Professional wrestling legend and future WWE Hall of Famer Matt Hardy who is a former 11 times Tag Team champion in WWE and a former WWE United States champion recently compared Chris Jericho in AEW with Hulk Hogan in WCW. He explained how both of them are playing similar roles.
During the mid 90s, WCW started a big rivalry with WWE and the professional wrestling world named it the Monday Night Wars. WCW had most of the big names of the time like Ric Flair and Sting where is WWE was trying to build new talents. During this time, WCW got the signature of the biggest name of the world of pro wrestling back then, Hulk Hogan.
Matt Hardy Compares Chris Jericho In AEW To Hulk Hogan In WCW
Signing Hogan was a huge deal, and they made things even more exciting after they turned him heel for the first time since the rise of Hullkamania.This became the biggest attraction of WCW for the time being. But a lot of fans criticized Hogan for not putting over much talents since he was already on his 40s. He had his creative freedom in the promotion, so he kept on winning the world championship again and again.
Chris Jericho is the first professional wrestling Legend that was signed by AEW and he also became their first World champion. But fans are making similar complaints as being in his 50s, he is winning championships more than putting over newer talents. Still their names had been a huge boost for the promotions respectively.
Matt Hardy who is a former 11 times Tag Team champion in WWE and a former WWE United States champion recently spoke on his the “Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast where he compared Chris Jericho in AEW with Hulk Hogan in WCW. He said;
“I just think Chris Jericho is so multi-talented and he understands how to do sports entertainment. He understands how to do wrestling. He understands character work, if your a Danhausen type, how to portray that and optimize it and get the most out of it. He understands if you’re a very serious wrestler like Bryan Danielson, he realizes how to get the most out of that.
“That’s something I think is hugely beneficial because you have a lot of guys that are great wrestling minds, but they only did one gig. I feel like when you’ve done so many different gigs and you’ve been serious, you’ve been able to create drama, you’ve been able to create comedy, you’ve been able to draw money, and you know what you have to do to make something work, I feel like Chris is the epitome of that.”
“Chris Jericho is the same as Hulk Hogan was whenever WCW got hot. I mean, he was the guy the people know, probably the biggest household name they could get their hands on and just super beneficial. I mean, Chris Jericho goes down in the conversation as one of the GOATs without a doubt. I mean, he’s one of my close, dearest friends as well. You know, he is just so amazing, and the fact he’s been able to keep himself in that top position for so long is a credit to how talented he is.”
Quotes via WrestlingNews.co