Jericho holds backstage meeting about tag division.

[Deleted]

cultaholic.com/news/chris-jericho-held-backstage-meeting-to-address-tag-team-wrestling-in-aew/

Lucha Bros, don't tag iiiin.

[deezy]

Jericho is 100% correct.

[petef3]

I just wish he'd call out the Young Bucks with the same energy he called out Penta and Fenix.

[Rave]

It's prob'ly habit on the Lucha Bros' part, considering that yeah, the Lucha Libre tag rules are that relaxed. Hopefully he included whoever's helping to plan the tag matches and the referees as well in this, it's not just the wrestlers' fault here.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 14, 2019 12:23:20 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I just wish he'd call out the Young Bucks with the same energy he called out Penta and Fenix.

I mean, it's not like they didn't likely hear about it, or may have been present, but it'd be improper to chew out some of the management in front of the wrestlers. That's undermining that even a veteran like Jericho shouldn't do, but if he wanted to tear them a new one in private, that's probably plenty fine.

In any case, I think it will probably ultimately be a good thing. I am fine with not having to be super rigid for it, but it does hurt hot tag spots if it's unclear why someone would even bother to stay out of the ring when their Ricky Morton of the day got cut off.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

I do think Jericho is being harsh about Mexican tag rules given that that is, in fact, a difference, and that his time in Mexico was ages ago.

But also - I wouldn't be surprised if Jericho did this with the Bucks' blessing because he was someone who could get everyone to listen. It has been noticeable how much the spotfest and tag rule problems were pulled back since the first few weeks, even if it is still an ongoing process. Early AEW feels like it is compressing the first two years of ROH's in-ring evolution into a fee months.

[Cyno]

Maybe everyone was doing their tag matches like they were playing a WWE video game.

[Deleted]

I’m with Jericho on this. I used to get so annoyed watching tag matches in ROH and New Japan (mainly Bucks matches) where most of the match would be spent with everyone constantly in action.

The Revival isn’t putting up with that shit.

[HMARK Center]

Personally stuff like this has rarely bothered me, since I figure a lot of different promotions have different rules governing how tag wrestling's supposed to work (e.g. the tag rope not really being much of a thing in Japan).

That said, if you're doing stuff in the ring that the ref isn't prepared for or not going over how you're going to utilize the rules and layout to tell the story with the ref, then yeah, as Jericho said, you "bury the ref", which has been a complaint about this early phase of AEW.

[brettappedout (BLM)]

Dec 14, 2019 12:23:20 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I just wish he'd call out the Young Bucks with the same energy he called out Penta and Fenix.

I wonder why he focused on the Lucha wrestlers? hmmmmm

[Zone Was Wrong]

I mean, it hasn't bothered me personally but I totally get his side of things. For better or worse, audiences have been conditioned to accept tag team rules in a certain way. To keep those people from losing interest or whatever you have to lay down some ground rules about things. Honestly I hope they have a conversation about the refs and wrestlers as well for how they position themselves when there's interference in a match. Need to make sure you're not insulting the audiences intelligence with this sort of stuff. Harsh but I get it.

[Shark]

I may be wrong, but I always thought the Lucha tag rules meant if the legal man leaves the ring, his partner could legally enter the match, not just coming in willy nilly. Also if Penta and Fenix were just making excuses, I can see why Jericho would come down harder on them. Otherwise, I see this as Jericho being a good locker room leader. He realizes that the honeymoon period for AEW is over and the seeming lack of tag rules is a problem.

[Cyno]

Dec 14, 2019 15:53:59 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

Dec 14, 2019 12:23:20 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I just wish he'd call out the Young Bucks with the same energy he called out Penta and Fenix.

I wonder why he focused on the Lucha wrestlers? hmmmmm

Pentagon and Rey Fenix apparently clapped back at him and got defensive and made excuses. I don't think he went in with the intention of singling them out or anything.

And yeah, he's not going to act the same way with the Bucks because they're management. Even with Jericho's status as one of the best of all time and as AEW Champion, that'd be really unprofessional even by wrestling standards.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Dec 14, 2019 15:53:59 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

Dec 14, 2019 12:23:20 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I just wish he'd call out the Young Bucks with the same energy he called out Penta and Fenix.

I wonder why he focused on the Lucha wrestlers? hmmmmm

Probably because the Lucha Bros were apparently the most resistant to change the first time this was brought up backstage after the first 2-3 episodes of Dynamite. They’re also, along with the Bucks and SCU, one of the senior teams around so probably leaning on them to lead by example.

That, and he can’t exactly call out the Young Bucks on it in front of everyone, they are his bosses. That’s a really bad look. Remember, Jericho is a performer, not in management. He’s not one of the EVP’s so he shouldn’t be publicly dissing them.

[IgnahtaSempria]

On the one hand, yes, it's important for all the tag teams in a company to properly understand the rules, and to make sure everyone is following the same rules.

On the other hand, every lucha libre promotion I've ever seen, including CMLL, uses the "lucha tag" rules, ie, a tag counts if the legal man leaves the ring. So for Jericho to tell the top team in Mexico that "that's not how lucha tag wrestling works" when he hasn't regularly worked in Mexico for 20+ years reeks of "veteran who thinks that everything works the same way it worked when they were there".

[The Dark Order Inferno]

He's not wrong, but the Bucks are considerably worse than the Lucha Bros for this as every match they're in seems to be a rule free, four man clusterhug rather than a tag team match. Why should anyone care that both heels are in the ring at the same time when most of the face offence involves both of them in the ring whenever they want for as long as they feel like it?

[Deleted]

Dec 14, 2019 17:23:13 GMT -5 IgnahtaSempria said:

On the one hand, yes, it's important for all the tag teams in a company to properly understand the rules, and to make sure everyone is following the same rules.

On the other hand, every lucha libre promotion I've ever seen, including CMLL, uses the "lucha tag" rules, ie, a tag counts if the legal man leaves the ring. So for Jericho to tell the top team in Mexico that "that's not how lucha tag wrestling works" when he hasn't regularly worked in Mexico for 20+ years reeks of "veteran who thinks that everything works the same way it worked when they were there".

That is how it came off to me

I get what he was doing but it also comes off like he thinks he knows better especially concerning tag rules from a place he hasn't wrestled in in over two decades.

[HMARK Center]

I keep seeing people saying the Bucks are worse offenders on this stuff, but I really don't see it. If anything, they've spent most of the past two years trying to show how well they can use tag psychology and rules for storytelling, like they were trying to prove a point to people.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 14, 2019 15:32:43 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Personally stuff like this has rarely bothered me, since I figure a lot of different promotions have different rules governing how tag wrestling's supposed to work (e.g. the tag rope not really being much of a thing in Japan).

That said, if you're doing stuff in the ring that the ref isn't prepared for or not going over how you're going to utilize the rules and layout to tell the story with the ref, then yeah, as Jericho said, you "bury the ref", which has been a complaint about this early phase of AEW.

An obvious exception being Aubrey, who I feel like could make Bebop and Rocksteady obey the rules of a wrestling match by glaring at them.

[rnrk supports BLM]

I'll give Jericho the benefit of the doubt that he didn't intend it to come across this way, but bringing this public with a self-aggrandizing "Yeah, those guys didn't know how to work until I set them straight" anecdote really reeks of every story about how WWE treats outside talent who get themselves more over than the guys the company wants to push.