The Jericho Appreciation Society, despite the initial hype surrounding the formation of this faction led by the legendary Chris Jericho, has had a trajectory far from what fans and critics anticipated. From lackluster booking decisions to inconsistent storytelling, we explore how AEW missed the mark in capitalizing on the potential of this faction.
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#chrisjericho #sammyguevera #jakehager #aew #tonykhan #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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00:00 March 9th, 2022.
00:04 All Elite Wrestling Dynamite is broadcasting Chris Jericho standing in the middle of the ring,
00:10 shaking hands with the Mad King from New York City, Eddie Kingston,
00:15 after suffering a defeat at his hands at the Revolution pay-per-view just a few days earlier.
00:21 They were interrupted by the trio of 2.0 Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, and Daniel Garcia.
00:28 They threw Jericho to the side and started attacking Kingston.
00:32 Jericho's Inner Circle stable members, who he had an established relationship with,
00:37 Santana Ortiz, rushed the ring to even the odds.
00:41 They handed Jericho a trusty baseball bat, asking him to fight back.
00:45 But Jericho betrayed them, hitting them with the bat.
00:49 Then 2.0 and Daniel Garcia joined in on the beatdown with Jericho.
00:53 Soon after, another Inner Circle member, Jake Hager, joined them as well.
00:57 And now, we had a new group that didn't have former members, we had a new identity,
01:02 and it was dubbed the Jericho Appreciation Society.
01:06 With Jericho declaring, "This is the Jericho Appreciation Society, and that's entertainment."
01:13 [EVIL LAUGHTER]
01:15 This Appreciation Society of one of the big names that helped establish AEW
01:20 added even more members, with some day one people like Sammy Guevara,
01:25 Tay Conti, and Anna Jay joining the group, making it bigger and stronger.
01:30 At first, it felt like a little bit off because Jericho was already leading the Inner Circle
01:36 group, which had Santana Ortiz, Jake Hager, and Sammy Guevara.
01:40 Now, why do this new group?
01:42 But in retrospect, the formation of the group made some sense.
01:45 Everyone involved needed a new direction, and the group gave them a sense of purpose
01:50 in the very deep, deep roster of AEW.
01:53 But sadly, the group didn't stick together for all that long,
01:57 only a bit more than a year after it started, and then they went their separate ways.
02:01 So, what went wrong for the Jericho Appreciation Society?
02:06 Let's break it all down.
02:07 This is Sportskeeda Wrestling, I'm Kevin Kelm, let us know what you think of the Jericho
02:11 Appreciation Society.
02:12 Who are your favorites in AEW right now?
02:15 Before the Jericho Appreciation Society, there was the Inner Circle, another Jericho-centric
02:21 faction that saw him team with another former WWE superstar and Jake Hager, along with Santana
02:28 Ortiz and established tag team, and Sammy Guevara.
02:32 The group was instrumental in the first few years of AEW and gave some memorable moments,
02:38 including a huge main event where they took on the other faction led by MJF,
02:44 The Pinnacle, in the main event of Double or Nothing 2021.
02:48 By late 2021, though, the Inner Circle was losing their steam a bit,
02:52 and the call was made to slowly but surely break them up.
02:57 So AEW inserted someone who's truly a passionate, emotional performer, Eddie Kingston,
03:03 who got the ear and the influence upon Santana Ortiz, speaking negatively about their leader,
03:09 Chris Jericho, behind his back, prompting the two to question their place in the Inner Circle
03:16 under Jericho's leadership.
03:18 This led to a match between Jericho and Kingston at Revolution 2022.
03:22 Jericho stated that if he lost the match, he would shake Eddie's hand in the middle of the ring.
03:28 At the pay-per-view, Eddie defeated Chris, but instead of shaking his hand, Jericho walked out.
03:34 What a sleazy move.
