AEW’s Blood & Guts episode of Dynamite on May 5 ended with MJF shoving Chris Jericho off the cage, and some camera angles that clearly showed Jericho landing on cardboard rather than crashing through steel as the announcers described.
Afterwards, a lot of people were poking fun at the spot. One of those people was WWE’s Shotzi Blackheart.
— Shotzi (@ShotziWWE) May 6, 2021
In one of his defenses of the fall, it was widely assumed Shotzi was among those Jericho was referring to when he vowed to “remember” the “chicks in WWE who said some stuff and they should probably not have said that” if they ever came to AEW looking for jobs. After that quote went around, Shotzi retweeted her GIF, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about her reaction to the whole dust-up.
talkSPORT still asked her about it during a recent interview though. Here’s what she had to say:
“I meant no offense to Chris Jericho. I thought, honestly, the match was great. But, you know what… like, take a joke, Take a joke, bud! [laughs]
“It’s just a GIF. Laugh at it and move on. It’s live TV. Things happen, it’s pro wrestling. Don’t take life too seriously is all I have to say.”
That’s in line with most of the reactions to Jericho promising to hold a grudge about the tweet, and an indication that - like Shayna Baszler - Shotzi wasn’t mocking the fall, but the way it was shot and showed up on television.
Seems unlikely any explanation will change Le Champion’s tune. A true showman, he’s going to put over the admittedly scary bump that reportedly legitimately injured him for the rest of his days.
Will he stay resentful of those who laughed at the spot? Probably - stories like that get attention. But maybe he’s mellowed now that he has deathmatch cred... we shall see.