Stephanie McMahon recalls slapping a top AEW star: "The guys thought it was so funny"

Stephanie McMahon recently opened up about one of her infamous segments, in which she slapped a current top AEW star. Wrestling fans are buzzing over McMahon's recent return to the spotlight, as her new ESPN+ series, Stephanie's Places, is set to debut in March.

The Billion-Dollar Princess has worked many roles with WWE, including as an in-ring talent. Stephanie is a one-time Women's Champion who has also occasionally played an authority figure on TV. The former chairwoman of World Wrestling Entertainment recently appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, where she discussed various topics, including how her infamous slap came into play.

Stephanie revealed that she loves being a heel and prefers to be booed by crowds. McMahon recalled how she was even a fan of the heels growing up.

"The slap... so, it was when I became a character, and obviously when I became a heel. I don't know what my first slap was, but I remember the advice that I was told because all the boys were like, 'You got to lay it in, Steph! ... You gotta lay it in, it's got to look good, and make sure you don't pop anybody's ear-drum. You gotta hit him in a particular spot, but hit him hard!' So, that's how the slap kind of starts," Stephanie McMahon said. [From 1:39:08 to 1:39:39]

She recalled hitting Chris Jericho on the June 26, 2000 edition of RAW. McMahon and Jericho have a storied WWE past. During this specific episode of the red brand, Road Dogg and X-Pac held Chris down after his quick loss to Pac. This led to Stephanie slapping Y2J twice and kicking him below the belt.

"Yeah, it was Mick Foley I think, Chris Jericho got it. I remember one time DX was holding Jericho, I forget the storyline but I was going over to slap Chris, and he like, winced... [laughs] and all the guys thought it was so funny, and they make me wait and let him wince, then they had me slap him. It was really funny," McMahon added. [From 1:39:43 to 1:40:02]

McMahon has slapped numerous stars over the years. In addition to Foley and Jericho, her victims include Bryan Danielson, Brie Bella, The Rock, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Ric Flair, Paul Heyman, Dolph Ziggler, Batista, Tom Phillips, Big Show, and many others.

Chris Jericho hits AEW-ROH career milestone

Chris Jericho secured his second ROH World Championship reign back on October 30 after dethroning Mark Briscoe in a Ladder War match on AEW Dynamite. His first reign lasted 80 days after dethroning Claudio Castagnoli at AEW Grand Slam Dynamite in September 2022, ending after Castagnoli won the rematch at Final Battle.

The Learning Tree just passed the 100-day mark in this current World Championship reign for Ring of Honor. Since defeating Briscoe for the title, Jericho has retained just twice. He defeated Tomohiro Ishii on the Thanksgiving Eve AEW Dynamite and Matt Cardona at Final Battle in late December.

Jericho continues to be a regular on AEW programming as well. He teamed with Bryan Keith to defeat The Outrunners on Collision last weekend, and his most recent All Elite singles win came against Dax Harwood on the January 11 Collision.