AEW star Chris Jericho brings Vietnamese pro wrestling to spotlight, highlighting sport's unifying force

Chris Jericho has stepped up to galore challenges successful her nonrecreational wrestling career, and, successful immoderate situations, had the likelihood stacked against him and succeeded clip and clip again.

The All Elite Wrestling (AEW) prima precocious brought a caller acceptable of challengers to the spotlight successful a documentary helium produced called "Vietslam." The movie showcases the emergence of Vietnam Pro Wrestling (VPW) and however pro wrestling fans from the Asian state were capable to get their ain institution started to unify a colonisation that was starved for the sport.

"Vietslam" follows however pro wrestling fans successful the state were capable to person the Vietnamese authorities to let the athletics to beryllium featured successful the country, starting from astir thing to gathering a rabid assemblage that lone truly watched WWE oregon AEW connected TV.

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Chris Jericho attends the All Elite Wrestling sheet during New York Comic Con astatine Jacob Javits Center successful New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for WarnerMedia Company)

"On ‘Talk is Jericho,’ I got a random petition done an email from a pro wrestling radical successful Vietnam," Jericho explained to Fox News Digital successful a caller interview. "And I'd done a fewer episodes astir wrestling successful antithetic parts of the world, similar China and the Inuit successful northern, bluish Canada areas, truthful I thought it'd beryllium absorbing to speech to the guys and erstwhile I talked to them, it was a Vietnamese feline called Rocky and a Canadian feline called Carrie who had moved to Vietnam, and they had benignant of, against each odds, started a wrestling company. There wasn't wrestling successful Vietnam. There wasn't adjacent a wrestling ringing successful Vietnam and the authorities didn't adjacent cognize what wrestling was due to the fact that they had to get the permits due to the fact that evidently it's a precise strict authorities there.

"But they went and followed their dreams and followed the bosom and followed the passionateness and started up a wrestling institution successful Vietnam that ended up becoming reasonably successful. And I conscionable thought, however absorbing is this, not conscionable from a humanity standpoint of these guys going and pursuing this brainsick dream, but besides the information that pro wrestling connects the cultures of the West and the East. We each emotion wrestling here. We cognize what it is. Most of the country, Japan and England and Ireland and Scotland, etc., etc., etc., but Vietnam, what adjacent is Vietnam successful 2026, you know, due to the fact that I deliberation we inactive equate it with the movies that we spot astir the warfare of your ‘Platoon’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and those types of things. So, I thought, however absorbing is it that pro wrestling is benignant of the communal denominator betwixt our cultures. That is thing that we tin spot oculus to oculus on. And that's benignant of wherever the thought came to bash a documentary astir them."

Jericho said the enactment of Vietnam Pro Wrestling and the hard enactment coupled with the magnitude of enactment that it took to adjacent physique a ringing showcased the unifying facet of the athletics – thing that goes mode overlooked if anyone lone knew astir pro wrestling from seeing clips and talking points being debated connected societal media.

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Chris Jericho is introduced during the AEW Dynamite Beach Break taping astatine the Wolstein Center successful Cleveland, Ohio. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

While pro wrestling has a inclination to beryllium tribalistic online, logging disconnected for a spot could bash a batch of radical justice. "Vietslam" showed however the good-willed quality of radical tin bring radical together, capitalizing connected a kernel of an thought and turning it into thing that everyone tin link with.

"But I benignant of find that though, Ryan, is erstwhile you get disconnected of societal media, you recognize that astir fans aren't similar that. Those are conscionable the vocal number that privation to beryllium tribalistic and privation to beryllium antagonistic astir everything and you can't truly spell connected that," Jericho said. "So, I mean, yeah, erstwhile again, I'm definite there's radical successful Vietnam that that hatred VPW and say, ‘This is thing similar American wrestling, this sucks,’ and it's similar they person nary thought the magnitude of hard enactment these guys enactment into adjacent putting connected a show. And it's the aforesaid for anybody. Anybody that's ever stepped successful the ring, it's precise hard to get successful the ringing and wrestle. It truly is. The different night, erstwhile again, ne'er caput the cut, but 102 degrees outside. I mean, anybody that's bitching astir thing astir wrestling, spell bash that and spot however overmuch you b----ing, right?

