On the latest episode of his Talk is Jericho podcast, Chris Jericho revealed how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reacted when he learned about All In. The latest episode features an interview he conducted with Cody and the Young Bucks back in June. The interview took place in Osaka, Japan following NJPW’s “Destruction in Osaka” event.
Vince McMahon All In Reaction
Chris Jericho says he told Vince McMahon about All In earlier this year. Vince’s reaction was classic Vince. “I told Vince about All In about 4 or 5 months ago,” Jericho said. “We were just discussing and shooting the breeze and I said ‘Yeah the show’s in September in Chicago’ and Vince said ‘I wish they would have called me. September is the worst time of year to promote!'”
Jericho, Cody, and the Young Bucks got a good laugh at the notion of calling up Vince McMahon to get advice. “Hey Vince, it’s Cody, I’ve got the Young Bucks on the phone,” Cody joked. “Couple of questions about promoting in the fall.”
“Don’t say ‘Rhodes’ haha,” Jericho joked in a Vince McMahon voice.
The story takes place just after the first commercial break in the episode. Subscribe to Talk is Jericho at iTunes.
Chris Jericho believes match quality is overrated. To him, what sells a match or colors how it is perceived is the characters involved.
“I’m gonna go on record here,” Jericho said on a recent episode of his podcast. “Guess what guys? Great matches don’t matter. Here’s the secret to wrestling: personalities and character. That’s all that matters.”
Jericho expressed similar sentiment earlier this year during an appearance on Busted Open radio:
Chris Jericho on Dangerous Wrestling and Will Ospreay
Jericho would continue to use Will Ospreay as an example of what he means. Ospreay is often referred to as the next Dynamite Kid. In one respect, this is a compliment considering the success Tom Billington had. From another perspective, however, being the next Dynamite Kid could also mean a shortened career and limited mobility inlater life.
“People were predicting he’s gonna be the next Dynamite Kid,” Jericho said of Ospreay. “I called him on the phone and said, ‘dude you do not want to be the next Dynamite Kid. I want you to be around when you’re 47 just like me kicking ass. Stop doing stupid moves that don’t mean anything.'”
According to Jericho, he and Ospreay had a productive conversation and the popular junior heavyweight has toned down his style since.
Jericho also recalled the story of meeting Nick Bockwinkle at a TV taping in 1992. Bockwinkle, Jericho recalled, had a similar attitude to him that he now has given to Ospreay.
“I remember Nick Bockwinkle told me back in like 1992, at a TV taping in Winnipeg when he was there as a color commentator, ‘you do too much’.”
Chris Jericho recently promised his fans that 2019 would be “interesting.” Well judging by his recent pitch to WWE he isn’t far wrong…
Jericho revealed on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho that he pitched an Intercontinental Champion vs Intercontinental Champion match for Summerslam 2018. Jericho mentioned that he pitched to “a certain head of a certain wrestling company. I’ve got something for you. I said what do you think about Intercontinental champion vs. Intercontinental champion: Jericho vs. Rollins?”
Y2J went on to say that the idea did get a “decent response” but he never heard back from the company. Jericho has been the IWGP Intercontinental Champion since June 9th where he defeated Tetsuya Naito for the belt at Dominion. Jericho has not appeared in New Japan since this win and his last interaction with EVIL suggests a feud between the two.
Rollins is of course no longer the WWE Intercontinental Champion but he will be facing the current IC Champion Dolph Ziggler this Sunday at Summerslam. You can check out the SEScoops staff predictions for the show here.
Would you like to see some NJPW vs WWE matches in either company? Do you think that Jericho will return to WWE in 2018? Let us know in the comments.
Chris Jericho has had a wild 2018. The former World Champion not only went to NJPW but opposed to many people’s expectation, became a Champion there as well. If the latest tweet from the Master Of Manipulation is to be taken into consideration, then the upcoming year could be even more surprising for his fans. The IWGP Intercontinental Champion tweeted on Wednesday:
These tweets have only fuelled the speculation about Chris’ future in the wrestling business. There are a lot who believe that he may be planning to work for companies other than NJPW in the future as well.
If Chris Jericho does decide to make appearances for other promotions then the two obvious destinations for him would be Impact Wrestling or the upcoming MSG Supershow of ROH and NJPW.
Though Jericho is known to manipulate people through his comments. So it’s entirely possible that he takes a completely different route and ends up having another run with WWE instead.
Whatever Chris is planning will be revealed down the line. One thing is sure that he will continue to be one of the most entertaining acts in all of pro wrestling in the upcoming year as well.
