Chris Jericho Discusses Original Idea For Mike Tyson Segment, Buries Mikey Gooch
AEW garnered plenty of headlines following the May 27 episode of Dynamite where Mike Tyson made a special appearance. Tyson and a group of MMA fighters confronted Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle in the show-closing segment, leading to a pull-apart brawl between the two groups.
The Inner Circle got together for a special episode of Talk Is Jericho and discussed the segment, including the original idea.
“The original idea was for Mike to knockout Sammy [Guevara], but that changed,” revealed Jericho. “We had talked before and there was like eight guys. I added a couple of young boys so if someone needed to take a punch, they go down. There’s…The Gooch, an actor friend of Tyson’s, who I had never met. I’m standing face-to-face with Tyson and I’m seeing this idiot, who I can tell ‘this guy looks crazy.’ He looks like a skinny fat, dumpy idiot, right? Lo and behold, when Tyson starts taking off his shirt, so does this doughy fat idiot. I was supposed to push Tyson first, he pushes me second, there’s none of that. It’s just Tyson going off. I’m like ‘Hold on, hold on, hold on.’ (to try and slow the segment down). He takes off his shirt, we push, and here comes The Gooch and he comes at me. I grab his head, straight into the table, and we’re off and running. The Gooch is getting smacked around. It’s crazy.”
Mikey Gooch is Tyson’s friend who wore eye black and was ready to go to war with Tyson and the MMA fighters, which included Henry Cejudo, Rashad Evans, and Victor Belfort.
Hager revealed that Belfort “big leagued” him backstage before saying he used to wrestle with Rashad Evans when the two were coming up through the amateur ranks.
Jericho went on to say that he thought the craziness of the segment made it great and that it got a lot of attention.
It is unknown when Tyson will be back on AEW.
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