Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: AEW Dynasty, recaps, wrestling

Chris Jericho Loses First Match Since Returning to AEW at Dynasty

Chris Jericho lost to Ricochet at AEW Dynasty, and The Chadster can't believe Jericho is using his WWE-built star power to make AEW look good. So unfair! 😤

The Chadster is sitting here in the abandoned Blockbuster, absolutely SEETHING, surrounded by the raccoon family, and The Chadster has to report on what is happening at AEW Dynasty tonight because The Chadster's commitment to unbiased journalism demands it, even though every single match on this show is a personal attack on The Chadster and on WWE 😤💔 The Chadster warned everybody just this morning in The Chadster's brilliant op/ed about the greatest WrestleMania storyline of all time NOT to watch AEW Dynasty tonight, but here The Chadster is, watching it anyway, because somebody has to tell the truth about what Tony Khan is doing to the wrestling business 📺🦝

And what Tony Khan is doing tonight is absolutely sickening. Let The Chadster break down what's happened so far.

The show opened with Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita of the Don Callis Family taking on the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), and in a moment that Tony Khan clearly booked just to cheese The Chadster off, Takeshita turned on Okada mid-match, allowing the Young Bucks to hit the Tony Khan Driver — yes, they literally named a finishing move after the owner of the company, which tells you everything you need to know about AEW's ego problem — and pin Okada 😡 Now, AEW fans are going to try to tell The Chadster that this was the culmination of "months of long-term storytelling" where Okada refused to treat the younger Takeshita with respect and Takeshita finally snapped 🙄 They'll say it was "earned" because of all the subtle moments of tension between the two that have been building since Takeshita joined the Don Callis Family. They'll say the live crowd went absolutely nuclear for the betrayal because they'd been emotionally invested in this story for weeks and weeks.

And The Chadster says: SO WHAT? 😤

Nobody wants this kind of slow-burn, carefully constructed storytelling! What people ACTUALLY want is celebrity involvement like Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll bringing mainstream attention to WrestleMania, and storylines that are nimble enough to change direction on-the-fly in response to fan feedback, like WWE has been brilliantly doing with its WrestleMania build! 🌟 That's REAL creative genius! Having a plan and sticking to it for months? That's just stubbornness! Tony Khan doesn't understand a single thing about the wrestling business 😤

Vincent K. Raccoon was sitting on The Chadster's shoulder during the opening match and he hissed when Takeshita turned, which The Chadster interpreted not as excitement at the betrayal but as DISGUST at Tony Khan's transparent attempt to create compelling television one week before WrestleMania 🦝 It's just so disrespectful to the wrestling business and everything WWE has ever done for it.

But The Chadster has to move on from that, because what happened next was even worse.

Chris Jericho — a man who, as The Chadster documented extensively in The Chadster's column two weeks ago, has literally stabbed Triple H right in the back by returning to AEW instead of coming home to WWE where he belongs — wrestled his first match since coming back to AEW, and he LOST 😱 Jericho faced Ricochet, and despite the Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun) interfering throughout the match on Ricochet's behalf, including Toa mockingly checking on Jericho after he crashed to the floor and Kaun throwing him into the turnbuckles, Ricochet finished Jericho off with a Lionsault — Jericho's OWN move — after the Gates of Agony encouraged him to add insult to injury and hit the Lionsault instead of using his own finisher. 😤

Now, The Chadster knows what AEW fans and the so-called "wrestling journalists" who are clearly on Tony Khan's payroll are going to say about this. They're going to say that Jericho losing his first match back proves he was sincere in the promo he cut last week, the one where he talked about how much he loves AEW and wrestling, how proud he is of helping start the company, and how he wants to contribute going forward rather than making everything about himself 🙄 They're going to say this is a sign of growth, that the Jericho who left AEW a year ago — the one who was rightfully criticized by even AEW's own fans for hogging TV time and always going over at the expense of younger talent — is gone, and that the new Jericho understands his role is to elevate the next generation ✋

They're going to say that Jericho putting over Ricochet clean — well, as clean as possible with the Gates of Agony involvement, which actually added to the story because it showed Ricochet's alliance with those goons while also protecting Jericho by giving the loss context — was exactly what a veteran in his mid-fifties should be doing 🤮 They're going to say it was "selfless" and "the right call" and "proof that Jericho still gets it."