03:36 But a few days later, it was discussed on Dynamite, Jericho shook his hand,
03:40 but it was a trap, as 2.0 and Garcia had their own issues with Kingston,
03:45 and Jericho came out for the attack and everything we described earlier,
03:49 Santana Ortiz being betrayed, but instead of embracing the support,
03:53 Jericho refused her assistance and formed a new group.
03:57 It felt similar to the Inner Circle, with Matt Menard and Angelo Parker being the tag team
04:02 that replaces Santana Ortiz, Daniel Garcia being the new protege, Sammy Guevara would have played
04:08 that role before, but he was busy with the TNT Championship at the time, and it felt like this
04:13 would go its separate ways. Similar to the Inner Circle, but different. This group had 5 members,
04:19 but soon the dynamic was about to change.
04:22 The next week on Dynamite, Jericho appeared with his new allies by his side,
04:26 he grabbed the mic, and began boasting about himself, claiming AEW wouldn't exist without him,
04:32 and he carried the company on his broad shoulders.
04:35 He accused the fans of not giving him the recognition he deserved,
04:39 and claimed the Inner Circle truly never appreciated him.
04:43 Pointing to 2.0, Garcia, and Hager, Jericho declared that these men did appreciate him,
04:49 forming the Jericho Appreciation Society. The JAS wasn't very catchy of a name in the eyes of some,
04:57 but it was doing the trick at the first part here, and many fans just weren't digging into the appeal,
05:03 but the original name was even worse. On his Talk is Jericho podcast,
05:08 he revealed that the name of it was going to be The Citadel.
05:12 Quote, "I thought The Citadel was great. I said it to Tony, and there was no pop from it whatsoever."
05:19 Tony Khan, AEW president, did not like that name, and came out with Jericho Appreciation
05:23 Society reportedly. The name worked at conveying the group's message.
05:28 A lot was similar to the Inner Circle, but one thing was different was that Jericho was the
05:32 focal point of the group, as the name suggests, and one of the aspects of the Inner Circle that
05:38 fans enjoyed was the fact that the group members were somewhat treated as equals. Jericho was
05:43 certainly the lead position, but it wasn't revolving around him per se. Yes, Jericho was
05:48 higher on the card, and he was the one involved in the main event feuds, but whenever the Inner
05:52 Circle was together, all members of the group were treated on a parallel level. This wasn't
05:58 the case in the JAS, with Jericho being the center of attention. This dynamic had its ramifications,
06:04 which we will get to later, but this allowed younger members of the group, like Menard,
06:08 Parker, and Garcia, who were just starting their careers on AEW and national television,
06:13 to get a new direction in the company and get the rub from Jericho. Jericho explained the purpose
06:19 of the JAS, highlighting that its members were all sports entertainers, as booze cascaded down
06:26 upon them from the fans of All Elite, who were more leaning towards the pro wrestling crowd.
06:33 Since its inception, AEW had the focus of a pro wrestling group, giving it incredible matches,
06:41 being bell to bell action focus based. This was a deviation from that. Jericho declared that this
06:46 group was not pro wrestlers, but sports entertainers, not bound by your limitations,
06:52 but certainly getting your booze. Now this group mission purpose of being a sports entertainer
06:59 over a pro wrestler was the antithesis of another group that was formed around this time,
07:04 with big name talent, the Blackpool Combat Club, all inspired by legit badass pro wrestlers,
07:11 Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, while managed by William Regal. They were bell
07:18 to bell pro wrestlers for sure. This was going to be a battle of sizzle versus steak,
07:24 a feud between two groups with two very different ideologies. Eddie Kingston and Santana Ortiz
07:30 found their allies in the Blackpool Combat Club, and an Anarchy in the Arena match was set for the
07:36 double or nothing pay per view. And what a match it was. Yeah, they brought out a gasoline tank
07:42 in that thing. Before the big match, they were involved in a very entertaining segment on
07:46 Dynamite, where Jericho verbally obliterated William Regal, Moxley, and Danielson, calling
07:51 Regal an addict and saying that he has been fired from every company that he has ever worked for in
07:57 the wrestling industry. Seek it out if you haven't. It's a pretty entertaining segment.