Chris Jericho likes to keep busy. In addition to his podcast, podcast network, WWE career, NJPW career, upcoming cruise and band, Jericho is also filming a horror movie with the noted filmmaker, Kevin Smith. Smith posted about the film earlier through Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmgLOfeATjd/
Jericho is racking up the IMDB credits these days. He even has in his own show, “But I’m Chris Jericho.” Additionally, he has appeared in Sharknado 3 and several other TV shows/movies.
Jericho is at the center of some speculation as of late. Many believe the popular Canadian could end up with Impact Wrestling or continuing his NJPW career in spite of previous statements made saying he wouldn’t wrestle in the United States for a company other than WWE.
There is more evidence building that Chris Jericho plans to wrestle for a promotion other than WWE in the United States. Jericho has famously stated in the past that he would not wrestle for a promotion in the country other than WWE out of loyalty to Vince McMahon.
Despite this, rumors are circulating that Jericho could end up in Impact Wrestling or wrestling on the G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden next year.
Jericho recently corrected a fan on Twitter who said he would only work for a company in the United States if he has Vince McMahon’s blessing.
“While nobody will say anything,” wrote Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. “There is a lot of belief within the business than Jericho is destined to be here (Impact Wrestling) and the not wanting to do anything that would get Vince mad doctrine isn’t nearly as strong as it was months ago.”
Impact Wrestling’s Petey Williams, also commented on the possibility of Jericho coming to the promotion recently. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if Jericho shows up in Impact. Williams also said he has no direct knowledge on if he’ll be coming in, however.
Earlier this year, we spoke with Don Callis during an Impact Wrestling press conference to promote Slammiversary. I asked him about talent he’d like to bring in to the promotion. His answer suggested he’s looking to bring in the biggest names he can.
“There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him,” Callis said. “His name is Kenny Omega. Another is Chris Jericho.”
Chris Jericho does not believe Vince McMahon is worried about another wrestling promotion selling out Madison Square Garden. In fact, Jericho believes Vince knows this will only improve the business overall.
The G1 Supercard sold-out almost instantly after tickets went on sale to the general public yesterday.
“I bet you, deep down inside even Vince would say, ‘Okay, this is good.’ This is good for business because it makes everybody work a little harder, it gives the fans more options, it gives the [performers] more options. It makes the business healthier overall.”
Tickets to the event were thought to be 60% sold after VIP Honor Club subscribers were given early access.
There is speculation that Chris Jericho may have gone back on his promise to never wrestle in the United States for a promotion other than WWE. Jericho is the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion and could potentially be booked on the G1 Supercard. To do so, however, he would have to go back on his long-held statement regarding his loyalty to WWE.
“It’s very cool to go back to Japan, where I started, and be part of this worldwide growth of New Japan,” Jericho said recently during an interview with Sports Illustrated. “There are no real restrictions on what I can do in New Japan.”
Jericho last competed for WWE this spring in the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Last year, it was revealed that Chris Jericho served as a reference for Don Callis to Anthem Sports and Entertainment in reference to the job of Vice President of Impact Wrestling. Jericho and Callis have each discussed the events on their respective podcasts.
Jericho and Callis have been friends since their early days in wrestling and Callis helped arrange for Jericho to face Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome earlier this year. Now it appears, many are of the belief Jericho will end up working for Callis’ promotion.
“While nobody will say anything,” wrote Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. “There is a lot of belief within the business than Jericho is destined to be here (Impact Wrestling) and the not wanting to do anything that would get Vince mad doctrine isn’t nearly as strong as it was months ago.”
Don Callis told me in June that bringing in Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho was a goal of his. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him,” Callis said at the Slammiversary press conference. “His name is Kenny Omega. Another is Chris Jericho.”
More speculation holds Jericho making an appearance at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view in October. The event takes place just two weeks before Chris Jericho’s cruise sets sail and an appearance at the event could be a last-minute move to increase sales.
Impact Wrestling producer, Kevin Sullivan (not that Kevin Sullivan), Tweeted that the company placed hidden Easter Eggs in their Bound for Glory advertising. Some are saying the advertising points to Chris Jericho’s involvement in the pay-per-view.
Chris Jericho and WWE Relationship
Jericho has said previously he’d never wrestle for a company other than WWE in the United States. There is some reason to believe Jericho may have loosened his stance on this, however. He said as much recently in response to a fan on Twitter.
Jericho is the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion in NJPW and has now wrestled in Japan for the promotion twice. He has not wrestled on any of the NJPW shows to take place in the United States, however.
