Chris Jericho Reveals Original Pitches For Inner Circle Members

AEW’s Inner Circle faction just hit their one-year anniversary, and Chris Jericho recently spoke with Chris Van Vilet on original plans for the group.

The current members include Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager. Originally pitches for the stable looked a lot different, and including MJF.

Jericho spoke about how the name Inner Circle came about.

“I was doing a BTE bit that Matt and Nick asked me to do. And I said something about, you know, my inner circle is involved in this. And they’re like, ‘inner circle, that’s a cool name.’ Jericho stated. “Now we say, it’s like Fozzy, you say it. You know when you first say it, ‘that’s weird’. And then people were like Inner Circle? ‘That’s a terrible name.’ And now it’s a f-ckin great name.”

Jericho reveals he originally wanted MJF as part of the faction, but Cody had other plans for him. He mentioned how he scouted Sammy Guevara after watching him work a NWA pay-per-view Cody was also wrestling at.

“I wanted MJF, but I think Cody wanted to do something with him as well.  I scouted Sammy Guevara and brought him to the table, never met him before my life. I just watched him on a NWA pay-per-view that Cody was wrestling Aldis, and I saw him. I was like this guy’s good, he’s miscast as a babyface. He just looks like an asshole.”

Jericho noted, he always wanted a tag-team in the group, and even thought of having Fenix and Pentagon, but decided against having “masked guys”. He met Santana and Ortiz on the Jericho cruise, and the Young Bucks recommended them, so he gave them a shot.

There was also talks of having professional boxer Anthony Ogogo as part of the group. He signed with the company in 2019, and is AEW’s first developmental talent, training with Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall.

Check out the full clip below

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chris Van Vilet, and credit HeelByNature.com for the transcription.