On his most recent Talk Is Jericho, new AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho gave listeners a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the ongoings at All Out. In some brief clips of the episode, Jericho explains why the AEW World Title match should always go on last despite some people thinking that the ladder match between The Young Bucks and Lucha Bros should have been the finale of the show due to the spectacle of it all. Jericho breaks down his reasoning, using the 1977 classic two-out-of-three falls match between Harley Race and Terry Funk as an example. Read his quote below:
“There’s been some debates that ‘Well you should have put the ladder match on last cause you can’t follow it. I disagree. The World Title match is The World Title match and that’s why you put guys in there that can have a World Title match. Now before I get into the kind of the mechanics of this, I was watching a match that Steve Austin sent me (yes, Steve Austin and I are still very good friends. He’s allowed to be friends with me.) It was Harley Race vs. Terry Funk, 1977 Houston for the NWA Title, best two out of three falls. They went 45 minutes, they didn’t do anything, but it was one of the best matches I’ve seen. It was a true World Title match. What is a true World Title match? A true World Title match should have a story, it should have intensity, it should have some viciousness and it should be completely between two men that are fighting for the biggest prize in the sport. And if you can’t put that on last, then you shouldn’t be a champion. If you can’t put that on last, then you shouldn’t have a World Title because any single person that is in that business, any single performer in AEW, male or female, their goal should be to be the champion…”
In addition to that, the Champ also talked about the great match between Kenny Omega and PAC, in which “The Bastard” came out victorious. Jericho mentions that the two were upset because the match was cut for time, but Jericho even goes to state how he thinks it was the best match of the event.
“I didn’t see the match but I could hear it and afterwards, both Kenny and PAC were mad because I guess their match went too long and they ran out of time and they had to cut out a bunch of stuff and they were not happy about it and meanwhile it’s like the best match of the show…”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Listen to the full episode of Talk Is Jericho below: