Chris Jericho joined AEW when the promotion first launched in 2019, before the promotion had ever held an event or secured a television deal.
Jericho later became the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion for AEW. During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Scorpio Sky praised the future Hall of Famer.
“I always tell people Chris Jericho legitimized AEW in the early days. Because people looked at us, and they knew there was talent, and they’re like, Okay, Young Bucks, SCU, Kenny Omega… But when Chris Jericho signs on, that’s when the television networks are like, Oh, okay, they’ve got a guy. I always think it’s similar to when Hulk Hogan went to WCW in the mid-90s. It’s just like, it puts that stamp, okay, we’ve arrived. For him to come in and take young talent like myself, like Jungle Boy, Darby… I just described myself as a younger talent [laughs]. But also, he’s worked with so many guys, and made us all good in some way, shape, or form, whether he won the match or not. He put us up there with him, and he doesn’t have to do that. But that just shows he’s a giving guy and that helped me a lot in the very early stages of AEW.”
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