Chris Jericho Rips The AOP Being Paired With Drake Maverick
AOP made their main roster debut on the Raw after WrestleMania but they struggled to find their footing early on. They booted their manager, Paul Ellering, and were floundering in their first couple of months outside of the NXT bubble.
They then decided to add Drake Maverick as their manager and under his guidance AOP won their first Raw Tag Titles by defeating Seth Rollins in a handicap match. Even though they are the current champions, Chris Jericho isn't a fan of the AOP-Maverick pairing as he explained on his Talk is Jericho podcast.
"I think the concept of AOP is cool as they were obviously very popular on NXT," Jericho said. "I have a problem? AOP in NXT were managed by Paul Ellering who used to manage the Road Warriors. Now, they bring Akam and Rezar to the main roster and the first night they fire Paul Ellering. I never got that.
"This is nothing against anybody. They bring in this dude, Drake Maverick. This is a guy who actually said my name is Rockstar Spud."
Jericho and his co-hosts then talk about Maverick's time in Impact and the UK as Rockstar Spud. Jericho then makes it clear that while he has nothing against Maverick/Spud, pairing him with AOP doesn't make sense.
"This is nothing against Rockstar Spud," Jericho stated. "Here's my problem: why would these two behemoths listen to this little? he looks like he's model from a teen magazine. They would listen to the grizzled old vet of Paul Ellering, but why would they listen to Drake Maverick Rockstar Spud?"
Jericho then says to his co-host, "This would be [like] you managing Undertaker and Kane! It doesn't make any sense. It's stupid, idiot BS! That bothers me. If they came up to me and said 'Drake Maverick's going to be your manager.' I'd be like 'Why? No. What is he going to tell me that I don't already know?'
"Akam and Rezar, they're young guys, but so is Drake Maverick. Why would the young guys listen to Drake Maverick when they could have listened to Paul Ellering who's already taken a team to the top?"
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Talk is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk is Jericho