Chris Jericho knows how important drawing power is in All Elite Wrestling and he says Swerve Strickland is a guy that has it.
Jericho recently made an appearance on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast and spoke about how wrestling is similar to other forms of media where it’s a sink-or-swim situation for talent. Jericho said that television ratings are so important in wrestling and you won’t be in a top role if you don’t draw.
“And that’s exactly the truth, and you get it with any time — we see it with studios putting a guy in a leading role part. It just doesn’t work and you’re gone right away. Bands, they just go through bands and if you don’t get that hit right through the gate, you’ll be done,” Jericho said. “Wrestling, you get a little bit more time but if you get put in that top position and you don’t draw, people don’t watch your matches — TV ratings are so important. I read the minute-by-minute TV ratings every week of my show to see how [I did], but how [other talent drew].
“You can kinda see whenever ‘he’s’ on, the ratings go up. Swerve Strickland is one of those guys,” Jericho added. “He’s not a ratings bonanza, but every time he’s on the ratings go up.”
Jericho was asked for his theory about why that happens.
“Connection,” Jericho said. “[The fans] want to see what that person is doing and that matters. If you don’t draw — my boss, Tony Khan is a numbers fanatic — if you’re put in that position and the ratings go down, you won’t be put in that position anymore, so that’s part of it. You have to connect, people have to watch you while you’re on screen. If not, you won’t be on screen in that position, or maybe you won’t be on the main show, you’ll get put on the next show. It’s all — there’s levels to that too.”
