The Inner Circle (AEW World Champion Chris Jericho, Santana, Ortiz, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager) is one of the most, if not the most dominating factions in the wrestling industry today. Interestingly enough, the five members of the group were not the original choices AEW had for the Inner Circle.
On a recent episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast, fellow Inner Circle member Sammy Guevara joined the AEW World Champion. They talked about who was supposed to join the faction as the company’s original choices.
This is what Chris Jericho said:
“One of the ideas was originally the Lucha Brothers. And I thought, well they’re too much superheroes. I want like killers and Santana & Ortiz perfect. Then I suggested MJF. It was like we should keep him on his own. And then your name was mentioned. Perfect. Sammy’s great. Now we need a big guy. Who’s it going to be? And they wanted to use a, they just signed a boxer from the UK. And I was like he’s not big enough. I said Hager’s the guy. So, we got him. So that’s kind of how the whole thing got together. It was very much each guy plays a role and has a certain part within the system of the circle.”
The Inner Circle was supposed to comprise of the Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr.), MJF and boxer Anthony Ogogo and they will surely be a huge success. But the current members of the Inner Circle are a perfect fit for the group. With AEW World Champion Chris Jericho as the leader, Jake Hager as the powerful big man and Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz as the aerial and speed masters.
AEW World Champion Chris Jericho also noted that “Five Fingers Form A fist” was supposed to be the name of the faction and not “The Inner Circle.” Tony Khan wasn’t a fan of the idea and Chris Jericho remembered a line from an episode of “Being The Elite” when the Young Bucks liked the mentioning of his Inner Circle and that is how “The Inner Circle” name started.
