Chris Jericho Shares Emotional Toll of Dealing with Online Hostility

Chris Jericho is truly a veteran in the pro wrestling industry, whose career has spanned more than 30 years. He spent the majority of those years in WWE, where Jericho became a household name. He is a big star in AEW as well but Jericho has gotten a lot of hate over the years. In fact, Jericho admitted that the online hate he gets affects him.

Jericho eventually debuted in AEW over four years ago and became the first AEW World Champion, carrying the company through its initial year. It is safe to say that fans aren’t as happy about Jericho being in AEW as they were before.

The advent of social media is a double-edged sword. After all, while it helps fans get closer to their favorite pro wrestlers easier than ever – the drawback is the rampant hatred and toxicity online.

While speaking on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Chris Jericho asked how it feels to arguably be the greatest of all time. Jericho stated that there are a lot of haters and that it has become a trend to hate him, admitting that the online hate he gets affects him.

”If I died tomorrow, everyone would say I’m one of the greatest of all time,” Chris Jericho said. “I think because I’m still here, still doing it at the highest of levels, there’s a lot of people online that just hate that. So if Chris Jericho says the sky is blue, I’m an a****** because this guy says it’s obviously red. So you deal with that.

“Like, there’s a lot of Chris Jericho haters right now. It’s kind of in vogue to hate Chris Jericho, for whatever reason. And once again, I’ve never cared. I mean, sometimes it gets to you, but I only judge myself. Am I still able to have the best match on the show on any given night? Yes. Not every night. But on any given night, am I still doing entertaining segments and having great matches and thinking of ideas and building the company and helping build others? Yes.

“When that starts disappearing, then I’ll reevaluate. But for now. I mean, dude, I don’t know, at the risk of not sounding humble. I don’t know who’s had a longer career than I’ve had with as much diversity, evolution reinvention. And actually, just the opponents that I’ve had.

“I mean, I don’t think there’s anybody in the history of the business who has worked almost everybody. I worked Dick Murdoch. And I worked with Takeshita. I worked with just like anybody in between that kind of falls in there. You name somebody of top value from the last, let’s say, the mid-80s till now, and I’ve worked with 99% of them.” 

Vince McMahon also wanted Chris Jericho to get out of his AEW contract. Regardless, Chris Jericho is more than happy working in AEW, as he is more focused on creating a legacy for himself in the company and nothing more.

What do you make of Chris Jericho’s comments? Do you think the criticism directed at him has been fair? Sound off in the comments section.