Chris Jericho

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and All Elite Wrestling.

Jericho Says He 'Almost Died' in Spot vs. DX

In 2009, Jerishow (Chris Jericho and Big Show) lost a unification match for the tag team championships to DX (Shawn Michaels and Triple H). In the finish to that match, Michaels superkicks Big Show and sends him reeling while simultaneously sending Jericho, who was standing on Show's shoulders to grab the titles, over the ropes and into a table.

Suffice it to say Jericho does not remember that spot fondly.

While Le Champion may be exaggerating a little bit on the near-death part, things very nearly did go worse than a regular botch. Had Jericho's feet hit the ropes an inch or two lower, he could have gone tumbling head-first toward the floor instead of taking a relatively safe bump against the table.

Mike Chioda Talks Differences in WWE Referee Contracts

Mike Chioda spent 31 years in WWE before being fired as part of COVID-19 cuts in April. There may be no better person to discuss the inner workings of the company, and he's been open about his time in WWE since his dismissal.

While most fans already know WWE does not consider its wrestlers employees—they use an "independent contractor" loophole despite restricting the behavior of their "contractors" more than most companies—little attention is paid to how people behind the scenes are paid.

Chioda recently appeared on the Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast to discuss how things work for refs: 

"They're not employees. They're independent sub-contractors. They'll get their stuff. The ring crew referees, like I was for 20 years plus, I was a ring crew and referee, I got everything paid for, whether it was per diem, hotels, transportation, gas [and] everything. There are a lot of referees still with WWE that have to pay for their own hotels, cars, food, expenses on the road, health insurance and everything. AEW takes care of health insurance as well too, takes care of a lot."

AEW also considers its wrestlers independent contractors but allows them to take bookings outside the company, provided it doesn't interfere with the television schedule. 

Fred Rosser Turned Down by AEW

Fred Rosser (formerly known as Darren Young) recently revealed AEW turned him down twice when he was attempting to latch on with the company.

Rosser signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in August and has made a number of appearances with the promotion. He had not been a regular in a wrestling ring since being released by WWE in October 2017.

Perhaps a run in Japan would be enough to boost Rosser's stock stateside and facilitate a return to WWE or a debut in AEW. As it stands, it appears he's perfectly happy with his current employer. 

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from AEW and the WWE Universe.

Sting Reportedly to Be Regular Character for AEW

Following the surprise appearance of Sting during AEW Dynamite's Winter is Coming show Wednesday night, the Icon will reportedly stick around. 

Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Sai Mohan of WrestlingInc.com), Sting will be a regular television character in AEW. 

Meltzer did note that Sting "won't be taking any bumps," which isn't a surprise considering his last match in WWE against Seth Rollins in 2015 ended early when he suffered a neck injury by taking a turnbuckle powerbomb. 

One significant difference between AEW and WWE is the former company embraces the use of managers and big-name stars who are capable of cutting promos. Outside Paul Heyman, WWE doesn't really have anyone serve as a mouthpiece for its performers. 

AEW has used Jake Roberts, Taz and Arn Anderson, to name a few, as managers. Sting could join that list, though it's not been made clear exactly what role he will play on television. 

Jericho Discusses The Undertaker

While Chris Jericho continues to shine each week on AEW, the Demo God did look back on his time in WWE with some regret. 

Appearing on David Penzer's podcast (h/t PWMania.com), Jericho called it "unbelievable" that he never had a pay-per-view singles match against The Undertaker:

"I think we only had 2 single matches on TV ever. We just never crossed paths. I was always on SmackDown when he was on RAW and vice versa. We had a great Elimination Chamber match and a couple other multi-team matches but we never had that great singles match which is one of those things that it blows my mind that it was never booked. Everybody respects The Undertaker."

Jericho also called the Dead Man "a pleasure to be around" and "one of the greatest, if not, the greatest character in WWE history."

The Undertaker's in-ring career ended at Survivor Series when he cut one final promo to declare that his "time has come to let The Undertaker rest in peace."

Jericho and Undertaker worked together in WWE for nearly two full decades from 1999 to 2018. The last time those two were in the same match was at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in 2010 when Jericho pinned Undertaker after interference from Shawn Michaels to win the world heavyweight title. 

A singles match between Jericho and Undertaker on pay-per-view is one of those dream matches that wrestling fans would discuss for years. 

Even though it never happened during their time in WWE, the few times they did cross paths made for entertaining television. 

Strowman Unlikely to Miss Significant Time

WWE has reportedly received good news about Braun Strowman's knee injury.

Per Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), Strowman doesn't need surgery and may not miss much time. 

Meltzer reported on Nov. 29 that Strowman was written off this week's Raw after injuring his knee during Team Raw's win over Team Smackdown at Survivor Series. 

