12 Exact Moments AEW Booking Stopped Making Sense

4. Don Callis Tries To Recruit Chris Jericho (August 16, 2023)

Chris Jericho - sorry, AEW - had an idea for the inaugural All In: London in 2023. It just so happened that Jericho got a match, bound for a cauldron atmosphere and critical acclaim, against the best in-ring wrestler in the world: Will Ospreay.

The process of getting there, and slowly turning Jericho babyface, was so convoluted that he instead turned even more heel (!). Moreover, the very idea was dumb before the botched execution. Most fans would rather Jericho have gone away for a while than received him as a hero.

Don Callis, Ospreay’s manager, tried to persuade Jericho not to retire (itself an unconvincing storyline tease). They held secret meetings in a bid to hash out an alliance. Eventually, Jericho, spurning his Jericho Appreciation Society stablemates, made the decision to align with the heel Don Callis. Callis, expecting a rejection, had actually intended to betray Jericho, as an oil painting uncovered by Jericho revealed.

Why, then, did Callis make such an effort in the first place?

To recap: Jericho teased turning babyface by appealing to the crowd, asking them to believe that he was still good enough. The Callis betrayal was meant to pile the sympathy on Jericho, turning him face, but Jericho had seconds earlier made the decision to continue his cheating ways with Don’s help.

All of this happened ahead of a match against the Essex, England-born Ospreay, who was going to draw the majority of cheers at Wembley regardless. In AEW’s defence, they had existing continuity to worry about. Ospreay and Callis were presented as heels in Canada at Forbidden Door in June; booking him in London two months later was always going to require some careful thought.

This was overthought to a stupid extent - but Jericho got his ****¾ from the Observer, so…