Wrestling / Jericho Appreciation Society

The recognized symbol of excellence in sports entertainment.
From left to right: Anna Jay, Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker, Jake Hager, Matt Menard, Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo
Front row: Chris Jericho.

"The Jericho Appreciation Society. The epitome of sports entertainers."

The Jericho Appreciation Society was a Professional Wrestling Power Stable that appeared on All Elite Wrestling, comprised of Chris Jericho (leader), Jake Hager, Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara, Tay Melo, and Anna Jay.

In early 2022, the Inner Circle had been experiencing friction, as tensions rose between Jericho and Santana & Ortiz over the latter's friendship with Eddie Kingston (whom Jericho was butting heads with at the time) and the former being accused of hogging the spotlight at their expense. This would come to a head on the 3/9/22 episode of Dynamite, when Jericho and Hager turned on Santana and Ortiz, and aligned themselves with 2.0 and Daniel Garcia (whom both Jericho and Kingston had been feuding with prior). As a result, Jericho disbanded the Inner Circle and replaced it with a new faction...one focused on sports entertainment.

On the 6/15/22 episode of Dynamite, Inner Circle alumnus Sammy Guevara revealed his allegiance to the JAS when he interfered in a hair vs. hair match between Jericho and Ortiz, allowing the former to get the win, with Tay Melo, then Sammy's girlfriend and now his wife, following suit not long after.^note When Melo joined the stable, she was using the name Tay Conti, reflecting her former marriage to Jorge Conti. See "Nom de Mom" for more details.

On the 9/28/22 episode of Dynamite, Garcia would cut ties with the group after weeks of growing tension between him and Jericho, seemingly aligning himself with the Blackpool Combat Club... only to reveal on the 10/12/22 that he was still with the JAS.

Following weeks of Jericho's loyalty to the group being called into question due to his decades-long friendship with Don Callis, the group declared themselves done with Jericho and walked out on him during a mandatory meeting on the 8/9/23 episode of Dynamite, effectively disbanding the group.

During the group's run, Jericho won the Ring of Honor World Championship, whereas Garcia won the ROH Pure Championship.

The recognized tropes of excellence in sports entertainment:

