AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho recently did an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote AEW Revolution.
During the interview, Jericho was asked about the feeling there has been an increase of five-year deals coming from WWE to talents who sign new deals with the company. According to Jericho, he thinks he’s the reason for WWE doing so.
“It reminds me of when Bobby Hull signed with the WHA in 1972 after he was the top star in the NHL. He signed with the WHA for a million dollars. The next day, everybody in the NHL got a raise to not go to the WHA, my dad included. He went from $35,000 to $100,00 overnight because of Bobby Hull.
Fast-forward almost 50 years, his son, Chris Jericho, is now the new Bobby Hull. The moment I signed with AEW, everybody in WWE got a raise. Point being, it’s like we’ve become the enemy. It’s not on our end. We’re not competition, we’re an alternative. We provide an option.”
Jericho thought it was best for him to jump from WWE to join AEW, which at the time early last year, AEW didn’t have a television deal in place. Of course, they landed a big one by airing their weekly television show, Dynamite, every Wednesday night on TNT.
WWE has been locking up talent with these types of deals in order to keep them under contract so they won’t go to AEW. While some stars have stayed with the company, there have been others who have jumped ship.
These stars are like Dustin Rhodes, Shawn Spears, and most likely Luke Harper.
