Chris Jericho Weighs In On the Notion That AEW Has an Identity Crisis

Chris Jericho recently responded to fan criticisms that AEW is in the midst of an “identity crisis” regarding its style. There has been criticism online from vocal fans over the last several weeks that AEW is relying too much on the sports entertainment aspect of wrestling and not what made it an alternative to WWE. Jericho spoke with WFAA and was asked about the criticism.

“People’s opinions are opinions, especially on social media, when everybody is going to say what they think, with no consequences, and mostly negativity,” Jericho said (per Fightful). “I think our shows have been great, the matches have been great, and we’ve done a great job of balancing the storylines along with these amazing matches. The most important thing we’ve been doing is building stars. I’m sure people on the Dallas Cowboys or people making movies or if you’re in a band — it’s like being a KISS fan. KISS fans hate everything, but they still buy everything. I find a lot of wrestling fans are like that too. They hate everything. If you listen to public opinion online, I should be shot and killed and never show my face on wrestling again because I’m the worst possible thing that could ever happen to the business, me still being in existence.”

He continued, “Either you believe that or you don’t, and I don’t. I don’t think the majority of people do either, but people are still going to say that. It’s your opinion. I never worry about people that don’t like what we do because you can’t convince them, they just don’t like it, and that’s fine. It’s your opinion. I worry about the people that do like our show and worry about making new fans of our show, that’s the most important thing,” he said.