall show amazing. Everybody plays their part like a great team. You know that the show will be amazing and that the company will benefit from that.” (quotes courtesy of WrestlingNews.co)