AEW’s Chris Jericho reveals the only person who can tell him to stop wrestling after ‘please retire’ chants

Chris Jericho heard the ‘please retire’ chants. The legendary professional wrestler is not exactly sure how they started. One group of fans may have told him to ‘F*** off!’ and it spread like wildfire, into every arena All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor held shows. 

The 54-year-old will celebrate 35 years inside the squared circle next year and did not flinch when the vitriol first entered his ear lobes. The grizzly veteran came up with a new persona, dubbed ‘The Learning Tree’, as a way to benefit from those who chant negative things his way. 

Jericho does not care about those who do not have his best interest in mind but did reveal exclusively to DailyMail.com the only person who can tell him to stop wrestling after the chorus of ‘please retire’ chants followed him worldwide.  

‘The only person that can tell me to retire is me,’ Jericho said Thursday. ‘And if I was having matches that I thought weren’t good or doing work that I thought wasn’t good, then I probably would consider it.’

‘But it’s actually been kind of the opposite of that. Completely. I don’t mind people have opinions. I never listened to what people thought about me before anyways. So if you’re only goal in life is to make people feel happy, then you might not want to be in show business.’

Jericho’s latest additional to his persona profile is his self-entitled role as ‘King of New York’, which entered his lexicon by being the world champion for AEW’s sister promotion, Ring of Honor, as it runs three huge shows in New York City on consecutive days, starting Friday at the Hammerstein Ballroom in midtown Manhattan.  

Jericho, also know as ‘The Nueve’ as he is in his ninth world-championship reign in professional wrestling, will defend the Ring of Honor World Championship against company newcomer Matt Cardona. 

Cardona may be new to ROH, but he’s far from an up-and-comer in wrestling. Longtime fans would recognize him as Zack Ryder, who worked for the WWE from 2006, until he was released in April 2020.

In the four years since he became a free agent, Cardona has reinvented himself as ‘The King of the Indies’, holding as many as nine top-titles across different promotions at one time. 

Cardona made one previous appearance for AEW in March before feuding with Jericho for his ‘dream match’ against Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland. 

Although Cardona is one win away from winning his first world championship with a major American promotion, his contract status with AEW is unclear, leading to the possibility of an outsider holding the top belt.  

Jericho sees some similarities between his many gimmicks in wrestling and his opponent’s switch from beloved internet superstar to ruthless grappler.  

‘You do have to adapt and evolve,’ Jericho said. ‘And I did it more by choice, just feeling that it’s maybe getting a little stale being this one character. Let’s create something new. And Matt did that by necessity.’ 

‘I believe he was let go of being kind of maybe a mutual decision and really was wanting to show who he was and find himself as a wrestler. And I think Matt Cardona, that’s him. So it’s not a persona, but being himself and kind of really doing what he always thought he could do.’

‘I think one of the biggest similarities is you have to bet on yourself in this business. And there’s been plenty of times when I’ve taken a right turn from what people might want to see or what they’re used to seeing to really bet on myself and take a chance. And Matt has done that with his whole career to become something far greater than he ever was as Zack Ryder.’

After Friday’s event, Saturday and Sunday’s shows will happen under the AEW banner with a week’s worth of television taking place.  

Saturday’s show, ‘Collision’, will air live on TNT for those not in New York. Sunday’s afternoon Empire State finale will see AEW tape episodes of their weekly flagship show, ‘Dynamite’, and ‘Rampage’ as well. 

AEW CEO Tony Khan has described the New York trio of shows, as well as the ‘World’s End’ pay-per-view, which takes place December 28, as the end of an era for the company. 

‘This era is the is the era that changed the wrestling business forever for the better. Look at all that we’ve accomplished in the last five and a half years and the heights we’ve gotten to,’ Jericho said. ‘Our television deal is ridiculous. Amazing money wise. Simulcasting on Max along with being on TBS and TNT.’

‘First time that’s ever happened for any wrestling company for their weekly television shows. And the amount of money that’s being made and generated AEW. Tony had a hope and a thought and had a lot of people that that believed in his hope and thought and believed in his vision.’

‘And I think we all did a tremendous job in building this company bigger than anybody ever thought. And I think a lot of those people that you mentioned before, of the negativity, hate the fact that we did as well as we could because it makes them look stupid. 

‘It’s the same people that want Jericho to retire. And I keep doing great work and they make them look stupid, so they hate me even more.’