Chris Jericho

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

Vince McMahon Unhappy With Shayna Baszler's Raw Match?

Baszler has been ticketed for a meteoric rise that will feature a triumph in the women's Elimination Chamber match Sunday followed by a main-event match with Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36.

Her final match before Elimination Chamber apparently didn't receive glowing reviews, though.

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported (via Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc.) McMahon, the WWE chairman, reacted with "negativity and uncertainty" toward the former UFC star's clash with Kairi Sane because it didn't get the desired crowd reaction.

Not everybody viewed the match in a negative light. Bleacher Report's Kevin Berge gave the encounter an A-minus grade, calling it a "strong debut" for the Queen of Spades.

McMahon's word still drives the WWE creative process and there's still time before WrestleMania to call an audible if he feels Baszler isn't ready for top billing. It's unlikely that type of decision is going to get made from a single match, though.

The speculation does add more intrigue to Sunday's match, which has the Mania title shot on the line.

Chris Jericho's Fozzy Tour Won't Impact AEW Schedule

Jericho used to tailor his part-time WWE schedule around his Fozzy tour dates. He's taken on more of a leading role within AEW, so questions were raised about his availability when his band's slate was announced with shows ranging from mid-April through mid-August.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported (via WrestlingNews.co's Andrew Ravens) Y2J should remain available for the Wednesday night Dynamite broadcasts since the Fozzy schedule left space to travel to and from the host city each week.

That's great news for AEW, which just won its 10th straight head-to-head television ratings matchup with WWE's NXT, which airs in the same Wednesday time slot.

Dynamite has successfully marketed its established high-profile names, a group led by Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, to hold off a challenge from the rising stars of NXT.

Losing the former AEW world champion for an extended period could have threatened its ratings winning streak, but it sounds like hard-rocking Canadian will pull double duty all summer.

Liv Morgan Ready To Breakthrough At Elimination Chamber

Morgan was elevated to Raw in November 2017 as part of the Riott Squad, but it's taken a while for her to kick her singles career into high gear. She'll finally get a serious opportunity to steal the spotlight in the women's Elimination Chamber on Sunday night.

Chuck Carroll of CBS New York spoke with the 25-year-old New Jersey native, who said her "nine-month hiatus of self-discovery and hair dye" led her "character to evolve" before her return in late December. She also discussed Sunday's pay-per-view match:

"How do you prepare? Do you throw yourself at fences? Steel-link fences? There is no vibration. It's just, go in there with the mindset that you know you're going to get hurt, so how much are you willing to withstand to be the last one standing? To go onto WrestleMania to have the opportunity to compete with Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship. So I think it's just the preparation of, 'How much am I willing to go through?' And for me personally, I'd go through it all."

Morgan is still an in-ring work in progress and she's a long shot to emerge from the chamber with the chance to face Lynch for the title at Mania. But she's starting to make serious progress and has a legit opportunity to take on a headline role in the months after the year's biggest event.

The post-Revolution edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT once again beat out WWE NXT on USA Network in the viewership battle Wednesday night.

According to Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer, AEW Dynamite averaged 906,000 viewers during Wednesday's two-hour show, while WWE NXT averaged 718,000.

Dynamite represented the first night of the Jon Moxley era in AEW after he beat Chris Jericho in the main event of Revolution to win the AEW World Championship.

Jericho and the Inner Circle vowed to wreak havoc Wednesday, and they did precisely that. Prior to the main event tag team match pitting Jericho and Sammy Guevara against Mox and Darby Allin, the trio of Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager took out Moxley.

Allin fought valiantly, but Jericho and Guevara won the two-on-one situation. Moxley tried to clean house after the match, however, The Inner Circle powerbombed him through a table and flipped him off.

In other major Dynamite happenings, Colt Cabana made his AEW in-ring debut alongside SCU in a winning effort against Dark Order, plus Pac and The Lucha Bros. took out Best Friends and Orange Cassidy and formed a new stable called Death Triangle.

Also, Adam "Hangman" Page furthered his feud with The Young Bucks and WWE Hall of Famer Jake "The Snake" Roberts made a shocking debut by interrupting Cody to say he has someone arriving in AEW who will knock Cody from his perch.

NXT was bookended by two big steel cage matches. The first opened the show and saw Dakota Kai beat Tegan Nox thanks to help from Raquel Gonzalez. The finish was quite creative, as Gonzalez pushed the door open and pinned Nox against the side of the cage so that she couldn't reach the floor.

In the main event, Velveteen Dream and Roderick Strong battled inside the cage, but it was interrupted by Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish of Undisputed Era. When Cole ended up inside the ring, Dream pushed Strong out the cage door and purposely took the loss.

Dream's feud with Strong was apparently all a ploy to get to Cole and the NXT Championship, as he took out Undisputed era with a kendo stick and steel chair before holding up the title.

Additionally, Johnny Gargano got heated during a sit-down interview with Mauro Ranallo and still refused to give a clear answer on why he turned on Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Portland, although he set up a confrontation between them for next week.

Other segments included Austin Theory beating Isaiah "Swerve" Scott in a highly entertaining match, Chelsea Green beating Shotzi Blackheart to qualify for the NXT Women's Championship No. 1 contender ladder match at NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay and North American champion Keith Lee agreeing to a title match against Cameron Grimes for next week.

Next week's NXT will feature the continuation of the build toward next month's NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay, while the fallout from Revolution will likely continue on Dynamite.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

The Moxley era has begun. 

