Chris Jericho goes in-depth about everything that went into his match with Action Andretti on AEW Dynamite.
On the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, the All Elite Wrestling star reflected on some of his biggest moments in the last few years of the company. One career highlight for Jericho was discovering Action Andretti and putting him over on AEW Dynamite.
“So I had seen Action earlier in the year in Washington, DC. And he did a really good match against QT Marshall,” Chris Jericho began. “And I saw it, and I said to Tony, what do you think? He’s like; he’s really good. And I said, let me go see if he can do a promo. So I had Sonjay Dutt, who does a lot of our backstage promos; I said take him outside and have him do a couple promos.
“So he’s doing a couple of promos, and I was kind of hiding, and then I walk out to where he can see me. And I said, ‘Okay, now do a promo on Sammy Guevara.’ And with no hesitation, he did this perfect one-minute promo about Sammy Guevara with me standing right in front of them.
“Now once again, am I anything to be intimidated by? Well, to some, you might say, but I just felt like if I was standing there as a young guy and like The Undertaker came and stood in front of me as I was going to do a promo. I’d probably feel a little nervous and might be like give me five minutes just to get this in my head. He’s had none of that. He legit just went into this promo.
Chris Jericho was impressed by Action Andretti’s promo work
“And I thought, wow, he’s really good. So I said to Tony we should sign him. But if you sign him, I got an idea. Don’t put him on TV, not Dark or anything. So he gets signed, and then he’s just sitting at home. And he’s like hey man, I’m just [sitting at home]. I said just be cool. Just stay there. When the time is right, you’ll know.
“Then here we are in Garland, Texas, which I believe is right outside of Dallas. And I show up, and he had no idea what was going on, and I brought him into the office. I said here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to have a tune-up match, and we’re going to make you look really good. And then you’re going to beat me clean with your finish. And you should have seen the look on his face where he was like a dream come true. Like what? And that’s exactly what we did.
“And I remember when we came out, the crowd was having fun because they were chanting let’s go, jobber. Because I put it together where he looks really good. Then, of course, I hit him with the Codebreaker. And everyone knows that the stats to finish except for it wasn’t, and he kicks out.”
Chris Jericho believes no one could have predicted he was about to lose to Action Andretti
“So we come back from break, and then now people are really into the match,” Chris Jericho continued. “Because now they think okay, he’s still not going to win. But this is going to be pretty exciting stuff. And lo and behold, what does he do? He wins with a running Shooting Star Press. 1-2-3, the crowd goes nuts.
“He runs around. High fives and jumps in the ring. It was one of the coolest moments of my career because nobody saw coit ming. Not one person could predict that this Action Andretti was going to beat Chris Jericho in one of the biggest upsets in pro wrestling history.”
Jericho reflected upon the aftermath of the match and believes Andretti is at the point of his career where he needs to build himself up again.
“And of course, it all depends on where you go with it,” Chris Jericho said. “So afterward, I threw a fireball in his face. And we had some stuff with him and Ricky Starks and had him work with the Jericho Appreciation Society and get some wins. And then the dust settles and now he’s working with Darius and Dante Martin, which is great.
“You got to build yourself back up. He took the opportunity and ran with it. And then you come back down to earth, and that’s just kind of how the wrestling world works. But it was a great start, and once again, I still say it might have been the best surprise win of all time.”
READ MORE: The Jericho Appreciation Society Disbands On 8/8 AEW Dynamite
What do you make of Chris Jericho[‘s comments? Did you enjoy his short rivalry with Action Andretti? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit Talk is Jericho with a link to this article for the transcription.