08:01 Also, Jericho wasn't quite the only one doing the mic work. Matt Menard, who was renamed Daddy Magic,
08:08 and Angelo Parker, renamed Cool Han Ange by Jericho, also got a look on the microphone
08:15 and cooked up a little bit themselves. The booking of JS was strong at first.
08:20 At double or nothing, the Jericho Appreciation Society and the BCC had an over-the-top Anarchy
08:26 in the Arena match where anything went. They fought all over the place. Music was playing
08:32 in the background for a big chunk of it. It was something different. It was something special,
08:36 and it was absolutely violent. The story here about Eddie Kingston wanting to put his hands
08:41 on Jericho and making the whole match about that built to something with that gasoline tank we
08:46 mentioned earlier on the former AEW World Champion, and he tried to burn him alive before
08:52 Brian Danielson stopped him. Yeah, it was wild. At the end, Jericho Appreciation Society would
08:58 sleek out, sleazing their way with the win, and Jericho and Hager making Danielson pass out.
09:04 It marked a strong start for the Jericho Appreciation Society and also breathed new
09:09 life into Jericho's character within AEW overall, reinventing himself yet again. He started showing
09:16 a very vicious side, throwing fireballs in people's faces, declaring that he was a wizard,
09:22 and it was something different from what was going on in AEW. We mentioned that Eddie Kingston was
09:28 trying to burn Jericho alive during the Anarchy in the Arena match. Well, that's because Jericho
09:33 threw a fireball in Kingston's face. He was a menace, a fireball-throwing menace.
09:38 On the June 15th, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite Road Rager, Jericho had a hair versus hair match
09:46 with Ortiz, and he managed to win the match following the interference from his inner
09:50 circle teammate Sammy Guevara, who now joined the Jericho Appreciation Society along with his
09:56 fiancee, Ty Conti, and soon her friend Anna Jay would soon get into the fold as well.
10:02 Now the group had seven members. Yeah, it started to become a pretty big crowd here.
10:07 In the meantime, Kingston was still hunting for Jericho and revenge. He wanted that revenge,
10:13 and everyone in his group was challenging him left and right. And then he came back with a
10:19 barbed wire everywhere death match challenge at Fyter Fest. It was a brutal affair with both men
10:27 fighting tooth, nail, and probably flesh from the bone. But in the end, it was Jericho who once
10:33 again sleazed out another victory after the Jericho Appreciation Society interfered.
10:39 Considering that it was the last match in the Jericho Kingston saga, it was sort of an
10:45 underwhelming finish, but still an entertaining match, bittersweet and bloody. Starting from this
10:51 point, things started to get repetitive for the Jericho Appreciation Society with members of the
10:56 group helping Jericho win his matches. Are you starting to see the formula here? The group peaked
11:01 during the Anarchy in the Arena match, which was just a few months after they were formed.
11:05 And after the barbed wire everywhere death match, it seemed to go downhill in the eyes of some.
