This past weekend at Madison Square Garden, Chris Jericho celebrated 25 years of being the best in the world at what he does. Jericho might not have won the Intercontinental Championship in his match against Kevin Owens, but he has more than his share of successes to reflect back on, and he recently sat down with Brian Fritz of Fox Sports to answer a few questions about his career and future.
First up, 25 is a lot of years. Does it really feel like it’s been that long?
“Not really. I’ll bet anyone would probably say that. I just had Paul Stanley on my podcast to talk about the 40th anniversary of ‘Kiss: Alive,’ and I said does it feel like 40 years? No. It doesn’t really feel like 25 either. When I think back to Oct. 3, 1990 and the Ponoka Moose Hall, it doesn’t seem like that long ago, yet it kind of does. I guess if you go through it and break it down year-by-year, territory-by-territory and country by country, man, I’ve been doing this a long time. When you think 25 years, it doesn’t feel like it. I still go out there and perform at the highest of levels. I guess to give you the wishy-washy answer yes and no, but I don’t feel like it at this point.”
Jericho has been kicking around long enough, that he got to wrestle during the final days of the territory system. To travel around the world and hone his craft. So, now that he’s officially an old-timer, does he feel any resentment to today’s stars who haven’t “paid their dues?”
“I was kind of the last of the Mohicans when it comes to that sort of thing but, look, there’s a whole new crop of guys that might not have had as many “territories” as I had before coming to WWE. Look at a guy like Seth Rollins, for example. He worked Japan, he worked Ring of Honor. He worked Pro Wrestling Guerrilla or wherever the places are to work. Bryan Danielson’s the same and Ambrose. Cesaro. We had ECW, they had Ring of Honor. We had Smokey Mountain Wrestling, they have, I don’t know, I’m sure there are other places where you can work fairly regularly. And then, there’s Japan, which is still a post that a lot of people go to, especially now that New Japan is hot again.
It’s harder for guys to make it nowadays. For example, ‘Tough Enough.’ A lot of people ask, ‘Do you not like the fact that these guys are getting a shortcut into the business?’ Shortcut? Are you kidding me? The workup of guys that are new, plus being on TV under the gun, under the spotlight form the moment they get into the business. That’s really, really hard. I wasn’t in the spotlight for my first, basically, six years and by then you know a little bit. Starting from scratch, going right into the fire, it’s pretty hard. NXT, it’s so big now. You work NXT for two weeks and everyone knows who you are and making a decision on whether they like you or not, whether you have a future. You’re screwed.”
While some older fans still think of Jericho as a WCW guy, the reality is, he’s worked well more than half his career for Vince McMahon, a man Jericho has had a sometimes-contentious relationship with. So, what was the worst argument Jericho ever had with Vince?
“The worst argument is when I got the job to host ‘Downfall,’ the game show that I had to audition for quite a few times. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him getting involved because sometimes the company will get involved and screw things up for you. And when I finally got the gig, I didn’t tell him and it was on the front cover of the Hollywood Reporter, which he flipped out at. He forbid me from doing it and I was going to do it. No you can’t. Yes I can. Well, you’re fired. You can’t fire me because I quit. You can’t quit because you’re fired. I’m going to fly to Connecticut to punch you in the face. I’ll give you my address. I’ll be waiting. That sort of a thing. We kind of just hung up on each other. We ended up working it all out but that was the biggest actual argument.”
Finally, looking ahead to the future, does Jericho see himself at WrestleMania 32, and what was up with him walking out on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at Night of Champions?
“It all depends. I came back a couple of weeks ago to do the Night of Champions thing and I don’t come back just for one-offs. There’s always a reason why I do everything that I do. That could give you some clues.”
The full interview with Jericho is huge, and gets into some fun stories from his early career, his late-2000s heel turn and reinvention and tons of other interesting stuff. I suggest you click below and read the whole shebang.
via Fox Sports
