AEW fans are some of the most outspoken in the industry, and Chris Jericho was particularly displeased with one aspect of their cheering and mocking. Wizard is arguably the most seasoned veteran of any elite wrestling team and legally qualified to ascend to the Rushmore summit of professional wrestling. He has competed in major competitions in WWE, WCW, AEW and NJPW and has successfully reinvented himself many times.
The current version of his character’s heel is a heat-seeking missile – both on the microphone and when he launches fireballs at his opponent’s face. That has opened the door for Jericho to boldly speak out on a number of topics over the past few months. The Jericho Appreciation Association has been at the heart of the AEW program ever since double or nothing, This veteran had a personal feud with Eddie Kingston for a while.
In a recent interview on the True Geordie podcast, Jericho addressed the issue of wrestling fans screaming during matches. “Everything happens in the game. The word that I hate the most when fans use it is “terrible”. “Oh, you screwed up.” Shut up. There is no such thing as “broken”. It’s a live show. Mistakes will happen. Why? Because we are human, we are sentient beings.“He expanded on those thoughts and said that fans wouldn’t shout for being wrong in other forms of live entertainment.”If that were to happen during a hockey game, the fans wouldn’t be chanting “bastard, son of a bitch” in unison. If you go to a Broadway play and someone says the wrong lines, people won’t start chanting “bastard, son of a bitch”. You enter a wrestling match and miss a butt toss. Everyone started chanting. That is meaningless. It’s disrespectful. And wrestling fans have shown disrespectful behavior.” (transliterated from www.sescoops.com)
One can see both sides of this argument. The general feeling has always been that when fans pay, they can cheer or boo anyone or anyone they want. However, Jericho did not object to this. His view seems to be that negative exhortations are unnecessary if a move is made incorrectly in a spotless 12-minute game.
There have been several examples of this recently. In WWE, Shorts ‘blow away’ a point or two in a match money in the bank Ladder contest. The backlash from fans was such that the superstar deleted her social media accounts to protect her mental health. It’s one thing to laugh at a poorly played game. However, AEW rarely organizes such events and wrestlers should have some space when hosting them weekly.
Source: True Geordie Podcast, www.sescoops.com