Chris Jericho Files Trademark For 'Painmaker' Character

Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho has filed a new trademark for his 'Painmaker' character that he first debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Under "Chris Irvine Inc", Jericho filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to trademark an image of the wrestling character. The description for the filing read, "The mark consists of a full figure design of a character comprising a fedora, a leather jacket having spikes protruding therefrom, a scarf, and a painted face.

Mark For: This trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of downloadable image files containing trading cards, artwork, photos, or memes authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs); Downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio, and video relating to trading cards, artwork, photos, or memes authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs)."

Back in 2017, Jericho debuted his 'Painmaker' gimmick to fans of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Upon departing from the company, Jericho kept the character hidden until a recent deathmatch against Nick Gage at AEW Fight For The Fallen.

In a recent interview with Newsweek, Jericho opened up about how important it has been for him to keep evolving as a character in the ring.

"I think one of the reasons why I've had such a long career, wrestling-wise, is the diversity and constantly evolving and re-inventing that I do," Jericho said. "I can vividly remember, in about the year 2000, really thinking about how do I constantly stay relevant in what I'm doing? There's a way to do that but you have to take chances and you have to be confident in your ability as a character and as a performer."

Chris Jericho did not appear live on AEW Dynamite the past two weeks due to being on tour with Fozzy in the UK, and Jericho has not wrestled since The Inner Circle defeated Ethan Page, Scorpio Sky, and American Top Team in the 10-man Street Fight at AEW Full Gear on November 13.