Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston started being linked together after AEW Full Gear when Kingston wanted more for his guys Santana & Ortiz.
The two would be friends with common enemies before becoming competitors and now bitter rivals as Jericho fully turned on Kingston, Santana & Ortiz to align with Daniel Garcia, 2point0, and Jake Hager as the Jericho Appreciation Society.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Jericho explained how he was able to pivot when he heard the reactions to his storyline and promos with Kingston.
"I'd love to be able to tell you that I had this big overarching plan that was put into place in November when we started doing this thing with Eddie Kingston and I. It wasn't. It was just reading the room and evolving. My original idea was for maybe, Eddie, and (Jon) Moxley to be an alliance as babyfaces. I never really thought about turning heel. I always had this real romantic idea of never breaking up the Inner Circle and having us be together until the end. Once we started rolling and moving, I realized there was a lot we could do with it. When we were in Bridgeport, Connecticut, we had a promo and Eddie came out there and was like, 'I don't know why I'm out here. This is pro wrestling, not sports entertainment, if you want that, go down the block.' People just responded with a huge half cheer, half boo disdain for 'sports entertainment.' I was like, 'Oh, oh, our fanbase doesn't like that term. Interesting.' Then the wheels go into motion and you start thinking of 'maybe we can do something like this.' The sports entertainment thing came from listening to the fans and realizing, 'they don't like this, I do. I'm a sports entertainer at heart. Let's talk about it and make it a thing on screen,' and that's what we did," he said.
Jericho noted that he could spend an hour getting into the formation of the Jericho Appreciation Society, but didn't detail everything during his interview.
He is set to team with Hager & Garcia to take on Kingston, Santana & Ortiz on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite. Fans can check the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
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