AEW: Chris Jericho on Wizard Character Origin, Tony Khan on Jan. 4th Show & Women’s Division, More News

Chris Jericho Comments on Origin of His Wizard Character

A recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast featured co-host Chris Jericho revealing that Eddie Kingston was the person who came up with fireball spot idea during their feud that led to his “Wizard” character in AEW.

“Then we go into April 13th with Danny Garcia and Jake Hager versus Kingston, Ortiz and Santana in New Orleans and that one was, once again, just kind of a brawl to set the tone which led to the fireball angle which of course started the whole ‘Wizard’ thing and that was an idea that Eddie Kingston had because he had seen it in, I believe, Puerto Rico or something. He wanted to be hit with a fireball and I was like, ‘All right, well let’s see if we can figure that out’ and we did and that started a whole new gimmick and once again, these things just happen because you are, like I always say, letting the story lead you and not manipulating the story itself.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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Tony Khan Comments on AEW’s Big Plans for January 4th Show & State of Women’s Division in 2022

A recent episode of Fightful’s Grapsody podcast had AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Khan’s comments on WCW’s infamous January 4, 1999 show and why AEW’s big plans for their upcoming January 4th Dynamite show won’t involve a “Fingerpoke of Doom” type moment.

“It wasn’t even one thing with WCW, it was so many things. It’s like death by 1000 cuts. It’s an expression, but it’s true. 1000 small paper cuts, you probably would bleed out. They’re all painful. it wasn’t just one thing, it was so many things. Even in some of the shows, the one show, January 4, how many things could there be on one show? …

Well, you know, you never know. On the other hand….I gotta keep you guys on your toes. January 4, we have a huge show coming, the start of a new year for AEW. I’ve thought about January 4, 1999 and next time I talk to you guys, if you ask me what my show had in common with that January 4 show, I’ll tell you. It won’t be that [finger poke of doom].”

Khan also gave his thoughts on the state of AEW’s Women’s Division in 2022.

“I’m really trying to put out the best matches week to week, whoever they are. If I get to the point where the roster is built with, that’s the strongest group of wrestlers and they are pulling the strongest ratings consistently, that’s who I’m going to push in those spots consistently, no matter who they are. I’m really happy with, in particular, we had this amazing match with Jamie Hayter and Shida, it was a great world title match. It’s been a really great year for us. Always trying to push the best wrestlers week to week and it has to change with the flow of the show. This year, it probably, in many ways, became more diverse and I think that’s because a lot of those wrestlers, some came in as free agents, some improved to the level where they got better and a lot of people connected to the crowd and lo and behold, it was a more diverse roster than it was last year. I’ll always push the best roster I can and I want it to be as diverse as possible.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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AEW News & Notes

AEW recently released a longer version of their television commercial hyping up the upcoming new visuals changes to their Dynamite series starting next month.

While responding to a fan question on Twitter, Shawn Spears stated that he will not be returning to AEW any time soon. Spears and his wife Cassie Lee, former Peyton Royce in WWE, are currently expecting the birth of their first child.

While responding to a fan question on Twitter, current TBS Champion Jade Cargill stated that the person she would be interested the most in defending her title outside of AEW is WWE’s Charlotte Flair. Following her comments, Flair responded praising Cargill and acknowledging her current undefeated streak.

As noted before, the debut episode of the FTR with Dax Harwood podcast featured co-host Harwood being hopeful that CM Punk and The Elite will be able to resolve their issues and work together again in the future. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that CM Punk had issued a response of “duh” on Instagram following a post made by Pro Wresting Podcast sharing the news of Harwood’s plea.

DEFY Wrestling recently announced that they will be holding an AEW Dynamite themed after party in Seattle, Washington following AEW’s show in the city on January 4, 2023. It was also announced that Swerve Strickland will be making an appearance and will be among the musicians performing at the party.