• Alliterative Name: Matt Lee is renamed Matt Menard upon joining the group.
• Arch-Enemy: After Jericho's feud with Eddie Kingston becomes more heated and that Santana & Ortiz clearly side with their friend over him, Jericho and Hager turned on the brothers with their new faction. Eventually, Kingston long time friend and Jericho's old enemy, Jon Moxley, comes to Kingston's aid and bringing in his newly formed stable, the Blackpool Combat Club.
• Bright Is Not Good: They sometimes wear brightly colored ring gear, but make no mistake about it, they are not good people.
• Character Catchphrase: One shared between nearly all members: "Sports entertainers beat pro wrestlers everytime."
• Conflicting Loyalty:
  • In August 2022, Daniel Garcia became conflicted choosing between his loyalty to Chris Jericho and his respect and admiration for his hero, Bryan Danielson. While it initially looked like he would choose Danielson, he ultimately chose Jericho.
  • Ironically, Jericho would find himself in this position beginning in July 2023, when Don Callis began trying to recruit him to join his "family" alongside him and his protege, Konosuke Takeshita. This resulted in the JAS becoming very displeased with Jericho. This would ultimately result in the group's undoing, as everyone (sans Sammy) would walk out on Jericho on the 8/9/23 episode of Dynamite during a mandatory meeting.
• Coordinated Clothes: During the "Anarchy in the Arena" match at AEW Double or Nothing 2022, all of its members (sans Sammy and Tay as they didn't join the group yet) dressed in the same color-coded clothing as one another (white gloves, pants, shoes and cut-off vests). This would be repeated at AEW Blood and Guts 2022, but this time in red.
• Cult of Personality: As the name implies, the other members of The Jericho Appreciation Society exist to prop up Chris Jericho's ego. He founded the group (at least in part) because his former teammates, Santana and Ortiz, didn’t “appreciate” him.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: That voice doing the opening spiel before the music? Recorded by none other than Matt Menard himself.
• Evil Counterpart: To The Inner Circle, especially since this was basically Jericho rebooting the former to fully embrace his egotistical Heel persona.
• Face–Heel Turn: This is what kicked off the group's birth:
  • Following his defeat at the hands of Eddie Kingston at Revolution 2022, Jericho and Kingston finally shake hands, but are ambushed by Daniel Garcia and 2point0. Santana and Ortiz make the save and the former prime Garcia for a beating by Jericho's bat...only for the latter to strike Santana and Ortiz, and Garcia and 2point0 to assist in the beat down.
  • Jake Hager runs down to ring and seem to call out Jericho for his actions... only to immediately afterwards attack Ortiz and assist in the beating, ultimately culminating in Hager powerbombing Kingston through a nearby table. When the dust settled, both Jericho and Hager discard their Inner Circle vests, laying them on the fallen bodies of Santana and Ortiz, and the five men stand tall together, establishing the birth of the JAS.
    Chris Jericho: This is the Jericho Appreciation Society. And that? That's entertainment.
  • While Sammy Guevara (and by extension, his girlfriend/wife, Tay Conti/Melo) had noticeably become more haughty and arrogant after regaining the TNT Championship from Scorpio Sky, him interfering in the hair vs. hair match disguised as his friend, Fuego Del Sol and his subsequent joining of the JAS officially cemented him as a heel.
  • During Night 2 of Fyter Fest 2022, Tay Conti (now Tay Melo) interfered during the Barbed Wire Anywhere match, attacking Ruby Soho (who had the controls to the cage containing the JAS). Anna Jay arrived and appeared to stop her former friend...only to abruptly clock Ruby and assisted her friend in unlocking the cage, freeing the JAS.
• Foil: They are one to the Blackpool Combat Club:
  • Both factions were founded at a similar time, but while William Regal's fight camp is focused on promoting serious wrestling, Jericho's gang desired to put sports entertainment first. This natural counterpoint, along with Jericho's Arch-Enemy Eddie Kingston being close friends with Jon Moxley (not so much Bryan Danielson) and very much sharing the group's leanings, all but guaranteed BCC would be joining the former LAX in feuding against JAS.
  • The JAS was also (as the name implies) a Cult of Personality formed around Chris Jericho, while the BCC pride themselves on their devotion to the craft of wrestling, and they balance their individual aspirations against their commitment to the group.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Finally fed up with Jericho's inability/refusal to win without cheating and patronizing treatment of him, Daniel Garcia breaks away from the JAS and aligns himself with Bryan Danielson (and by extension, the Blackpool Combat Club). Subverted on the 10/12/22 episode of Dynamite, when he turned on Danielson, revealing his true allegiance.
  • Played straight with Sammy Guevara. After forging a friendship with AEW World Champion MJF, who tried to pay Sammy Guevara to lay down for him at Double or Nothing, and subsequently getting chewed out over it by Tay Melo, Sammy would betray MJF during a tag match against Darby Allin and "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry ^note The stipulation being that if Allin and Perry win, they get added to the main event at Double or Nothing allowing the latter team to win the match and turn the world championship match into a four-way. Consequently, this resulted in Tay turning face as well.