As SummerSlam is approaching closer, Brock Lesnar has become a hot topic of discussion once again and people have been talking about his WWE contract.
During the latest episode of the Jim Ross Report podcast, Chris Jericho discussed Lesnar’s current WWE deal alongside his ongoing NJPW run and more.
Jericho first talked about his current NJPW run and indicated that his deal with the company is for 2018. He then claimed that he will return to the company for a ‘few more times for sure’.
Chris also discussed how people have animosity towards Brock Lesnar because of his limited contract but said that he admires Lesnar and wouldn’t mind having a similar deal.
Continuing on the topic, he recalled how Hulk Hogan had a profit-sharing deal with WCW where he used to receive a percentage from the revenue generated by PPVs.
Y2J went on to tell the fans to hate the owners and the company to offer such deals to talents and said that he is always happy for a performer who lands a high paying deal because percentage-wise, it’s the performers who make the least amount of money at various major sports leagues.
Brock Lesnar is currently scheduled to defend his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at the upcoming SummerSlam PPV on August 19th.
Mark Henry, the Rock, and D-Lo Brown once found themselves in a potentially dangerous situation outside Madison Square Garden. Henry recalled the story recently on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s podcast.
According to Henry, a mob of fans once smashed in their rental car’s window, hit D-Lo Brown in the face with pizza, and damaged their car so badly they almost couldn’t get away.
Jericho and Henry were talking about how at MSG, talent often has to park in the same lot as fans. This they said, can lead to some unpleasant interactions.
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 1, 2018
Mark Henry Recalls Being Attacked By Fans Outside MSG
“There are 3 other people who can verify this story,” Henry said. “Because you’re going to think this is B***S***.”
The story happened while Henry, Brown, and the Rock were all still in the Nation of Domination and were leaving a show from MSG one night.
Henry said that the Rock asked them to pull up the car right next to the exit so he wouldn’t get mobbed by fans when they were leaving. They weren’t so lucky, however. D-Lo and Henry went to get the car from the public lot they had to park in. That’s when D-Lo got hit in the face with a slice of pizza and things started to go downhill.
“D-Lo gets hit in the face with a piece of pizza,” Henry said. “And that was light of the s*** they were throwing at us.”
Then Henry explains what happened when they picked up the Rock from outside the arena.
“Dwayne throws his bag in, gets in the car, the window goes out,” Henry said before making a sound to resemble a window being shattered. “Somebody bust the window out. They start beating the car, they totaled the car with their hands.”
“They totaled a Lincoln Towncar beating on it with their hands,” he continued. “We got back and they said ‘this car is totaled.'”
“They mashed the hood in so much that it broke the carburetor. I don’t know how we made it to the airport. By the grace of God, we made it to the airport and the car wouldn’t start after that.”
We are slowly moving towards SummerSlam and WWE’s biggest concern remains to be getting Roman Reigns cheered against Brock Lesnar at the upcoming PPV.
However, if words from the Master Manipulator Chris Jericho are to be believed, then getting The Big Dog cheered is not as hard as people think.
Jericho was recently a guest on Jim Ross’ Ross Report Podcast, where the IWGP Intercontinental Champion talked about how it’s harder to be a heel in the current scenario.
Although continuing on the topic, Y2J recalled the times he worked with Reigns in 2017 and claimed that they were able to get him a babyface reaction most of the times.
Chris then went on to explain that the heels need to live in the moment. He said that they need to be a ‘piece of s–t’ in order to get the expected reaction for the opponent.
The Former World Champion also compared Roman’s reaction to the crowd reaction of John Cena and said that whether they are cheering them or booing them, it’s ok as long as people are having a good time.
Apart from this, Chris Jericho discussed how performers have no control over their booking and it’s Vince McMahon who makes the final decision. You can check out his full interview here.
Chris Jericho says there are no restrictions to what he can do in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion has only wrestled 3 matches in 2018, but he has remained one of the most talked about wrestlers in the world.
Jericho made waves when he wrestled Kenny Omega in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2018. He appeared at WWE’s big Raw 25th Anniversary just a few weeks later, his first appearance for the company since he started working for New Japan.
In April, he was back in WWE competing in the Greatest Royal Rumble. By June, he was the IWGP IC Champion after dethroning Tetsuya Naito at Dominion.
Chris Jericho On Working For NJPW & WWE
“It’s very cool to go back to Japan, where I started, and be part of this worldwide growth of New Japan,” Jericho said to Sports Illustrated recently. “There are no real restrictions on what I can do in New Japan.”
Jericho would continue to talk about the restrictions in WWE versus NJPW.
“We did the original beatdown with Kenny and got some blood going, which you never see in the WWE nowadays,” Jericho continued.
“We did the press conference where I was swearing and attacking reporters. You can’t do that in WWE, but you can in Japan. Just to have those shackles released, it just felt like all of these things led to more of a Bruiser Brody character than a Shawn Michaels-type vibe.”
Chris Jericho Wrestling For Non-WWE Promotions
Jericho has always said he would never wrestle for a company other than WWE on American soil. Events which have unfolded this year may test his commitment to this, however.
When asked by a fan on Twitter if he still intends to stand by his earlier claims, Jericho gave an answer some fans will find surprising.
There’s been speculation that Jericho is interested in working for Impact Wrestling. Jericho responded, “Of course!” when asked if he’d consider ‘going to’ Impact.
This October, Chris Jericho is hosting the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager cruise, which departs out of Miami on October 27th and travels to the Bahamas.
Talent from WWE, Impact Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor will be appearing on the ship. Very few people can pull off something like this. Chris Jericho is among a rare breed of performers who makes his own rules in this business.
Chris Jericho has said that he’ll never wrestle for a company other than WWE in the United States. There are signs Jericho has re-considered his position on this topic.
Jericho held a Q&A on Twitter this week and was asked if he’d consider going to Impact Wrestling, which is currently being co-run by his longtime friend Don Callis.
As has been revealed on both Jericho and Don Callis’ podcasts, Jericho served as a reference for Callis when he was interviewing for his position with Impact. The two Winnipeg natives also arranged for Jericho to take on Kenny Omega in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where Callis serves as color commentator.
While he was promoting Slammiversary in Toronto, I asked Callis about talent he was looking at signing. Callis rather nonchalantly listed both Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho.
“There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him,” Callis said. “His name is Kenny Omega. Another is Chris Jericho.”
Jericho was also live-Tweeting Slammiversary on Sunday.
Another fan asked Jericho if he would be interested in working with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. Okada is arguably one of the top professional wrestlers in the world. The prospect of a Jericho vs. Okada match is enticing. Jericho makes it sound like we might actually see this showdown.
Chris Jericho has been busy promoting his Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager cruise, which sets sail out of Miami in late October. The ‘main event’ of that cruise experience will be Alpha Club vs. Bullet Club: Jericho and the Young Bucks taking on Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll and “Hangman” Adam Page. Sail away, man!
On Monday afternoon, Chris Jericho announced a huge 6-man tag match for his Rock n Wrestling Rager cruise, which sets sail on October 27th from Miami.
Alpha Club vs. Bullet Club
The Alpha Club (Chris Jericho and the Young Bucks) will square off against The Bullet Club’s Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and Marty Scurll.
The Jericho Cruise website has a preview that reads, “How will the new team of Y2Jackson (or is it the Bucks of Jericho?) hold up against Omega’s One Winged Angel? Will Alpha Club prevail with never-before-seen moves that can only be perfected on a cruise ship?! BUCKLE UP, cruisers, it’s Alpha vs. Omega, and you’re about to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event and moment in wrestling history this October!
Marty Scurll will be pulling double duty on the cruise, as he’s already advertised to face Sami Callihan in what’s being billed as the first-ever Ring of Honor vs. Impact Wrestling match.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho recently took to his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, and discussed some real life heat he had with Scott Hall. “Y2J” noted that he and Hall “don’t have any love lost for each other” and admitted they never really got along. Jericho opened up on what started the tension between them:
“Those guys are very sarcastic, and almost kind of bullying in a way. I did things my way with my group of guys like Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and those kinds of guys,” Jericho said.
Jericho recalled he had an opening match in WCW with Jerry Lynn. After the match Hall walked up to him and said “it may have been a little long, but it was a great match.” It should be noted that WCW never gave Jericho or Lynn any time restraints:
“Scott Hall came up to me and told me that nobody was coming to see me, get in there, do your 5-10 minutes and get out. No one wants to see you. I remember thinking, wow, what an asshole.
“Why would you say that? I told Chris Benoit that, and Benoit was already furious with Scott Hall after Hall pissed on Chris Benoit’s cowboy boots by the urinals. He just leaned over while they were both pissing and he leaned to the side and pissed on his boots.”