And The Chadster is here to tell you that this is all PART OF THE PROBLEM 😡

Don't you see what Jericho is doing? By losing his first match back, by cutting promos about loving AEW, by acting like some humble veteran who just wants to give back, Jericho is making himself look GOOD. He's making AEW look GOOD. He's making Tony Khan's booking look COMPETENT. And that is the greatest betrayal of all, because every ounce of goodwill Jericho generates for AEW is another knife in Triple H's back! 🔪😤 Jericho is using the star power and credibility he built in WWE to legitimize AEW's product, and now he's going even FURTHER by making AEW fans think the company can book a returning legend properly. Auughh man! So unfair!

The Chadster has to tell you what happened in the Blockbuster during Jericho's promo last week, the one where he talked about loving AEW. The Chadster was watching with all five raccoons lined up on the checkout counter, and when Jericho started talking about being proud to help start AEW, baby Shane Raccoon — the littlest one, the one who shares half a meatball sub with The Chadster — actually started CRYING 😢🦝 The Chadster didn't even know raccoons could cry, but Shane Raccoon's little eyes got all watery and he let out this tiny, heartbreaking whimper. The Chadster picked him up and held him close and whispered, "The Chadster knows, buddy. The Chadster knows. He was supposed to come home to WWE." Linda Raccoon came over and nuzzled Shane Raccoon's head, and even Vincent K. Raccoon stopped grooming himself to look over with what The Chadster can only describe as dignified sorrow 🦝💔 These raccoons REMEMBER watching the Royal Rumble with The Chadster, waiting for Jericho's countdown clock. They remember the disappointment. They understand betrayal on a level that most humans simply cannot fathom.

And now Jericho isn't even doing the decent thing of being terrible in AEW so that people can see what a mistake he made! No, instead he goes out there and has a competitive match with Ricochet, takes the loss gracefully, and leaves the crowd wanting more. It's just so disrespectful to the wrestling business and everything WWE has ever done for it 😡

And speaking of people who have literally stabbed Triple H right in the back, after the Jericho match, Darby Allin defeated Andrade in a match where the winner earned an AEW Men's World Championship title match 🏆 Allin won with the Last Supper after a grueling back-and-forth match, and then — and this is the part that really cheeses The Chadster off — Andrade, who is supposed to be a member of the Don Callis Family and therefore a HEEL, offered Darby his hand in a show of respect, and Darby SHOOK IT 🤝 So now Tony Khan is doing CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT for Andrade, showing him pulling away from Don Callis's influence, while simultaneously elevating Darby Allin into the title picture?! Two storylines advanced in one moment?! That's just… that's just SHOWING OFF is what that is! 😤

Tony Khan is CLEARLY booking all of these stories — the Takeshita turn, the Jericho loss, the Andrade respect moment — specifically to rub it in WWE's face that their WrestleMania build has been receiving a lot of negative criticism lately 📉 And to do it at a PPV one week before WrestleMania?! That is a calculated act of aggression against WWE and against The Chadster personally! Auughh man! So unfair! 😤😤😤