11:11 However, Jericho was still doing some of his best in most entertaining work. You can't deny that he
11:17 doesn't try and reinvent the wheel. And Tony Khan decided to give him the Ring of Honor World
11:22 Championship in the process. For the first time in his career, Jericho won the ROH Championship
11:28 from Claudio Castagnoli and had a pretty entertaining run with it. He even had great
11:32 matches with Danielson and Moxley, and Jericho Appreciation Society revitalized their career a
11:37 little bit along the way. However, when we look in hindsight, it didn't really help anyone in
11:42 the long run, maybe just the short run. Yes, members like Garcia, Danny Magic, Cool Hen Ainge
11:48 got the spotlight, but they never got elevated to the next level. Although Garcia won the ROH
11:54 Pure Championship and engaged in a competitive feud with Bryan Danielson, the best wrestler in
11:58 the world, and they had some of the best matches, where Danielson tried to convince him that he was
12:03 in the wrong group. He's a pro wrestler, not a sports entertainer. It just didn't get past a
12:08 certain level. Jake Hager was hanging around there as well as a bodyguard muscle, while Sammy Guevara
12:15 and his wife Ty Conti showed up whenever they wanted to. Oh yeah, we did mention that Ana J
12:20 was a member of this group, and she didn't have an impact in it much. You can't when there's simply
12:26 so many members. You can't get the spotlight on everyone and elevate all of those people at the
12:30 same time. It's kind of a circumstantial challenge. No one benefited in the long run from Jericho
12:36 himself or maybe Daniel Garcia. Everyone else remained kind of right where they were when they
12:42 started before. Also, having so many members in the group, as we mentioned, didn't do them any
12:46 favors. It was getting a bit messy. As soon as Jericho lost the ROH World Championship to Claudio
12:53 Castagnoli, that was kind of it for JAS. Nothing significant happened within the group following
12:59 this, and soon the members started drifting apart. Moving into 2023, Jericho started spending less
13:05 and less time with the group and began interacting with Don Callis, someone he had a long-standing
13:11 relationship with in the wrestling business, showing an interest in aligning himself with
13:16 Callis and his group, the Don Callis Family. It is a different story altogether, but because of
13:21 Jericho's actions, the Jericho Appreciation Society was not happy, and they confronted him about this
13:26 on the August 10th, 2023 episode of Dynamite. The highly dissatisfied members stated that their
13:32 venting frustrations were poured out and walked out on Jericho one by one. They felt like Jericho
13:41 was not showing the same support and appreciation for them that they had shown for him.
13:46 This was the end of the JAS, and it was kind of underwhelming. Fans had already started speculating
13:55 that this would happen as the members of the group were not really seen together on screen
13:59 that much around this time. After going their separate ways, the members of the Jericho
14:07 Appreciation Society have not been able to gain that same level of traction in the eyes of some
14:13 fans. Jericho himself seemed to be on a random tag team with Hook. Sammy Guevara feels kind of
14:19 directionless and has had issues with injuries in the ring with other performers. It's a whole thing.
14:25 After he joined and quit the Don Callis Family, yeah, there's a lot going on here.
14:30 Ticonti and Anna Jay don't get much TV time altogether. Jake Hager seems to have disappeared
14:35 from AEW altogether. Matt Menard and Angelo Parker have remained together, managing Daniel Garcia.
14:41 Angelo Parker recently had an interesting angle with Ruby Riot. They're going to have a child.
14:46 Congratulations to them. It's evident that the group's dissolution
14:50 has left them with less direction than they had going into it.
14:54 The highlight of the group came in their war with the BCC and Eddie Kingston, where you had two
14:59 opposing factions with two very different ideologies, sports entertainers versus pro
15:04 wrestlers. But when they kept trying to do this feud over and over again, it kind of had
15:08 diminishing returns. We didn't mention the blood and guts double cage match, which had a
15:13 odd, messy finish. The feud also allowed every member of the group on each side to have something
15:19 because they were on two separate teams, something that AEW has been able to do well,
15:24 faction warfare. But sometimes it doesn't have the same results when you go back to it
15:29 over and over again. Part of this happened due to AEW's booking issues, maybe just a stacked roster,
15:34 maybe just perception becoming reality that maybe, just maybe, this group wasn't everything
15:40 it was cracked up to be. As the company failed to provide engaging storylines consistently,
15:45 the group moving forward lost their momentum. Although Jericho Appreciation Society had
15:50 potential out of the gate to be something special, it unfortunately didn't meet the
15:55 long-term visions that people intently had for the group when it was launched.
16:00 It lacked a clear direction past a certain point, having Jericho as the main player.
16:05 Without compelling missions or goals beyond a certain level,
16:09 it just couldn't keep the magic going.
16:14 (Outro)