Chris Jericho Says He Asked For Action Andretti To Be Signed In October 2022 With Plans To Put Him Over

At AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming 2022, Chris Jericho suffered one of the biggest losses in his career when he lost to Action Andretti.

The match was set up as a "tune up" match for Jericho and Andretti was not announced as his opponent prior to the show and was already in the ring as Jericho made his way down the ramp.

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Speaking to Marc Maron on WTF with Marc Maron, Jericho explained his thought process behind losing to Andretti.

"We did something, just a few weeks ago. I saw this kid back in October. Good looking kid, pretty agile, and I said, 'Let's do an interview with him.' He was a good talker. I said, 'Let's hire him, but keep him at home, I have an idea.' Action Andretti. Two or three weeks ago, I lost my title, and now I'm going to have a tune-up match against some jobber and I'm going to get back on track. This kid comes out, we have a match, and I'm treating him like a jobber, a squash match. Throwing him around, he gets no offense, people are chanting, 'Let's go jobber.' They're behind it and laughing along. Hit him with my finisher. One, two, he kicks out. People are like, 'Oh shit.' Then the buzz starts going. 'What's going to happen now?' We've never seen this guy on TV, ever. Then, we continue forward and suddenly, he gets me again. He hits me with this and that. Boom, boom, boom, hit me with a move. One, two, three. He wins. Crowd goes fucking crazy. He's running around, slapping hands, people are going nuts. It's one of the greatest moments we've had in AEW history because no one knew this guy, and by the end, we made a new star. It doesn't hurt me to lose, and we made this guy. It's about making stars and making people react. No one would've guessed he was going to win," said Jericho.

Jericho then detailed the follow up with shooting a fireball in Andretti's face, losing to Starks, and Andretti saving Starks.

When Maron's co-host pointed out that Andretti's graphic had Jericho's name, making it seem like Andretti was an afterthought, Jericho noted, "It was a mistake, but it was a happy accident."

It was announced after the match that Andretti had signed with AEW. Fans can find Andretti's comments on his victory by clicking here.

Jericho will team with Sammy Guevara to face Andretti & Ricky Starks on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite. Fans can check out the lineup for Wednesday's AEW Dynamite by clicking here.

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