11 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Oct 9)

3. Le Champion's Address

Everything from this Up onwards was absolutely outstanding. Seriously, ranking these points was tough, but here's Chris Jericho's promo.

'Le Champion' strutted out with his new gang of pals soon after The Young Bucks vs. Private Party. This was promised in a post-show video uploaded to social media, and the segment began with the AEW Champion crediting himself for last week's show being the highest-rated TNT premiere. "Thank you Jericho" chants broke out. Fortunately, 'Y2J' was quick to tell the audience to shut the hell up, turning the reaction all the way around.

"We are next, we are now," Jericho said, revealing his new stable as the Inner Circle after putting every individual member over. Things got particularly interesting when he came to Jake Hager. The former Jack Swagger inspired "we the people" calls immediately, prompting Jericho to once again demonstrate his mastery of crowd control: "'We the People' sucks and it's dead and buried. It was a stupid idea from bad creative and all that is gone."

Jericho's focus then shifted to Cody, who he promised to "beat the ever-living sh*t out of" at Full Gear before roaming around Baltimore, "having a little bit of the bubbly in celebration."

Impeccable delivery, great crowd control, putting his friends over, naming the stable, hyping the Cody match, popping the boys: the number of things Jericho achieved in this relatively short space of time should be studied by any aspiring promo artist. He's a master.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.