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Chris Jericho has overcome many challenges in his professional wrestling career and in some situations, he had the odds stacked against him and succeeded time and time again.
The All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star recently highlighted a new group of challengers in a documentary he produced called “Vietslam.” The film shows the rise of Vietnam Pro Wrestling (VPW) and how professional wrestling fans in the Asian country were able to create their own company to unify a population that was hungry for the sport.
“Vietslam” follows how professional wrestling fans in the country managed to convince the Vietnamese government to allow the sport to be introduced in the country, starting from almost nothing to building a rabid audience that only watched WWE or AEW on television.
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Chris Jericho attends the All Elite Wrestling panel during New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for WarnerMedia Company)
“On ‘Talk is Jericho,’ I received a random request via email from a professional wrestling group in Vietnam,” Jericho explained to Pak Gazette Digital in a recent interview. “And I had done some episodes about wrestling in different parts of the world, like China and the Inuit in the north, northern Canada, so I thought it would be interesting to talk to the guys and when I talked to them, it was a Vietnamese guy named Rocky and a Canadian named Carrie who had moved to Vietnam and, against all odds, they had started a wrestling company. There was no wrestling in Vietnam. There wasn’t even a wrestling ring in Vietnam and the government didn’t even know what wrestling was because they had to get permits because obviously there are a very strict government there.
“But they went and followed their dreams and followed the heart and followed the passion and started a wrestling company in Vietnam that ended up being quite successful. And I thought, how interesting is this, not only from the point of view of the humanity of these guys who go and follow this crazy dream, but also the fact that professional wrestling connects the cultures of the West and the East. We all love wrestling here. We know what it is. Most of the country, Japan, England, Ireland and Scotland, etc., etc., etc. but Vietnam, what It’s Vietnam in 2026, you know, because I think we still equate it with the movies we see about the war from ‘Platoon’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and that kind of thing. So, I thought, how interesting is it that professional wrestling is a kind of common denominator between our cultures. That’s something we can agree on. And that’s where the idea of making a documentary about them came from.
Jericho said the formation of Vietnam Pro Wrestling and the hard work along with the amount of work it took to even build a ring showed the unifying aspect of the sport, something that would be overlooked if someone only knew about professional wrestling by watching clips and talking points discussed on social media.
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Chris Jericho is introduced during the AEW Dynamite Beach Break taping at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While professional wrestling tends to be tribal online, going offline for a while could do a lot of people justice. “Vietslam” showed how the goodwill nature of people can bring people together, capitalizing on the core of an idea and turning it into something everyone can connect with.
“But I think, Ryan, when you get off social media, you realize that most fans aren’t like that. That’s just the vocal minority that wants to be tribalistic and negative about everything and you can’t really keep up with that,” Jericho said. “So, I mean, yeah, again, I’m sure there are people in Vietnam who hate VPW and say, ‘This is nothing like American wrestling, this sucks,’ and it’s like they have no idea how much hard work these guys put in to even put on a show. And it’s the same for anyone. Anyone who’s ever gotten in the ring, it’s very hard to get in the ring and wrestle. It really is. The other night, again, I never mind the cut, but 102 degrees outside, I mean, anyone who complains about anything wrestling related, do that and see how much it sucks, right?
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“So, that doesn’t bother me. I just think about what he really showed me and you know, this is a wrestling story, but it’s so much more than that. It’s really about the human desire to do great things and the fire that we all have inside of us to make something happen and take on the government, man. I mean, this isn’t the United States where you and I can just, hey, let’s put on a show tomorrow night. We rent an arena, we do it. It’s not like that there. “It’s a very strict socialist government, almost communist in many ways, and you’re not allowed to do whatever you want.”
Jericho explained that those involved with Vietnam Pro Wrestling had to convince the Vietnamese government that professional wrestling was more like a dance routine than a combat sport like MMA.
“So they had to convince the government that what they were doing was a show, like a dance routine,” he said. “So if we can go to a dance studio where they do dance routines to put on a show, we should be able to have our own show because we’re just doing a performance. And they’re like, ‘Oh, okay. So, they’re not actually going to do it, you know, they’re not actually going to hurt each other.’ It’s like, ‘Well, no, it’s a show.’ And once the government understood that, they let them do it.
“But I mean, these are just normal people going up against the Vietnamese government to get a permit to put on a wrestling show. It’s a pretty intricate and deep thing that took a long time to happen. So all of these things were one of the reasons or all contributed to the reasons why I wanted to make this documentary because I felt like it was a great story to tell in so many different aspects.”
Jericho added that having some influence in the professional wrestling scene in the Asian country meant a lot to him and he was able to surprise some of the wrestlers and fans involved with promoting a show.
Chris Jericho attends the premiere of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” during the SXSW Conference and Festivals at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on March 12, 2026. (Travis P. Ball/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images)
“Yes, it means a lot. When you hear about World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE and working there for so long, it really goes around the world,” he told Pak Gazette Digital. “And now with AEW too, we’re in 100 countries. So, you can see that people are watching and especially now, I mean, they can watch you on YouTube, they can watch you on Netflix or this or that platform. It’s not that hard to watch. You don’t have to wait until Sunday night at 8 o’clock on your local channel to watch, but you can also watch. So, really, it was humbling, I guess you would. Let’s say, and surreal when I went to Vietnam and surprised Rocky and the rest of the wrestlers who were there, they went crazy. It would be like, I don’t know, if Mick Jagger walked through the door right now, you would say, what? They couldn’t believe it because their dream had come true.
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“And there were also a lot of great Chris Jericho fans, but also the dream of professional wrestling. For example, now we’ve gotten enough of a name that one of our heroes is standing here in front of us watching us wrestle. And that’s a really good feeling. They knew a documentary was being made, but they didn’t know I was there. And when we surprised them with that fact and then surprised the fans with that fact later in the night, it just showed once again how universal pro wrestling is. “It’s about a country. It’s about a feeling and a camaraderie that we have as wrestling fans. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you mentioned before what style, it doesn’t matter what country it’s in, pro wrestling is pro wrestling, and you can do it on a field in Africa, which we’ve seen in the United States.”
“Vietslam” will be released Tuesday on Prime Video, Fandango, Hoopla and Local Now and August 6 on Tubi.