So went the most notable final call from All Elite Wrestling's Revolution pay-per-view Saturday night after Jon Moxley dethroned Chris Jericho to win the promotion's top title. 

It was a poetic win, really, after a longer-than-expected chase for one of the top names in the wrestling world today. AEW did a smooth job of keeping Moxley out of the title scene for as long as possible before throwing him in there and delaying his win. 

But the match was a classical one in many ways, and it was only right it ended with Moxley holding the belt high. It had a little bit of everything, with Jericho's Inner Circle throwing out some help before getting ejected. It bloodied both men. It had the bad guy exploiting lapses from the referee and using his opponent's injuries to his advantage. 

And in a way, Moxley pulled one over again on Jericho, playing up the villain's cocky ways and using it against him. Much like Moxley fooled Jericho about joining his Inner Circle in the buildup to this one, he also revealed he was just playing possum with the eye injury the whole time. 

That's the type of fun stuff the Moxley character can do free from the constraints of a more conservative promotion and why he's often the recipient of the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comparisons. 

Even better, as Moxley said in his post-win address to the fans, it all justifies the journey here. He bet it all on leaving WWE and went from being the goofy character who had to do questionable promos while never really getting that one big push to the headline act in perhaps all of wrestling. 

Rest assured Moxley made sure his address was all about the fans. His gratitude was incredibly genuine, and the title win does indeed belong to them given the incredible support AEW has received. But it goes both ways—a Moxley unchained can drive a whole promotion to unexpected heights and keep it there. 

Which is what makes the future so exciting, right? Where do things go from here? Moxley is the champion, and fans know he'll defend it against anyone at any time. The feud possibilities are literally endless, especially if Cody's unexpected loss to MJF opens up the latter to shooting into the main event. 

There's a Jericho rematch to consider, of course. But any number of stars from the roster can now go right up the ladder and get in a bout with a guy who won't be afraid to put his title on the line or come up with excuses. Said challengers won't have to worry about a posse ambushing him, either. 

Understand Jericho is still a part of the excitement for the future too, for what it's worth. He doesn't need the title to be effective. Everything he has touched since Dynamite went on the air has been absolute gold. Even if he's not chasing Moxley—though chase-mode Jericho would be fun—the undeniable result is must-see Jericho segments. 

Jericho or otherwise, it feels like we're just beginning what could end up being a golden era for AEW. Moxley now gets to run a promotion as he sees fit from the very top. This isn't a WWE title reign littered with 50-50 booking and throwing the same old names against each other. It's about the long haul, and like Cody and other top names such as Kenny Omega, Moxley isn't going to be afraid to make other talent look great for the sake of the promotion over the long haul. 

While Moxley going after the title in a loose-cannon fashion encouraged fans to tune in each week, actual title-defense Moxley only moves the needle more for Dynamite on a weekly basis. If and when he loses, though we're a long, long time from it, the eventual person to dethrone him will become a top star too. 

For now in the immediate aftermath, Moxley the character was ready to go slam some beers as the pay-per-view went off the air. Fans can just take solace in the fact a feud ended at the proper time, kicked off the start of a new era and is led up by a guy with the upside of putting on the outright best possible title reign of any promotion right now. 

It isn't necessarily full circle for Jon Moxley, but the road he's traveled so far has certainly been validated after cementing his place in AEW—he's still working on cementing his spot in wrestling history. 

Jon Moxley beat Chris Jericho at AEW Revolution in Chicago on Saturday to become the second AEW world champion in the company's brief history.

Moxley hit Jericho with a Paradigm Shift to take the belt.

The pair have been at each other's throats for the past few months, and Moxley finally got his chance to go one-on-one with the leader of The Inner Circle with the AEW world title on the line at Revolution.

When it became clear shortly after Full Gear on November 9 that Moxley had his sights set on the AEW World Championship, Jericho attempted to befriend him and essentially convince him not to challenge for the title.

Jericho offered Moxley a spot in The Inner Circle and a new car, and it initially looked as though he would accept after he considered the invite for a few weeks.

After Moxley said he was in, though, he hit Le Champion in the head with a champagne bottle and ran out of the ring before the rest of The Inner Circle could get to him.

That made Moxley public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jericho and The Inner Circle, especially after he beat Sammy Guevara for the right to fight for the AEW World Championship No. 1 contendership.

Jericho tried to put Moxley out of commission by taking a spike off his jacket and sticking it in his eye. That forced Moxley to wear a bandage and a patch over his eye, but it didn't stop him from beating PAC on Jericho's cruise on January 22 to become No. 1 contender.

Moxley even got some measure of revenge a couple of weeks ago when he poked the eye of Inner Circle member Santana with a car key and forced him to wear a patch as well.

With Moxley mowing down the stable and getting closer to Jericho, Le Champion enlisted services of free-agent wrestler Jeff Cobb, who attacked Moxley after he beat Santana and then faced him the following week on Dynamite.

Since Moxley is something of a lone wolf and was going up against an entire stable led by Jericho, the odds were very much stacked against the challenger entering Revolution.

Moxley is used to overcoming the odds, though, and he did precisely that to end Jericho's nearly 200-day title reign Saturday.

Since Jericho is scheduled to tour with his band, Fozzy, beginning in April, it made sense to take the title off him, and the decision may see him take a break from AEW programming soon.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).