One of AEW’s top star “Le Champion” Chris Jericho recently took to his Talk Is Jericho podcast, where he brought his entire Inner Circle faction and spoke to them on the Stadium Stampede Match and how the Inner Circle faction was formed.
Chris Jericho said that from the moment he came to AEW, the idea was that he has a faction and that Tony Khan really wanted it and thought it was a good idea.
This is what Chris Jericho said:
“The moment that I came to AEW, the idea was for me to have a faction.” “Tony Khan really wanted that and thought it was a good idea, and I never had a faction before. I’ve had tag team partners but being the leader of a faction kind of stood out to me. I thought it was a good idea, so then we had to figure out who are we going to get involved in this and throw around different ideas and come up with his whole amazing group that we have.”
Sammy Guevara would then talk about Nick Jackson approaching him during All Out weekend and asking him to be in Chris Jericho’s faction. Guevara said that he didn’t believe Nick Jackson at first and thought Nick Jackson was just ribbing him until the first episode of Dynamite came and he realized that this is a real thing.
This is what Sammy Guevara said:
“It was probably All Out weekend. It was Nick Jackson.” “He was like, ‘you know you’re going to be in this group?’ I thought he was ribbing me. I’m like, ‘what group?’ He’s like, ‘you’re gonna be in a big faction with Jericho,’ and I’m like, ‘yeah, OK.’ So I heard a little bit of talk about that, but it’s wrestling so you don’t know anything until it actually happens. Then finally that day like, ‘alright, here’s what’s happening at the end of the show on the first episode of Dynamite.’ It’s like whoa, this is a real thing.”
Chris Jericho then revealed that he saw Sammy Guevara on the NWA 70th Anniversary Show. He also said that he wanted MJF, Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix as part of The Inner Circle prior to Santana and Ortiz being chosen as he didn’t know that much about them at first.
This is what Chris Jericho said:
“It’s funny. I saw you on a NWA show,” “I watched Cody vs. Nick Aldis. I was watching, and I saw you on it. I text Tony going, ‘this Sammy Guevara guy. We should bring him in.’ So it was kind of right from the start that I kind of had an eye on you. I can’t remember who the first choice of different guys were, but I remember, at one point, I was like, ‘I’d like to have MJF.’ He’s like, ‘well, he’s gonna do his own thing.’ Well, Sammy is kind of the same idea. I wanted a young, up-and-coming and charismatic guy.”
“Then I wanted a tag team, and one of the ideas that was suggested was Pentagon and Fenix. And I said, ‘it’s too gimmicky. I don’t want gimmicks.’ Then right after that it was, what about LAX, at the time, Santana and Ortiz, and we had met briefly. You were on the first cruise, but I didn’t really know you guys, didn’t really know that much about you.”
Chris Jericho then revealed that boxer Anthony Ogogo was one of the ideas pitched to be a member of The Inner Circle prior to Jake Hager being chosen. Jericho also noted that Tony Khan was a huge fan of Hager’s.
This is what Chris Jericho said:
“One of the ideas was they wanted a guy called Anthony Ogogo.” “They were saying, ‘what do you think about this Anthony Ogogo guy?’ I said, ‘well, he’s never wrestled. How tall is he?’ He was like 5’11”. I said, ‘I need a big guy, and I got the guy.’ The thing about Tony is he is beyond a fan. He’s really smart. As we all know, he’s almost bullish. He knows what he wants, and he also knows his guys.”
“I said, ‘what do you think about Swagger?’ And he’s like, ‘I’ve always loved Jack Swagger. I always thought he was great.’ I said, ‘I think I can get him. He’s the guy. He’s the guy,’ and lo and behold, you guys worked it out. You can still fight in Bellator, and when the COVID is done, you will still fight in Bellator again, but in the meantime, your career has completely skyrocketed as a result too. So it was a win-win for everybody.”