• Hypocritical Humor: Christopher Irvine's claim that the group uses their real names, and not their stupid fake names, is this. However, Tay Melo now uses a variant of her real name, having been born Taynara Melo de Carvalho. See "Nom de Mom".
• Insistent Terminology: They are not professional wrestlers. They are sports entertainers.
• It's All About Me: The name alone should be a dead giveaway.
• Kill It with Fire: Jericho threw a fireball at Eddie Kingston's face in a backstage assault on the 4/27/22 episode of Dynamite, prompting him to call himself "The Wizard" two weeks later.
• Make-Out Kids: Sammy and Tay can't keep their hands off each other, much to the chagrin of their opponents. This was toned down following their Heel–Face Turn, as evidenced by the more subdued kissing during their announcement of Tay being pregnant at Double or Nothing 2023.
• Meaningful Rename:
  • Anna Jay rechristens herself as Anna Jay A.S. upon cementing her alliance with the JAS.
  • Tay Conti changes her ring surname to Tay Melo (her maternal surname outside of kayfabe) after marrying Sammy Guevara.
• Nom de Mom: As noted above, Tay's ring name change from Conti to Melo is an example of this. Like the Spanish-speaking world, the Portuguese-speaking world uses dual surnames, but Spanish places the father's name first, while Portuguese places the father's name last.
• Once an Episode: As Jericho performs commentary on Rampage, every episode has Chris Jericho nominate a wrestler competing that week to be "Sports Entertainer of the Week". ^note And in case you're wondering, no, he isn't above nominating himself or the JAS from time to time.
• Power Stable:
  • The Centerpiece: Chris Jericho
  • The Heir Apparent: Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara
  • The Enforcers: Matt Menard and Angelo Parker
  • The Muscle: Jake Hager
  • The Hangers-On: Tay Melo and Anna Jay
• Red Baron: Tay Melo is the only one who doesn't seem to have any strong nicknames in AEW. The rest are below.
  • "The Ocho" is Chris Jericho's latest handle after winning the ROH World Championship, winning his eighth world title as a result.
  • "Daddy Magic" was bestowed to Matt Menard by Jericho in the stable's inaugural promo.
  • "Cool Hand (Ang)" was given to Angelo Parker along with his "real" name by Jericho.
  • Jake Hager's, at least according to the group's entrance video, is "Hand of the King".
  • "Red Death" seems to be Daniel Garcia's nickname according to the group's entrance video. He officially adopts the moniker of "Dragon Slayer" after defeating Bryan Danielson in a match.
  • "Spanish God" of course is carried over by Sammy Guevara.
  • "Queenslayer" for Anna Jay, which is also the name of her finisher.
• Shout-Out: The group's entrance music begins with a spiel that's very reminiscent of the opening for WWE programming in the early to mid 90's.
  "The Jericho Appreciation Society. For over [period of time since the group's debut], the recognized symbol of excellence of sports entertainers."
  • This was changed shortly after the "Anarchy in the Arena" match was rated five stars by Dave Meltzer to "The 5-star symbol of excellence of sports entertainers."
  • Finally, they settled on "The epitome of sports entertainers."
• The Smurfette Principle: Tay Conti/Melo was the sole female member of the group for a while. Subverted after Anna Jay joined the group.
• Take That!:
  • The emphasis of this group as sports entertainers who beat up pro wrestlers makes them a giant jab at the WWE.
  • They also refer to the AEW fans in attendance as the "AEW Galaxy", a reference to WWE's insistence on referring to their audience as the "WWE Universe".
  • Jericho renaming 2point0 to their 'real names', "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand Ang" Angelo Parker, is a shot at WWE's policy of renaming established wrestlers who sign with them. At the time, NXT 2.0 was recently established and earned notoriety among fans for its name changes of wrestlers who had even been with the company for years at that point, such as WALTER becoming "Gunther".
• Technician Versus Performer: In terms of in-ring philosophies, they are the sports entertainment-oriented performers to the Blackpool Combat Club's pro-wrestling focused technicians.
• Token Good Teammate:
  • Daniel Garcia is noticeably less sycophantic than the other members of the group, and is one of the few who generally avoids relying on underhanded tactics to win. Despite the group's animosity with The Blackpool Combat Club, Garcia and Bryan Danielson clearly view one another as Worthy Opponents. This consequently resulted in tension between him and Jericho, which culminated on the 9/28/22 episode of Dynamite, when he broke away from the JAS and challenged Jericho and Sammy Guevara to a tag team match against himself and Danielson. Subverted after turning on Danielson, where he becomes just as sycophantic as the other members.
  • Played straight with Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo following their Heel–Face Turn, after the former betrayed MJF during a tag team match against Darby Allin and "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry. Sammy in particular started to grow increasingly uncomfortable the rest of the J.A.S' underhanded tactics, leading him to butt heads with Jericho or Garcia on a few occasions.

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