Chris Jericho Gives His Opinion On Which Stars Cut The Best Promos In AEW
In just a little over one year, AEW has already created some of the most memorable promos in recent wrestling memory.
From Kenny Omega tearing Jon Moxley to shreds after he got hurt ahead of All Out 2019, to Jake Roberts 'Oh, Caesar' verbal jabs at Cody, AEW is stock full of rich promos since before they were even a weekly TV program.
Speaking on Keeping it 100 with Konnan, Chris Jericho discussed the AEW promo style and how he wants to mix it up a bit with some old-school elements.
"It's funny because somebody was pointing that out, the old school promo or something, and I watched that just today," Jericho said. "Actually, Ricky Starks did one and I was like– I text Cody and Tony and I was like, 'When did you guys start doing this? I want to do this! This is how I learned how to do promos in the box in WCW, we'd have those in the back."
Jericho went on to say too many wrestlers fall in the trap of emphasizing acting. While acting is an integral part of wrestling, Le Champion says you have to do it at the appropriate times and not make it feel artificial.
"It's rare that they can find good actors," Jericho said. "But take an example like Cody. He knows how to raise the voice at the right time. Dustin Rhodes, he knows exactly where to kick it in. I feel I'm the same way, but there is a lot of guys just basically talking."
As one of the most prominent chameleons in wrestling history, Jericho has shape-shifted dozens of times over the past three decades, reinventing himself to stay fresh with the ever-evolving wrestling scene. One of Jericho's most popular gimmicks, the soft-spoken suit and tie heel, did "just talk," but Y2J stressed that those style promos had a defined purpose.
"When I started doing that, no one was doing promos like that," Jericho said. "It was very much like Disco said, just a bunch of yelling and screaming. I said, 'Let me take it the exact opposite way and turn it down.' I remember sometimes I'd be doing a promo and someone in the crowd would say, 'We can't hear you!' And in my mind, it was like, well then you better f–king listen then. And that's when they'd really start to listen to what you're saying. And when they're really listening, that's when you can reel 'em in because you know they have no choice but to really listen to what you're saying. That was in 2008, and here we are in 2020 and almost everybody's doing promos like that but without the reason behind it."
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