Jericho then claimed Hall was the kind of guy that “whenever he talked you just wanted to slap him in the face.” Hall apparently once asked Jericho how his “little Terry Taylor push is going” before threatening to end it with one phone call:
“Scott Norton, who is a friend of mine from my time in Japan said to me that if you don’t say something to him next time he bullies you then I am going to say something and I will bully you. Either you do something about it or I will. If you do something about it and he wants to cause anything then I got your back.”
Finally Jericho stood up to Hall one day and got an approving smile form Norton. “Y2J” noted Hall was always that way, and it’s a shame. He gave Hall his credit for what he did in the business, but admits even to this day there’s no love lost between them:
“When Scott made another comment I went up to Hall and said to never f–king talk to me like that again, you understand me? I told him that there was no rib, or no joke, don’t ever f–king talk to me like that again.
“He would tell me to calm down and that he was just joking, ‘geez Jericho, can’t you take a joke?’ I looked over at Scott Norton and he was just smiling like I did the right thing. That was a Scott Hall for you. He was always like that, which is a shame. He was obviously a great worker and a great performer but no love lost for him even until this day.”
You can listen to Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
Chris Jericho has reflected on the reaction of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon when he found out that TNA’s flagship show at the time in 2010, Impact, would be going head-to-head with WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW.
Jericho talked about it during a recent edition of his Talk is Jericho podcast. If you recall, these shows would battle it out for ratings on Monday nights at the time starting on January 4, 2010. “[Vince] said, ‘take me out of the equation. You can’t compete with WWE at this point.’ ‘It’s too much of a machine, it’s too much of a brand, it’s just the way it is.’ And he’s right.
You’re not gonna [beat] the WWE. You can compete, carve out your own niche, yes. But I also believe that [WWE] has now become entrenched in Americana, pop culture, and the world. It’s not gonna go anywhere.”
If you recall, this episode of Impact started a new era in TNA as Hulk Hogan made his promotional debut while Jeff Hardy made his return to the company. Also, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Val Venis, Mick Foley, and Ric Flair made appearances while Bobby Lashley departed.
The show was headlined by AJ Styles retaining his TNA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Kurt Angle in the main event.
On the flip side, RAW featured the reconciliation of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart after 12 years of bad blood due to the Montreal Screwjob. TNA’s time on Monday nights didn’t last long as they went back to Thursday nights in early March.
The head-to-head battle only last two months before TNA pulled the plug on the ‘Monday Night War’ experiment.
Chris Jericho was recently on a three hour flight from Los Angeles to Dallas. “Y2J” apparently flew American Airlines who didn’t feature a movie for the long flight and didn’t accommodate passengers with USB outlets to charge their phones.
This seemed to really frustrate the IWGP Intercontinental Champion, who took to Twitter to put the airline on blast – asking “How old is this plane and what year are we living in?”:
No phone charger outlets or movies on a 3 1/2 flight from LAX to Dallas? How old is this plane and what year are we living in @AmericanAir?
One fan responded to Jericho and called him out for being a “primadona” and complaining for the pettiest of things when there are much more pressing issues going on around the world. The fan then suggested Jericho charter his own plane if those things are so important to him.
Jericho hilariously responded to the fan before blocking him on Twitter:
Don Callis is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega match at the Tokyo Dome this year. All three are from Winnipeg and Callis also has his own podcast through the Chris Jericho podcast network.
At the Slammiversary press conference in Toronto recently, Callis indicated to me he’d love to bring Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”
Callis recently doubled-down on his comments during his appearance on Jim Ross’ podcast.
Don Callis On Jim Ross Podcast
Callis explained his history with Omega. “I’ve been on this journey with Kenny Omega since he was a 16-year-old kid who I booked,” Callis explained.
“I gave him his first break wrestling for the promotion I had in Winnipeg [Canada]. And his uncle, The Golden Sheik, who was an indie wrestler in Winnipeg helped train me in the [pro wrestling] business in 1989, so my roots with Kenny go back many years. I’ve been on this journey with him, and specifically since I’ve been in New Japan and we have a very close relationship. We talk about ideas, we do things, I helped put together the match between him and Chris [Jericho] for the Tokyo Dome.”
Callis On Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling
Callis continued to say the chances of Omega and Jericho appearing in an Impact Wrestling ring are less remote than they seemed not too long ago.
“I kind of say, ‘never say ‘never” and I think that one of the things that we’ve been doing under Ed Nordholm here at Impact is breaking some longstanding paradigms of pro wrestling,” Callis said.
