Chris Jericho laid into fans who mock wrestlers’ botches after WWE star Shotzi deleted her Twitter account to get away from trolls.
One of the most professional wrestlers in the business, Jericho is a fan favourite and an all-time great of wrestling. The former WWE and AEW champion is also known for his outspoken nature on all elements of the industry.
On this occasion, Lionheart had something to say regarding botches. In wrestling, a ‘botch’ is where someone attempts a move but does not execute it in the way that they wanted to. Some botches can be minor errors that even the crowd doesn’t notice.
However, in other cases, the audience can clearly see that the manoeuvre has not gone well.
As a live event, mistakes can and will happen in wrestling. Therefore, Chris Jericho decided to rip into fans who mock his fellow stars, such as Shotzi, for their mistakes in the ring.
Chris Jericho criticises fans amid trolls targeting Shotzi over botches
Speaking on the True Geordie Podcast, the Corazon de Leon gave an unfiltered response about how he hates the term ‘botch’.
“Things happen in a match,” explained Jericho, quoted via SEScoops. “The f*****g word I hate the most that fans use is botch. ‘Oh, you botched that one.’ Shut your f*****g mouth. There is no such thing as a botch. This is a live show. Mistakes happen. Why? Because we are human beings, and we’re live.”
The AEW star then compared fans’ reactions to errors in other live events and how they do not jump on performers’ backs.
“If it happens in a hockey game, the fans don’t start chanting ‘you f****d up, you f****d up’ in unison. If you go to a Broadway play and someone fumbles their lines, people don’t chant, ‘you f****d up, you f****d up’. Then you go to a wrestling match and miss a hip toss, and people start chanting.
“That’s b******t. It’s f*****g disrespectful. And wrestling fans walk the line of being disrespectful. WWE Hall of Fame, and people are booing the Bushwhackers for being in the hall of fame? F**k you.”
However, Jericho did concede that, despite their flaws, the fans are a fundamental part of the industry.
“So that to me, it’s like, yeah, I love wrestling fans. If there were no fans, there will be no career of Chris Jericho, but you guys gotta keep it in check sometimes and show some respect.”
Shotzi deactivates Twitter
The comments from Chris Jericho come at a poignant time. Last week, WWE’s Shotzi deactivated some of her social media as a result of trolls picking on her botched moves.
Shotzi participated in the crazy women’s ladder match at Money in the Bank on July 2. Unfortunately, she suffered defeat, as Liv Morgan overcame all on her way to becoming the new Women’s SmackDown champion that same night.
In further negative news, Shotzi became the victim of trolls on social media over a couple of erroneous moves.
Firstly, the 30-year-old slipped as she hastily climbed a ladder that was in the corner of the ring. Additionally, viewers noticed that Shotzi and Alexa Bliss fell into a ladder during a move too.
According to Metro, fans on Twitter were calling for Shotzi to lose her job with the federation over the mistakes.
Initially, the WWE star defended her botches with a defiant post on her Twitter. But the negativity became too much to bear, and she deleted her social media account.
Featured image credit: Twitter/@nodqdotcom