Chris Jericho Details Changing Role In AEW & Focusing On Young Talent

Chris Jericho Details Evolving AEW Role & Shift Away From Chasing Victories

AEW star and former World Champion Chris Jericho believes his priority inside the squared circle has fundamentally changed at this stage of his legendary career.

Appearing on TMZ’s Inside the Ring, the multi-time World Champion reflected on his recent AEW programs alongside stars like MJF, Will Ospreay, and Bandido, emphasizing that personal win-loss records no longer define his success.

Redefining Success Beyond Win-Loss Records

Jericho explained that modern success is measured by how much a feud elevates his opponent’s overall profile, character depth, and connection with the audience:

Moving Past The Need To Win: “I don’t have to win ever again,” Jericho admitted. “Sometimes I do because, if not, then you’re just losing all the time, which isn’t great for stories.”
Unlocking Opponents’ Potential: Rather than protecting his own record, Jericho focuses on refining in-ring performance: “It doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It’s about putting on the best performance and putting on the best match and helping guys or girls find something maybe that they didn’t quite know that was there just yet.”
Lessons From 1996 WCW: Jericho credited his current mindset to veterans like Terry Taylor and Arn Anderson, who mentored him when he entered WCW as an unrefined performer: “The Chris Jericho character was not good in ’96 WCW. When I first got there, right, you know, I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

Character Connection Over In-Ring “Bangers”

While high-octane matches remain a staple of modern professional wrestling, Jericho underscored that charisma and narrative development remain the ultimate factors in creating lasting main-event talent.

“That’s what wrestling is, is connecting with the audience. It’s not just about bangers, which are great to have them, but personality and charisma and storyline and personas are the most important thing about being in pro wrestling and really making it to the top echelon. You have to connect with the audience.”

By prioritizing character investment over pure work rate, Jericho continues to structure his television presence around building the next generation of headliners.