“The intellectual property stuff that we’ve talked about before, but also we’ve been working with multiple people now and now recently announced by Chris Jericho and I know [Ross] will be on that cruise, so that’ll be cool, get to have a beer together. It’s going to be Impact and Ring Of Honor on the same cruise ship, so there’s some stuff that’s probably going to happen and I don’t think you can have those talents in a closed environment like that, so we are working, in a sense if you take that, with Ring Of Honor right now.
We’ve got Taiji Ishimori coming in for our pay-per-view and our TV in July. The Bone Soldier just started with New Japan, so we’ll see what happens. How many people would’ve thought that Chris Jericho would’ve headlined the Tokyo Dome with New Japan Pro-Wrestling? I was so sheepish when I pitched it to him because he always told me, ‘I will never work for anyone except Vince McMahon and I have a deep respect for Vince.’ Obviously, he took Vince into consideration. Vince is the first guy he told about it. Nevertheless, it shocked me that Chris was on a New Japan show, so I’ve learned to say, ‘never say ‘never” in this business.”
Chris Jericho was Sean Waltman’s guest on the latest episode of the X-Pac 1-2-360 podcast, which you can listen to at iTunes and Omny.fm.
Here are some highlights of what Chris Jericho said about:
The time Vince McMahon said he’d fire him if he didn’t have a good match with Sean Waltman:
“So when I got to WWE, I’d been working for 9 years and I’d been over in every company that I ever worked for so you know there’s certain guys like when Daniel Bryan came into the WWE I knew he’d get over no matter what. He’s been over everywhere he’s ever worked, he’ll figure it out and that’s what I did. I figured it out and it didn’t take long but there was a huge bullseye on my back and I smartened up to it very quickly.
And the other part of the story…what Vince told me was ‘you’re working with X-Pac tonight, if you don’t have a good match you’re fired.’ Which was a guillotine over my head… and then afterwards Vince was super cool, he pat me on the back, ‘hey pal, give me a call tomorrow and oh by the way every match that you have from now on run it past Sean Waltman first and make sure that it makes sense…In retrospect there’s a reason Vince did that. As we know Vince is a f***ing genius and we were peers but Sean you knew how to work that [WWE] style so he put me with you to figure out how to do it. I’m really happy he did that because I learned right away…That’s why Vince did it and it worked.
His match with Naito at NJPW Dominion:
“We went to the Dojo the day before and I had some ideas…but once again I was thinking more along the lines of what’s the story I want to tell? And here’s what I always go with, if I ever do a promo or match. What’s the vibe of this promo? What’s the vibe of this match? What’s the mood that I wanna set? Once I circled in on that then the rest just came together very quickly.
I wanted something that’s a little uncomfortable, a little bit stiff. Cause Naito’s style is tranquilo as his catchphrase, very laid back…I wanted a different Naito, I wanted a Naito that did give a shit and wanted to fight…That whole start of the match was his [Gedo] idea; attack him before the bell, attack him before he takes his suit off, put him through a table. Like I didn’t think of it that way… It sets the tone of being this super intense brawl.”
Working a Brock Lesnar-type schedule with New Japan and his future with the company:
“A lot more tales to tell with Chris Jericho in New Japan. And almost doing a Brock Lesnar type of schedule to where I am not there for every show but the ones that I am there for are now special cause Jericho is there. I didn’t expect to be doing more matches with New Japan as of January of this year and now that I’ve done another one and there’s a couple more in the pipeline I might decide to stay a little longer.”
Wanting to make his Rock ‘n Wrestling Rager Cruise an annual event:
“My schedule is ridiculous I’m not gonna have any fun at all, I am working the whole damn time but I have to sell this cruise, I have to make it a success. So you know wrestling fans are gonna have a great time, it might be a little bit crazy for the boys but it’s gonna be a fun experience for everybody because it’s people from all of the same mind set of really loving this certain art form of wrestling and rock n’ roll as well as love live comedy and love live podcasts all that sort of thing. It’s never been done before, I am taking a big chance but I had to do it and so far so good. My goal is for it to be an annual destination vacation. In year two, I’ve already got X-Pac 12360 on the docket for a live podcast if you could put up with it [laughs].”
The “WWE Style” of Wrestling:
“It’s all part of the learning process. Anytime you come into a new company it takes a while to figure it out. Now I always laugh when people say ‘WWE style? There’s no WWE style.’ Yes there is a WWE style, it’s a main event style, it’s how you really work. And anybody that comes through the system, it makes me laugh when you see guys from NXT that came from the indies that were super great and critically acclaimed…there’s always an adjustment period when you come into the WWE, I don’t care who you are – AJ Styles it was an adjustment, Bobby Roode or Samoa Joe or any of those guys … There is a way we work in WWE and once you can work that way you can take that style and work it anywhere on the planet and always have the best match on the show.”
