AEW Plays Chris Jericho's Music During Dynamite Run-In, Drowning Out Crowd Reaction

As Big Bill put a beating to Sammy Guevara following the latter's win over Ricky Starks on tonight's episode of "AEW Dynamite," Chris Jericho hit the ring to even the sides. That's par for the course on a wrestling show, but it was impossible not to notice that Jericho's theme music played throughout the entire segment, drowning out any noise from the crowd, including their customary singing of "Judas" — little of which seemed to be happening. The extended playing of Jericho's music did not appear to be a production mistake and may have been put into place to mask an anticipated negative reaction from the Jacksonville crowd.

The episode marked Jericho's first live appearance on "Dynamite" since he was compared to Harvey Weinstein in a "skeletons-in-the-closet" reference by Haus of Wrestling's Nick Hausman. During a presser following the Worlds End pay-per-view, AEW CEO Tony Khan said he couldn't speak to "internet and unsourced rumors" and lauded the overall safety of the company. Khan was forced to answer questions about Jericho after he was vociferously booed during his Worlds End match, despite nominally being a babyface. Jericho has yet to address the rumors.

Earlier Wednesday, Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net reported that Jericho was knocked out by current WWE performer MVP back in 2020 on his "Rock N' Wrestling Rager At Sea – Part Deux: Second Wave" cruise. Jericho and Guevara have an opportunity to capture the AEW Tag Team Championships when they face Bill and Starks in a street fight at Saturday's "Battle of the Belts" event.