Chris Jericho on NXT Moving to USA: “There’s Too Much WWE As It Is”

Chris Jericho was on Busted Open Radio yesterday and was asked about NXT airing on USA Network as counter-programming to AEW on TNT.

We still don’t know who our fan base is. I don’t think that there’s a lot of crossover between WWE fans and AEW fans. I think a lot of people that are into AEW are people that maybe haven’t watched wrestling in a while, or maybe are looking for something different. Maybe they don’t like WWE, I don’t know.

I think WWE is great but the point is, there’s too much WWE as it is. By adding another two hours, that really dilutes their product, it dilutes their mindset, it dilutes their focus. It’s a reactionary move that’s done by a guy who wants to start a war. We don’t care if you want to start a war. That was never our intention. There’s no war for us. We’re just doing what we’re doing. Some people there don’t like that and they’re reacting to it, and it just dilutes their own product.

Do you remember in the 90s, Nitro would start at 7:57 and Raw started at 8, and the reason they got that three minutes early is because we wanted our pyro to be before theirs. Who gives a crap? Who cares when the pyro is? What’s the show like? Don’t worry about what the other guys are doing, worry about your own stuff.

I don’t care about any other wrestling company in the world. I want everyone to be the best that you can be. Whether it’s WWE, Ring Of Honor, Impact, New Japan, AAA or freakin’ Showdown at the Armory on a Friday night. Do your thing. We don’t care, and I think that’s one of the reasons that makes us cool. It’s a typical thing, the more other people do, the more it makes us look revolutionary and cool, and we haven’t even started yet. Just wait until we start.

🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 In the wake of #NXT's potential move to a live Wednesday night show on the USA Network, @IAmJericho tells @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 that @AEWrestling is just doing their thing and not trying to start a war 👇 pic.twitter.com/OsR8lYMnC3

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 19, 2019

Jericho tweeted this after WWE’s official NXT on USA announcement this morning:

Congrats to @WWENXT for making the big move to the @USA_Network! Runners always race faster when somebody is right behind them. Gonna be fun to see which team the world decides to join! #ChooseJericho @AEWrestling @AEWonTNT

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) August 20, 2019