Chris Hero explains why he chose to have his return match against Timothy Thatcher.
After being away from the ring for over three years, Chris Hero made his return to the squared circle at West Coast Pro's 'Whiplash' event on November 17, 2023. At that show, Hero squared off against one of his old rivals, Timothy Thatcher.
The match was highly praised by fans, with many saying that it was a return to form for Hero, who is widely considered to be one of the best independent wrestlers of all time.
While speaking to the AEW Unrestricted podcast for a new interview, Hero went in depth and explained why he chose Timothy Thatcher for his return bout.
“He is just a tough, physical man. He has that catch wrestler thing about him, that Billy Robinson [style]. He’s so strong and physical, and his technique is exceptional. I just thought it would be a great test for me to go up against somebody that I’m familiar with, but at the same time, I know he’s not going to take it easy on me. It felt like the perfect situation for me, somebody that I have history with, somebody that can get people interested in us having another match. Also, the work that other people put in to promote the match. Joseph Monticello made a nice rivalry video, a video essay. IQ Wrestler put together this kick ass music video just flashing through our seven matches that we had had prior. A lot of people wrote pieces, I did a bunch of interviews, and he’s somebody that I had history with and that I knew I wanted to wrestle again. That show that I announced myself as matchmaker, he wrestled Speedball Mike Bailey. Those are two guys that are uniquely them. What they bring to the table, if you want what they have, you can only get it from them. You can get people that have similarities, but they’re just so iconically themselves.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Hero spoke about signing with AEW. Fans can learn more here.
Fans can see the current lineup for the December 2 episode of AEW Collision by clicking here.
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