Vince McMahon's Reaction To Steve Austin Wanting Chris Jericho On His WWE Network Show

By Marc Middleton

AEW President & CEO Tony Khan gave his approval to Chris Jericho for the upcoming Broken Skull Sessions interview with WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin on Peacock and the WWE Network.

As noted, WWE announced this morning via teaser video that the interview will premiere on Sunday, April 11, which is Night Two of WrestleMania 37. The full WWE announcement on the interview does not mention AEW, but does note that the "historic edition" of Broken Skull Sessions will see Jericho "return to WWE programming for the first time in nearly three years." WWE billed Jericho as one of "the most decorated Superstars in sports-entertainment history."

Austin spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and said having someone from AEW on a WWE show is "pretty damn cool."

"Having someone from there on a WWE show, especially the caliber of Chris Jericho, is pretty damn cool," Austin said. "Chris spent almost 20 years in WWE. When you talk about best runs in the history of the business, Chris Jericho's name is going to come up."

Austin revealed that Jericho reached out to him after his Broken Skull Sessions interview with The Undertaker aired back in late November. That conversation led to Jericho being booked for his interview. Austin confirmed that he did talk with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon about it.

"I was having a beer one night after my Broken Skull Sessions interview with The Undertaker aired, and out of the blue, Chris Jericho reached out and said, 'Man, that was a great interview,' " Austin recalled. "I sent him back a couple of those emojis, one of a beer mug and the other of an eagle, and then he called me right then and there.

"We got to talking. I've always respected the hell out of his career, and I'm glad they're around—it gives the guys and girls in professional wrestling more places to work. I said, 'I'd love to have you on the show.' And he said he'd love to do it, so I checked with Vince [McMahon] about it."

Austin addressed whether or not Vince was hesitant to give his approval for Jericho to appear on the WWE Network show.

"I texted Vince and said we had this badass idea about Jericho coming on the show," Austin said. "Vince goes, 'It's cool. Go ahead.' But me and Vince don't always do well with phones and texts and all that, so I texted one more time, 'Are you sure it's O.K. to have Chris Jericho on the show?' Vince gave me the thumbs up, and Chris came out to do the show."

Austin praised the top AEW star and noted that the interview was a priority because he needed to break down and analyze Jericho's legendary, and still active, body of work.

Austin said no topic was off-limits with Jericho. He added that he is looking forward to keeping everyone on their toes, ranging from fans to WWE executives.

"We go into everything," Austin said. "Jericho is one of the all-time greats, and it's going to be cool to have someone from AEW on a WWE show. To bottom line it, I'm excited for people to watch this show."

Jericho tweeted about the interview and used Khan's "Forbidden Door" line.

"Kickin open the #ForbiddenDoor! #AustinVsJericho April 11 on @peacockTV! #BrokenSkullSessions @steveaustinBSR @AEW @wwe," he wrote.

Stay tuned for more on the Austin – Jericho WWE Network interview. You can see their related tweets below, along with the original teaser:

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