Chris Jericho On Writing 5 Labors Of Jericho With MJF, Choosing Juventud Guerrera

On a recent episode of Talk is Jericho, Chris Jericho sat down with long-time rival and friend Juventud Guerrera. Guerrerea made his AEW debut last August against Jericho, and Jericho revealed how Guerrera's name came into consideration for "The Five Labors of Jericho".

"When we were doing this 'Five Labors of Jericho', the original idea was to do each member of The Pinnacle, which would be [Shawn] Spears, and then Dax [Harwood], and then Cash [Wheeler], and then Wardlow and then Max," Jericho revealed. "And then we thought, maybe we should switch it up a bit, and Max suggested Nick Gage. And I just had heard about him, so that was one. And then the other one, we're thinking, who could the other one be? We should try somebody that nobody's seen for a while.

"We had a couple of different ideas, and then suddenly, I think I said, 'Well, Juventud might be good.' I don't know why I thought about you, but it just was a perfect position because it's somebody that people knew but we haven't seen for such a long time."

MJF introduced Guerrera has Jericho's next challenger after taking on Nick Gage. He recalled the first time Guerrera's name was mentioned in AEW.

"Two years ago, the first time MJF and I ever did a face-to-face promo, it was in Nashville, and we were kind of going back and forth," Jericho recalled. "And I needed some kind of a joke or some kind of a jab at him. I couldn't think of anything, so I called Brian Gewirtz. I said, 'Brian, do you have any jokes about MJF?' He said, 'Well, how about, when your parents were watching me beat Juventud Guerrera, they got horny, and they had sex, and then you popped out.' So they (the crowd) started chanting 'Juvi', then just off the fly, I said, 'Google it.' I planned the 'Juvi', but when they were chanting , that's when I just said 'Google it.'

"We always thought, well, maybe some time, we can do something with Juvi, and that's why when this came up. MJF and I were writing this," Jericho said. "And we're like, 'What about Juvi?' We mentioned him two years ago, so that fits. And you and I had so many matches together, a great rivalry 20 years ago. Nobody has seen you for a while and I was thinking, this is perfect. People that know you will be excited. People that don't will hear about it, and that's where it all just kind of came together."

When MJF announced Gage, Gage appeared from the tunnel to a roar of fans. However, Guerrera did not make an appearance when MJF said his name, and Jericho explained why.

"Two weeks before, when MJF announced Nick Gage, Nick gage comes out on the stage and then I was like, it'd be great if we could get Juvi to come out. But the visa wasn't ready on time," Jericho noted. "We were trying to figure it out, and I think people really wanted to see Juvi but we couldn't get the visa done before this date.

"I think things happening for a reason because my custom gear wasn't ready," Guerrera added. "If I would have come at that date, they wouldn't have gotten me that custom. I guarantee you that custom would have saved me. It would've been so weird instead of looking good."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.