10 Best Times AEW Threw Shade At WWE
2. "It Was A Stupid Idea From Bad Creative"
Chris Jericho turned Jack Swagger into Jake Hager with one sensational, improvised line.
On the second episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho formally announced his Inner Circle stable. It was a verbal masterclass in which he depicted a brand new unit as a cohesive one, and got every individual component of it over - the stigmatised WWE reject and the mainstream unknowns alike. With his legendary wit and genius instincts, he got their roles and personalities over too. The stable has since reached iconic status, as all four men under him substantiated the hype. But on week two, it required a functional big headline approach, and trust Le Champion to get dreaded exposition over.
Sammy Guevara was the Spanish sex God - so clearly the smarmy little bastard that would leave babyfaces vulnerable to distraction through his abrasive antics. Santana and Ortiz were the nasty, devious heavies, Jake Hager the giant muscle.
But he wasn't Jake Hager but rather Jack Swagger to that audience. They chanted his old WWE "We the people" catchphrase at him.
Jericho, intent on helping rebuild the man, shut it down immediately. It's sucks, it's dead and buried, and it was stupid idea from bad creative. That was a killer line delivered on the spot. There was no premeditated cynicism to it, no lip service.
It was an apoplectic rebuttal to the idea that WWE somehow owns its talent.