AEW has been dealing with the aftermath of the infamous backstage incident at All Out 2022 for almost a year now. Post-show scrum comments, CM Punk’s departure and subsequent return, and the talent being separated from each other have kept the event a topic of conversation.
Tony Khan called Chris Jericho a locker room leader after he stepped up in the wake of the incident. Along with Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, Jericho helped keep the talent together.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Jericho assured that the AEW locker room has remained afloat since the conflict, refuting claims that it is a “dumpster fire.”
“We just let people know that everything’s gonna be OK. We are a great locker room with great people and a lot of momentum for our company that’s still very young and things happen sometimes There was a lot of uncertainty. We’ve got a lot of young guys and girls on our roster who have never been through stuff like this before, but it’s a part of the business, it happens. We were really getting painted with an unfair brush by the media in a lot of ways like ‘it’s a dumpster fire in the locker room’ and that wasn’t the case. And I don’t want people to believe what they’re reading and think that it’s real, because it wasn’t.”
Jericho also said that he has experienced locker room brawls himself and emphasized the importance of talking about these issues before they escalate.
“You go through things like that, fights and that sort of thing, I’ve been in them myself with locker room brawls. You’ve got to continue forward and Mox, Danielson and I just really wanted to grab the horse by the reins before it got out of control and just let people know that if you have concerns, let’s discuss them, if you have issues let’s discuss them, but let’s get through them together and come through stronger on the back end. I think we really came together well, which was great for the locker room and for the fans because the fans too want to know that everything is going to continue moving forward. And I think we did a really good job of righting the ship and most importantly letting people know that it’s going to be OK. It’s not the end of the world. These things happen and we deal with them and we become stronger as a result, which we have.”
AEW has a better chance than ever to push backstage concerns aside with All In on Sunday and All Out the following week. Jericho will wrestle Will Ospreay as part of All In, while MJF and Adam Cole will headline the show for the AEW World Championship.