The Jericho Appreciation Society came together on the March 9 episode of AEW Dynamite with Jericho splitting from Santana & Ortiz, officially ending the Inner Circle.
Jericho previously revealed that he wanted to "respectfully split" the Inner Circle after Stadium Stampede against The Pinnacle. He also revealed that he wanted to form a group with Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley.
Jericho and Kingston were feuding at the time and were being attacked by 2point0 (Daddy Magic Matt Mennard and Cool Hand Angelo Parker) and Daniel Garcia. During their feud, Kingston referenced Jericho holding Santana & Ortiz back.
All of this led to Jericho's idea to form the Jericho Appreciation Society.
"I thought, 'this [Kingston bringing up Santana & Ortiz] is interesting, we can have some dissension here.' Then, the fateful moment where Daniel Bryan is going to align with Moxley and he goes, 'We can bring in Moriarty, we can bring in Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia.' I was like, 'is this a thing? If it is, we've built up these three guys who have beat up Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho and now they're going to break it apart? These guys have to stay together. They have to stay together with me! It's perfect.' It hit me like, 'Holy shit.' Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz have history, they do their thing, I start a new faction with you three and Jake because Jake and I have always been together since day one and I need a killer. 'This could really work.' That's the original idea I pitched to Tony and said, 'What do you think about this? I know it's weird,'" recalled Jericho on Talk Is Jericho.
Jericho continued, revealing his original name for the group.
"The original idea for this whole plan, the name of it was going to be The Citadel. I thought The Citadel was great. I said it to Tony and there was no pop for it whatsoever. I was like, 'The Citadel sucks. I need something better.' I was looking at the Art Appreciation Society or something like that, some weird email of 'if you like this, maybe you should check out the Art Appreciation Society in downtown Detroit.' Then, The Jericho Appreciation Society was just cheesy enough. It's pretentious," he said.
Jericho noted how The Inner Circle was five men with different opinions while the JAS were four guys who would appreciate Jericho.
The Jericho Appreciation Society is set to take on Danielson, Kingston, Moxley, Santana & Ortiz in an Anarchy in the Arena match at AEW Double or Nothing. Fans can view the current lineup for the card by clicking here.
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