Chris Jericho Talks WWE's "Confining" Creative Process, Cutting First Unscripted Promo In 20 Years

By Raj Giri

Chris Jericho pulled double duty at AEW Fight For The Fallen, even though he didn't have a match on the show. Jericho first attacked his upcoming All Out opponent, Adam "Hangman" Page, following Page's victory over Kip Sabian. Later in the evening, Jericho cut a promo hyping up his match with Page.

At the post-event scrum, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Jericho about his recent interview with Jon Moxley where Moxley was critical of the WWE creative process. Jericho noted that Moxley had been thinking about the interview for awhile, and it's just how things are done there.

"[Moxley] thought about it for weeks about what he was going to say," Jericho revealed. "I think it really kind of exposed and opened up a lot of Pandora's boxes about what it's like in WWE.

"This is not a burial of WWE. When you work there, it's how it is. If you work in a factory and they tell you that you have to put this box in this conveyer belt every day and that's how you make your money, then you do it, and if you don't like it you go somewhere else. That system is very confining when it comes to a lot of creativity."

Jericho noted to Wrestling Inc. that his promo at Fight For The Fallen was unscripted, and that it was the first unscripted promo that he's done in 20 years.

"Tonight is the first time in 20 years that I've ever done a promo with no script, with no approval of what I say and really with no idea of what I'm going to say," Jericho said. "I was just knowing that I have a point and some directions that I may or may not want to go... when Hangman got busted open that changed the entire design of the promo and it was very liberating.

"I think it worked out very well and of course I can do it, but we'd never, ever get that chance to do that in WWE. So it's the other side of the coin, if you want creative freedom, we can give you that in AEW. I think that's one of the reasons why there's such a buzz about the company, it's because the fans can feel that."

Jericho will face "Hangman" Adam Page at the All Out pay-per-view on Saturday, August 31 near Chicago. The winner will be crowned the first-ever AEW World Heavyweight Champion.

You can listen to Jericho's comments to Wrestling Inc. below:

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