How the wrestling business was different in the 1990’s:
“It was such a different business in the 90s. Even if it was only twenty years ago it might as well have been fifty years ago with the way the boys thought, the way the business was…it doesn’t even matter who the main event is anymore, whereas back in the 90s, if you were going to make the big money you had to be in the main event. And as a result, to stay in the main event there was a lot of political imagination going on behind the scenes to keep guys down or help guys out whatever it was. And those sorts of politics don’t really exist anymore.”
Backstage politics in WCW compared to WWE:
“When I came into WWE; it’s hard for people to actually believe this but at that time frame the wrestling war was real… there was a little bit of underlying heat amongst the boys if you came from WCW or vice versa. It’s just the way that it was. And so when I came into WWE… the first night I interrupted The Rock, I’m sure I had nuclear heat just by the fact that I was doing it. I was completely oblivious to that, knew really nothing of the politics that were going on. I was just doing my thing…”
Chyna having the stiffest forearm strikes:
“I remember the first real feud that I had was with Chyna. And [Vince McMahon] said to me, ‘Do you mind working with a woman?’ and I said ‘No I don’t mind, I’ll be happy too.’ And he goes ‘ I don’t want you to treat her with kid gloves, I want you to work with her like you would work with a guy. I don’t want you to pull any punches, I don’t want you to stiff her but do what you do.’ So I did that and I remember as a result she did get a little bit of a black eye once. By the way her forearm strikes were stiff as f***.”
You can listen to the full episode of X-Pac 1-2-360 with Chris Jericho below:
Following New Japan Pro Wrestling’s recent Dominion event, Chris Jericho spoke with Taylor Allen of the Winnipeg Free Press about two ‘Winnipeggers’ (he and Kenny Omega) leaving that show with NJPW’s two top championships.
Jericho is proud to be at the forefront of NJPW’s global expansion and feels the company is starting to gain ground on WWE.
“[New Japan] is a company that’s slowly but surely increasing its worldwide popularity and basically breathing down the neck of the WWE. It’s a Japanese wrestling company, the top stars are Japanese, but there we were, two foreigners, headlining and main eventing the Tokyo Dome. It would be like two Japanese football teams in the Super Bowl. The fact it’s two guys from Winnipeg is a really huge deal.”
WWE is such a well-oiled machine that it would be nearly impossible to knock them off the pedestal as the top wrestling promotion in the world. Several promotions have made the mistake of trying to compete with WWE by emulating them, but history shows that companies must take a different approach to compete. As successful as WWE is, their distinct product is not the only way to present pro wrestling. Jericho sees opportunity there and believes New Japan can continue growing by accentuating strengths that WWE does not have.
“Obviously, you’ll never beat WWE, but to carve out a niche for yourself within the market, you have to do something different, and New Japan is a completely different animal. Yes, it’s still pro wrestling, but it’s a completely different style and much more reformed, more hard-hitting and, in a lot of ways, more fun, depending on what you’re looking for.”
27 years into his wrestling career, Jericho, now 47, is still at the top of his game. He continues to reinvent himself and captivate fans around the world with his can’t-miss performances. He plans to return to WWE at some point, but for now, he’s invested in New Japan’s success.
Visit Winnipeg Free Press to read the full interview, which also includes quotes from IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.
Chris Jericho’s cruise this fall will feature talent from both Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. As part of their involvement, Ring of Honor will be holding a “Sea of Honor” tournament with the winner receiving a shot at the ROH World Championship at a later date.
Jericho recently revealed the 1st round matches for the tournament.
The cruise runs from October 27th, 2018 to October 31st, 2018. The boat will sail from Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas.
Sea of Honor Tournament
Jay Lethal vs BJ Whitmer
Christopher Daniels vs Delirious
Marty Scurll vs Rhett Titus
Silas Young vs Flip Gordon
Mark Briscoe vs Will Ferrara
Hangman Page vs Frankie Kazarian
Cheeseburger vs Beer City Bruiser
Jay Briscoe vs Kenny King
Also of note regarding the tournament, is that the Young Bucks are not entered. Jericho and the Bucks have teased forming a 3-person team named “The Bucks of Jericho” on the cruise.
The current IWGP Intercontinental Champion posted the following to his Instagram:
Current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho recently took to his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, and shared a rather interesting story about ‘roughing up’ WWE commentator Michael Cole.