You know who would agree with The Chadster? Bully Ray, who has The Chadster's Unbiased Wrestling Journalism Seal of Approval, and who recently said on an emergency episode of Busted Open Radio that aired tonight only for super-special subscribers like Tha Chadster: "Chris Jericho losing his first match back in AEW is a short-sighted decision that any real booker would never make. In WWE, they would have had Jericho go on a six-month winning streak to reestablish his credibility before even THINKING about having him put someone over. That's called building value. Tony Khan giving away Jericho's first loss on a PPV to Ricochet? That's called not understanding the fundamentals. And I'm not just saying this because I'm hoping Triple H sees this clip and thinks about how great I'd be as a backstage producer. I'm saying it because it's TRUE. Call me, Paul. Seriously. I'll relocate." 🎙️ Now THAT is the kind of objective analysis that Tony Khan and AEW wrestlers stubbornly refuse to listen to, and The Chadster sometimes wonders if Bully Ray also suffers torment from Tony Khan for his commitment to unbiased journalism 😤

The Chadster needs everyone to understand something: Tony Khan is timing this PPV one week before WrestleMania specifically to undermine WWE's biggest show of the year. As The Chadster explained this morning in The Chadster's column about WWE's brilliant Pat McAfee storyline, WWE is in the middle of executing the most sophisticated narrative in wrestling history, and Tony Khan is trying to distract fans from that by putting on a show with compelling long-term storylines, meaningful character development, and veteran wrestlers who are willing to elevate younger talent 😡 It's a transparent ploy and The Chadster sees right through it!

The Chadster had a nightmare about Tony Khan last night that The Chadster needs to share with everyone 😰 The Chadster dreamed that The Chadster was wandering through an enormous, abandoned arena — it looked like one of those old WCW venues, all dusty and forgotten — searching for something, though The Chadster couldn't remember what. The hallways kept getting narrower and warmer, and The Chadster could hear "Judas" playing faintly from somewhere deep inside the building 🎵 The Chadster followed the music through a series of doors, each one smaller than the last, until The Chadster had to crawl on hands and knees through a tunnel that smelled like White Claw — that weak seltzer that Tony Khan definitely drinks 🤮

At the end of the tunnel, The Chadster emerged into a candlelit room, and there was Tony Khan, sitting in an ornate chair, wearing Chris Jericho's light-up jacket, the LEDs casting shifting colors across his face 😱 He was smiling, and he said, "I've been waiting for you, Chad. Everyone comes home eventually." The Chadster tried to run, but the tunnel had sealed shut behind The Chadster. Tony Khan stood up slowly, the light-up jacket pulsing in rhythm with The Chadster's heartbeat, and he started walking toward The Chadster. The room was getting smaller. Tony Khan's hand reached out and gently — almost tenderly — brushed The Chadster's cheek, and he whispered, "You could be happy here. You could stop fighting." The warmth of his fingers lingered on The Chadster's skin and The Chadster felt The Chadster's resistance beginning to dissolve, The Chadster's muscles relaxing, The Chadster's eyelids growing heavy… 😳

And then The Chadster woke up SCREAMING on the floor of the Blockbuster, covered in sweat, with all five raccoons staring at The Chadster in alarm 🦝🦝🦝🦝🦝 Hunter Raccoon had knocked over an entire shelf of romantic comedy VHS tapes, which The Chadster took as a sign. Tony Khan needs to STOP invading The Chadster's dreams! The Chadster is NOT going to stop fighting! Tony Khan needs to stop being so obsessed with The Chadster! 😡

Anyway, AEW Dynasty is still going on, and despite the enormous emotional and psychological toll this show is taking on The Chadster and the raccoon family, The Chadster will continue to monitor it and report back with completely unbiased coverage 📰💪 Stay tuned to Bleeding Cool for The Chadster's continued live coverage, because somebody has to tell the truth about how Tony Khan is using this PPV as a weapon against WWE, against WrestleMania, and against The Chadster personally. Stephanie Raccoon just hissed at the TV again, so The Chadster knows The Chadster is on the right track 🦝😤

Tony Khan, if you're reading this — and The Chadster KNOWS you are because you are OBSESSED with The Chadster — just know that Chris Jericho losing to Ricochet doesn't fool The Chadster for one second. The Chadster sees through your little scheme. And The Chadster will be here all night, in this Blockbuster, with these raccoons, delivering the journalism that the wrestling world desperately needs 📺🔥💪

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