Backstage Report On AEW Star Chris Jericho's Recent GCW Appearance

Despite the issues between AEW and GCW that have seen Ricky Starks being pulled from events, Willie Mack pulling himself from events, and Effy making an enemy out of Tony Khan, Chris Jericho made a surprise appearance at GCW's "Highest in the Room 3" event in Los Angeles to attack both Effy and Matt Cardona, the latter of whom Jericho will face at ROH Final Battle for the ROH World Championship.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was able to gather some information on how the appearance came about, which was the simple case of neither Khan, or GCW owner Brett Lauderdale, telling Jericho and Cardona they couldn't go through with the planned angle. Meltzer acknowledges there is a chance that the AEW/GCW rivalry has been a work from the start, but feels that is most likely not the case, and that this angle was a one-off, with Khan even admitting that it made sense to promote the Final Battle event on December 20.

Jericho had the idea of attacking Cardona on an independent show to further their feud, and that the GCW event in Los Angeles just so happened to be the one show where both men were in the same city at the same time. Cardona was obviously wrestling in the main event, while Jericho was actually booked for a concert not too far from the building GCW were in. Meltzer also claimed that the choice for Jericho to attack both Cardona and Effy was done to add to the live heat, given what Effy had said about Khan and his father weeks earlier. It's currently unclear whether this will lead to fences being mended between AEW and GCW. When asked about Starks being pulled but Jericho being allowed to appear in GCW, Khan focused on the Jericho portion of the question.