Chris Jericho tapped into a very interesting inspiration for his current Learning Tree persona on AEW programming.
All Elite Wrestling‘s Chris Jericho recently sat down with the Daily Star. When asked how he handles the recent fan criticism he’s received as he’s evolved his “Learning Tree” persona, Jericho said he doesn’t care because things like this go in phases.
“I just don’t care, I really don’t,” Chris Jericho admitted. “Because things go in phases like three years ago, those same people that are chanting, please retire, were saying, Jericho is the greatest of his generation. Kenny versus Jericho in the Tokyo Dome was like the match that changed the course of history. And everyone was talking about it and how great it is.
“So I think the biggest thing is just that I’ve been around for so long, working on top, never getting hurt. So I’m always here. It’s not like I force myself onto the shows because my ego is so big I can’t handle not being on it. It’s like, I work for my boss who puts me on TV because it draws ratings. There’s a whole thing where Jericho has go away heat and ratings go down, that’s not true. Look at the ratings every week.
“I mean, not every week, but I’d say 80% of the time my segment goes up. It’s one of the biggest gainers on the show. So there’s a lot of people that just refuse to believe anything else, because a few critics, and then those critics have their fans, and then suddenly there’s a narrative that’s told. And then there’s the facts. And the facts are I’m still one of the most valuable characters on the show for many different reasons.
“If I told Tony Khan I wanted to take six months off, he’d say, ‘Are you f*cking kidding me? There’s no way.’ So I just leaned into it. The character was very sarcastic and very much a know-it-all, all the things that people were saying that I was. Well, then let’s do it. Like we all know that person who knows everything about nothing, but meanwhile, they really don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. So let’s do that.
“Let’s be really sarcastic and slow speaking so that everyone can understand what I’m doing. Hi guys, that sort of thing. And then I played that for a bit, and then I morphed it again, made it a little bit more serious. We put Samoa Joe through a f*cking wall and threw a fireball at HOOK’s face. Suddenly it’s not so funny anymore.
Chris Jericho based his current Learning Tree gimmick on The Devil’s Rejects
“I kind of really based it on The Devil’s Rejects, on those characters. Like, Baby is her name in the horror movie. She’s literally scalping a guy while she’s laughing about it, and it’s kind of like creepy. The three of us are so smiley and hi guys. But deep down inside, there’s more to it than that. So you work on the different layers of a character, you see what gets over, and once again, like the click of a pen, just holding my hand up now and not saying a thing, people start to react. And then, hi guys, big reaction.
“It’s like the people that hated me, or as they always are just puppets that I manipulate. And that’s the wrestling business. And at this point in time, I can read the room and make adjustments and morph into whatever I need to be for people to love it or people that hate it, and either way, it gets a reaction, and either way people are paying money to see it.”
READ MORE: Chris Jericho Highlights The Importance Of Introducing Himself On His Debut
What do you make of Chris Jericho’s comments? Do you like his Learning Tree character? Or would you prefer to see him evolve yet again? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit Daily Star with a link to this article for the transcription.
