AEW Superstar Chris Jericho was a special guest on the “Two Man Powertrip” podcast recently where he discussed his attempts to have music licensed from AC/DC and Van Halen. He had the idea for “Back in Black” by AC/DC for The Pinnacle and also “Runnin’ With The Devil” by Van Halen, but those options were both denied.
Jericho said,
“I knew it was time to switch things up with The Pinnacle beat us down. You get rid of the sunglasses and flashy sequin jackets and what’s next? We come back in black and now it’s more of a dark-based black type of a look. It’s subtle, but it’s something where people can go, ‘Oh, this look is different and this attitude is different.’ It’s something that people pick up on, but you have to lead them down that path and let them know ‘this is a different guy.’ It has to be something a little different and twist to keep people’s attention and keep yourself relevant.
We tried to get ‘Back in Black’ for our return promo after we attacked The Pinnacle in our dressing room. They wouldn’t even give us the time of day. There have been other ones. We wanted Van Halen right after Eddie [Van Halen] died, we wanted to use ‘Runnin’ With The Devil and they came back with $500,000. That’s just a polite way of saying ‘No fuckin’ way.’ AC/DC didn’t even come back with that, but then I see them on an Applebee’s commercial using ‘Back in Black.’ I guess they are fans of the baby back ribs. I thought the concept of back in black fit us; we’re coming back focused, serious, and darker,” he said.
