Exclusive: Chris Jericho on AEW's long-term storytelling, working with MJF and Le Dinner Debonair
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Chris Jericho and MJF will compete against the Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Championship at Revolution on Sunday night (March 7).
Jericho and MJF have gone from facing each other at AEW's last PPV, Full Gear, to now being a team. But in-between they had Le Dinner Debonair, one of the most unique segments in wrestling history.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy ahead of AEW Revolution, Jericho said of Le Dinner Debonair: "Many people liked it, maybe people didn't like it and that's okay because this is wrestling.
Related: Chris Jericho on Sting and Paul Wight signing with AEW: "We treat our legends with respect"
"Pro wrestling to me, that I grew up with in the 80s, was always more about the variety show aspect of it. You know, you go back and watch the Slammy Awards or Saturday Night's Main Event or something like that.
"So to me, Dinner Debonair, why not give it a try? Because as long as it's good, it doesn't really matter. You couldn't deny the choreography, the singing was real, the dancing was real, the whole concept of the performance was real.
"So whether you appreciate it or not, as far as does this belong on a wrestling show? You can't deny the fact that the quality of it was awesome and that's all that matters to me."
Jericho went on to say that he considered doing a sequel to Le Dinner Debonair but decided it should be left as a one off.
"[Le Dinner Debonair] could only have been done in AEW and I'll go as far as to say that could only have been done by Chris Jericho and MJF and that's why it worked," he continued.
"I had ideas of doing some sequels to it, but it's like, why bother? It was so good, it was so unique, it was so out of left field. Let's make it classic and make it something people always remember and let's leave it because you're not going to be able to match up with the overall surprise of people saying, 'Holy shit, this is great. Or, 'Holy shit, I hate this.'"
Related: Chris Jericho on why AEW appeals more to female fans and the origins of Mimosa Mayhem
One of the big differences for Jericho between working for AEW and working for WWE is the creative freedom he's now allowed.
Back in 2017 he created the highly memorable Festival of Friendship segment with Kevin Owens but it nearly didn't go the way he wanted.
"The Festival of Friendship, something that I had planned out and basically pitched and got approved months earlier, the night of the show they wanted to change everything.
"That was one of the times when I was like, 'Absolutely not, we built to this, this is what's going to work. You have to trust my vision at some point after being here for almost 20 years.
"'You have to let the professionals be professionals.' That's one thing I love about AEW, we do exactly that."
Speaking about his current tag team partner MJF, Jericho said: "He's a great performer, especially for a guy who's only 24 years old. He's just going to continue to get better.
"It's been a lot of fun for us to exchange ideas, me coming from the standpoint of 30 years of experience and him coming from the standpoint of a 24-year-old kid and putting those two ideas together and creating all of this great storytelling. So it's been a blast so far."
Jericho's storyline with MJF started back in September and is another great example of AEW's commitment to long-term storytelling which rewards the fans.
"It's already been six months and look at all the twists and turns that we've had so far," Jericho said.
"That's one thing I really enjoy about AEW, I take great pride in the fact that we tell long stories, we tell very involved stories and very detailed stories.
"It's been a great adventure so far, lots of twists and turns, and we're basically only just beginning, so there's a long way to go in this whole thing, which is great.
"That's something that I think all of us as company but especially myself take great pride in, the fact that we spend a lot of time putting together the intricacies and details of this ."
See Chris Jericho team with MJF against The Young Bucks on AEW Revolution live on Fite TV at 1am on Monday, March 8. AEW Dynamite airs Thursdays at 1am on Fite TV in the UK and on Fridays at 11pm on ITV4.
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