Chris Jericho Recalls Big Crowd Reaction For AEW Star In Cardiff

Current Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho has recalled the big crowd reaction for AEW star Big Bill in Cardiff.

On the August 24 edition of AEW Collision, HOOK defeated Big Bill ahead of his All In London match against Chris Jericho for the FTW Championship.

During the match, Bill got a big crowd reaction with the Cardiff fans showering the star with cheers despite being a heel against the babyface HOOK.

On the latest edition of Talk Is Jericho podcast, Big Bill discussed the huge reaction he got in Cardiff. He said:

“Very out of nowhere. We were out there earlier in the night for [Jericho vs. Tommy Billington]. When I was in the ring with HOOK, the crowd went crazy.”

“I think a lot of things went into that. I have a lot of equity with the fans, especially the UK. I’ve been (on TV) with NXT since 2014, so ten years they’ve been seeing me.”

“They’ve seen my journey. They’ve seen the ups, they’ve seen the downs, they’ve seen the real real downs, and they’ve seen my comeback from those.”

“They’re kind of saying to me, ‘Hey brother, we respect what you’re doing. We love you.”

“Even though you’re a heel, we have to let you know that we know what you’ve been through, we know where you come from, and we’re happy for you.’ I think that was a big portion of it.”

On how he adapted to the cheers from the Cardiff crowd, Bill said:

“They start cheering for me and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ They’re getting louder and louder, and I’m really trying to play heel.”

“The whole point of the match is to set up HOOK as the uber babyface going into [All In]. It would not stop. I kept pulling every trick that I could. There was one point where we went to the floor, and I had HOOK, I said to him, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to get them to switch.'”

“It was 100%, I was going to get them. I went in the ring and all I wanted to do was pretend that I loved their admiration and then flip them off. They just cheered even louder.”

“That was an ego check for me, because I thought for sure, ‘I got this.’ They wouldn’t go with it. After that, I was like, ‘Ah, shit.'”

“You feel appreciated, which is nice, but you’re also in the middle of a match where the goal is to get HOOK babyfaced going into [All In], and it’s not working. You want to bask in it, but also you have to get back on track.”

“After they rushed the barricades and I pulled every rabbit out of the hat that I could think of, and it didn’t work, I was just like, ‘Alright, whatever.'”

Chris Jericho stated that he wanted to make a bold play during the Cardiff TV tapings, saying:

“I remember thinking, this is like a Twilight Zone thing, if you could pause life and rewind it a bit, I would have said, ‘Let’s make this for the world championship and put Big Bill over.’ It would have been the biggest reaction ever,”

Big Bill is set to team with The Learning Tree’s Chris Jericho and Bryan Keith to face The Conglomeration’s Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly and Tomohiro Ishii in a Fight Without Honor on the November 6 edition of AEW Dynamite.

Transcription via Fightful

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