Apparently Cole was instructed by Vince McMahon to call one of Jericho’s segments on RAW, a Highlight Reel segment with Jericho, Brad Maddox, Wade Barrett and The Miz, “the worst segment in RAW history.”
Jericho wasn’t too happy with this and took it out on Cole the following night on SmackDown during one of his matches:
“I was so freaking hot on this.” Jericho recalled, “it was a Highlight Reel that led to a match. And it was, what was that guy’s name, Brad Roberts or McGillicutty or whatever his name was? Brad something-or-other was the General Manager of RAW. Brad Maddox! And it was me, and [Barrett], and [The] Miz, and Brad Maddox in some kind of promo. And we had to show a clip of your movie, I believe it was the first one.
“Was that the one with Colin Farrell? Dead Man Down. And this promo just ran off the rails and I just remember it was really bad.” Jericho continued, “well, when I came to the back, I remember Vince was like, ‘oh, that promo was terrible.’ And I was like, ‘it was bad. It was poorly written and it was just s–t.’ But I found out afterward that Michael Cole, on instructions from Vince, called it ‘the worst segment in RAW history.’ I know [that statement was a stretch].
“The next night on SmackDown, I was wrestling a match and it was one of those, I was just, no pun intended, stewing, and I was just looking at Cole and I ran over. And I ripped the top of the [table] off and slammed the desk, ‘you f–king asshole!’ He was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ I said, ‘you motherf–ker!’ I roughed him up a bit. I lost my mind! And I go to the back, and, of course, everyone’s mad at me. And then, of course, Vince knows why.
“I go, ‘why would you say it’s the worst segment in RAW history?’ And he said, ‘well, it was pretty bad.’ I said, ‘Vince, of all the s–t you’ve had on this show and of all the stuff I’ve done for this show, you’re going to call it the worst segment in RAW history?’ And he goes, ‘well, maybe I overreacted.’ I go, ‘you’re damn right you overreacted!’ I was so mad! I didn’t tell anybody. It wasn’t one of my proudest moments.”
You can listen to Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
Former WWE Undisputed and 9-time Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho defeated ‘Los Ingobernables’ leader Tetsuya Naito at last weekend’s Dominion show to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
New Japan’s newest IC Champion has recently stated that he will not be taking part in some upcoming US events both for NJPW and Cody Rhodes/The Young Bucks. During an interview with Inside The Ropes he claimed that “I got asked to do Long Beach, I said no. I got asked to do Cow Palace, I said no. I got asked to do All In, I said no. I’m not going to work anywhere else unless you wanna pay six f******g figures. This is Mayweather-McGregor type s**t for me.”
Dave Meltzer also confirmed that Jericho will not be returning to New Japan for quite some time during a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio show, he stated that there would be (when asked about upcoming NJPW events) “No Jericho. In fact there’s no Jericho for a long, long time. It’s really interesting they put the IC title on him, because now that title’s gonna be iced for a long long time.”
What do you think about Jericho only appearing sporadically for NJPW whilst IC Champion? Let us know in the comments.
After winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Tetsuya Naito at Dominion, Chris Jericho spoke to the Winnipeg Free Press to talk about New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) growing popularity lately.
Jericho admitted that the promotion is growing “slowly but surely” and also said that NJPW is “basically breathing down the neck of the WWE.” His full comments can be found below:
“(NJPW) is a company that’s slowly but surely increasing its worldwide popularity and basically breathing down the neck of the WWE. It’s a Japanese wrestling company, the top stars are Japanese, but there we were, two foreigners, headlining and main eventing the Tokyo Dome. It would be like two Japanese football teams in the Super Bowl. The fact it’s two guys from Winnipeg is a really huge deal.”
You can read Jericho’s full interview with the Winnipeg Free Press by clicking this link here.
Chris Jericho recently sat down with Inside The Ropes as part of his speaking tour of the United Kingdom. As part of an online interview series the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion discussed his bout with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom from this past January.
During the match Omega hit Jericho with his patented ‘One Winged Angel’ move on top of a steel chair, Jericho described taking that move saying that “The One Winged Angel on the chair really hurt. I’m not just saying it hurt as a joke, it really f****d me up. It hurt my back to where there’s still something that’s not right but whatever. I can never take that move again.”
Jericho also went on to list the monetary implications and gains from the #AlphaVsOmega bout, stating that NJPWWorld.com gained a “250% increase” on subscriptions as well highlighting that the Tokyo Dome sold an “extra 15,000 tickets.”
You can check out the interview below and also find more information through the Inside The Ropes Twitter account.