Chris Jericho Reveals His Jump from WWE to AEW as Riskiest Career Move

In a recent conversation with Allison Hagendorf, AEW superstar Chris Jericho described his transition from WWE to AEW as the most daring move of his career (via Wrestling Inc). Jericho acknowledged the uncertainty involved, given WWE's long-standing stranglehold on the wrestling industry. He expressed surprise at AEW's swift rise to prominence. Below are key takeaways from Jericho's discussion, and the complete interview is available for viewing.

On his decision to exit WWE for AEW:

"Probably leaving WWE to go with AEW. We didn’t even have TV at the time. Just my boss, Tony Khan, had a lot of passion, and he had the money for it, and we had a roster of guys that I felt could do something. When I got involved, we were able to get on TBS and kind of went from there. So I just think it was one of those things where I thought, ‘I’ve done all I can do in WWE, and I can stay here, but I don’t want to just stay here. I don’t want to just be a guy. Let’s try and change history. Let’s make wrestling a better industry.'"

On the unexpected success of AEW:

"And we’ve done that because now there’s a viable second company that people can work at and fans can watch. But it was a real risk, man, because WWE had such a monopoly for so many years. For us to come in there and get such a great demo and a great fanbase out of the gate is something I don’t think anybody really expected. They thought we’d be dead and gone in six months."