AEW ‘Dynamite’ review: Chris Jericho putting over Ring of Honor with interesting gimmick

Putting Chris Jericho over on Claudio Castignoli last week at “Dynamite: Grand Slam” to put the Ring of Honor world title on the Madonna of pro wrestling seemed a curious move at the time.

But now it’s making sense with what Jericho is setting out to do with the ROH belt.

Tony Khan is still searching for a broadcast home for the promotion that he plucked out of the bottom of a dumpster back in the spring, even as he’s already staged two Ring of Honor pay-per-views, both headlined by FTR and The Briscoes.

The world title had been on Jonathan Gresham when Khan bought what was left of ROH, then put the belt on Castignoli, who didn’t do much with it, honestly, so now Khan is going with Ring of Honor where he went when he launched AEW back in 2019.

And that was to put the company on the back of Jericho, who was the first AEW champ, when it had seemed logical at the time for Khan to put the belt on Kenny Omega, then the #1-ranked wrestler in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500, and was      just coming off a hot run in New Japan.

Jericho put AEW over more than anyone else, even Omega, possibly could, and with his new gimmick, unveiled last night on “Dynamite,” Khan seems to be banking on the magic happening again.

Jericho, after defeating former ROH champ Bandido by submission in the main event, outlined his plan for the belt – to defend it against a series of former ROH greats, beginning with Bryan Danielson, part of a plan, he said in character, to devalue the belt.

Of course, the effect will be the opposite. Jericho defending against the likes of Danielson, perhaps Samoa Joe, the current ROH TV champ, maybe CM Punk (?), or one of a few other guys already under contract to Khan – Adam Cole, Jay Lethal, Rush, Dalton Castle – will put a nice spotlight on the Ring of Honor brand.

You can see how this ends – with one of the former champs winning the belt, best-case scenario in a pay-per-view ahead of the launch of a standalone weekly ROH TV show.

Give this a few months, let Jericho run through the roster, all the while running his big mouth every week on AEW TV about Ring of Honor, and Khan will have the buzz he needs to get ROH TV off to a good start.