The Monster Among Men was initially going to be considered for a championship match against Drew McIntyre at TLC, but WWE announced an indefinite suspension when he attacked official Adam Pearce on the Nov. 24 edition of Raw. 

A.J. Styles defeated Keith Lee and Matt Riddle in a triple-threat match on Monday's show to earn the title shot against McIntyre. 

Strowman was riding a hot streak in singles action before hurting his knee. The 300-plus-pounder has only lost one singles match since September, to Roman Reigns for the WWE universal title on the Oct. 16 episode of Friday Night Smackdown. 

Even though Strowman's injury did force WWE to adjust plans, he could still be in line for a match with McIntyre. The champion will need an opponent at the Royal Rumble if he defeats Styles on Dec. 20. 

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Hardy 'OK' After Scary Swanton Bomb

Jeff Hardy defeated Elias in a hard-hitting Symphony of Destruction match Monday night on Raw and also seemed to avoid serious injury in the process.

Hardy won the match with a high-risk maneuver, as he hit Elias with a Swanton Bomb through a table outside the ring. Hardy appeared to have a rough landing, as his head and neck came down on the steel steps.

Despite that, Hardy said after the match that he was "OK" and the spot looked worse than it actually was:

Hardy has made a living out of putting his body on the line, so he can handle those types of bumps better than most, but it likely isn't the walk in the park it once was now that he is 43 years old.

While Hardy and Elias weren't featured on Raw in recent weeks since the focus was on building toward Survivor Series, they made their return with a bang Monday and may have put an exclamation point on their feud.

It isn't 100 percent clear that their program is over, but if it is, Hardy has no shortage of momentum on his side as he attempts to figure out what's next.

Hardy is a major asset for WWE in that he can be placed almost anywhere on the card and thrive in that situation. He is a big enough name with enough star power to be a main eventer, but he also brings a great deal of cachet to the midcard.

There is no obvious opportunity for Hardy to go for a title right now on Raw since AJ Styles is No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship and Riddle seems to be entering a rivalry with United States champion Bobby Lashley, but WWE will undoubtedly find a spot for Hardy that he can make the most of.

The Fiend Reportedly Booked as Babyface vs. Orton

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt is perhaps the most evil character in all of wrestling, but he is reportedly being positioned as the babyface in his feud with Randy Orton.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingInc's Sai Mohan), WWE's decision-makers view Orton as a "master heel" who will play a big role in getting both Wyatt and Alexa Bliss over as faces.

On Monday's episode of Raw, Alexa welcomed Orton onto A Moment of Bliss and things quickly got tense with The Viper suggesting he knew what The Fiend's vulnerability was.

When the lights went out to signal The Fiend's arrival, Orton picked up Bliss and held her in his arms. The Fiend frantically motioned for Orton to hand her over, and he eventually did before rolling outside the ring and laughing.

Orton came across as a bigger heel in that particular segment, but the manner in which all involved have acted to this point suggests that they are all undefined characters who aren't necessarily clear heels or faces.

Last week, The Fiend interrupted Orton's match against Styles and distracted him, which allowed Styles to pick up the victory. Also, Bliss killed the Friendship Frog puppet on the Firefly Fun House.

Neither of those actions were particularly face-like, so look for WWE to keep all parties involved the same, which will in turn allow the WWE Universe to choose who they want to root for.

Ultimately, the crux of this rivalry is the fact that The Fiend doesn't forget about those who wronged Wyatt in previous years, and Orton clearly fits the bill since he turned on The Wyatt Family and burned down the Wyatt compound.

The Fiend is out for revenge and Orton seems to be as well after The Fiend cost him a chance to win back the WWE Championship.

Jericho Reacts to NXT's Viewership Win

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, WWE NXT scored a razor-thin viewership victory last week over AEW Dynamite.

In response to Alex McCarthy of TalkSport tweeting that NXT won by a margin of 712,000-710,000, All Elite Wrestling star Chris Jericho still took a victory lap:

Jericho has long stressed the importance of winning the 18- to 49-year-old demographic rather than total viewership, even branding himself the Demo God.

Per Showbuzz Daily, Jericho and AEW did manage to prevail in the demo with a 0.26 ratings compared to NXT's 0.20.

Regardless of the exact numbers on either front, the fact that they were so close suggests fans are enjoying both products equally, which can only be viewed as a good thing for the overall state of professional wrestling.

There have been times when AEW has blown out NXT in both the viewership and demo numbers, but NXT bounced back in a big way last week with a 12 percent leap in viewers.

Wrestling is best off when as many brands and companies as possible are thriving, and a split audience between AEW and NXT suggests wrestling is in a good place on multiple fronts.

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