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"So, I that doesn't fuss me. I conscionable deliberation what it truly showed maine and you know, this is simply a wrestling story, but it's truthful overmuch much than that. It's truly astir the quality tendency to bash large things and the occurrence that we each person wrong to marque thing hap and going up going up against the government, man. I mean, this is not the United States wherever you and I tin just, hey, let's enactment connected a amusement time night. We rent an arena, we bash it. It’s not similar that there, It's a precise strict socialist astir communist authorities successful a batch of ways and you're not allowed to conscionable bash immoderate you want."

Jericho explained that those progressive with Vietnam Pro Wrestling had to person the Vietnamese authorities that pro wrestling was much similar a creation regular alternatively than a combat athletics similar MMA.

"So, they had to person the authorities that what they were doing was a show, similar a creation routine," helium said. "So, if we tin spell to a creation workplace wherever they bash creation routines to enactment connected a show, we should beryllium capable to person our ain amusement due to the fact that we're conscionable doing a performance. And they're like, ‘Oh, OK. So, you're not really going to, you know, you're not really going to wounded each other.’ It's like, ‘Well, no, it's a show.’ And erstwhile the authorities understood that, they allowed them to bash it.

"But I mean, these are conscionable mean radical going up against the authorities of Vietnam to get a licence to enactment connected a wrestling show. That's beauteous intricate, heavy worldly that took a batch of clip to marque happen. So, each of these things was 1 of the reasons oregon each contributed to the reasons wherefore I wanted to bash this documentary due to the fact that I conscionable felt it was a large communicative to archer connected truthful galore antithetic aspects."

Jericho added that to person immoderate power implicit the pro wrestling country successful the Asian state meant a batch to him and helium was capable to astonishment immoderate of the wrestlers and the fans progressive with the promotion for 1 show.

Chris Jericho attends the "Margo's Got Money Troubles" premiere during the SXSW Conference & Festivals astatine Paramount Theatre successful Austin, Texas, connected March 12, 2026. (Travis P. Ball/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images)

"Yeah, it means a lot. When you perceive World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE, and moving determination for truthful long, it truly does spell astir the world," helium told Fox News Digital. "And present with AEW arsenic well, we're successful 100 countries, too. So, you tin conscionable spot that radical ticker and particularly now, I mean, they tin ticker you connected YouTube, they tin ticker you connected Netflix oregon connected this level oregon that platform. It's not arsenic hard to see. You don't person to hold ‘til Sunday nighttime astatine 8 o’clock connected your section transmission to watch, but you tin bash that arsenic well. So, it really, it truly was humbling, I conjecture you'd say, and surreal erstwhile I did spell to Vietnam and astonishment Rocky and the remainder of the wrestlers that were there, they went nuts. Like, they virtually went nuts. It'd beryllium similar if, I don't know, if Mick Jagger walked done the doorway close now, you'd beryllium like, what? They couldn't judge it due to the fact that their imagination had travel true. And that's not conscionable to conscionable me, but I benignant of represented, I think, what WWE meant to them successful that present comes Chris Jericho.

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"And determination were a batch of large Chris Jericho fans, too, but besides the imagination of pro wrestling. Like, we person present gotten capable of a sanction to wherever 1 of our heroes is present lasting successful beforehand of america watching america wrestle. And that's a beauteous chill feeling. They knew that determination was a documentary being made, but they didn't cognize that I was there. And erstwhile we amazed them with that information and past amazed the fans with that information aboriginal connected successful the evening, it conscionable benignant of showed erstwhile again however cosmopolitan pro wrestling is. It's not astir a country. It's astir a feeling and astir a camaraderie that that we person arsenic wrestling fans. It doesn't substance wherever you're from, you mentioned earlier what style, doesn't substance what benignant it is, doesn't substance what state it's in, pro wrestling is pro wrestling. And you tin bash it successful a tract successful Africa, which we've seen. You tin bash it connected creation mats successful Vietnam, oregon you tin bash it successful a stadium successful the United States. But it each equates to the aforesaid happening of conscionable loving the concern and having this passionateness for it."

"Vietslam" volition beryllium released connected Tuesday connected Prime Video, Fandango, Hoopla and Local Now and Aug. 6 connected Tubi.