Chris Jericho is the latest wrestler to speak out regarding Hulk Hogan and his racist comments that left him terminated from his position within the WWE last Friday.
Jericho discussed the controversy on the most recent episode of his podcast Talk Is Jerichowhere he also interviewed “Mr. Belding” aka Dennis Haskins of “Saved By The Bell.”
“All I know is that Hulk has always been a nice guy to me and I’ve seen him sign hundreds and hundreds of autographs for kids, waiting for an airplane and I was there standing next to him,” Jericho explained.
“It doesn’t excuse what he said. I’m not saying anything about that. I’m just saying I think he has got a good heart and was maybe caught in the wrong place, saying things that he shouldn’t have said, but all you can say is that I hope Hulk rebounds and comes back from this and I hope he digs down deep inside and finds out what kind of a person he really is.”
“And I think, if he can do that, then people will get a chance to see the real Hulk and terrible, terrible situation and Hulk should not have put himself in that position. Like I said, man, it’s a tough thing. A lot of times, friends do things that you wish they hadn’t have done, but you don’t abandon them completely.”
Chris Jericho also shared his thoughts on The Miz replacing Hulk Hogan as a judge on Tough Enough and admitted that he believes the show now has “more energy than it had before.”
“[I’m] sorry to see Hulk Hogan go, but I think in the long run, Miz might not have the tenure that Hulk has, but he has more personality in the soundbites and maybe a little bit more passion,” Jericho said.
You can listen to the full interview with Dennis Haskins of “Saved By The Bell” on Talk Is Jerichoby clicking on this link.
WWE has announced that Brock Lesnar will be working the October 3rd live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Currently, there is no word on who Lesnar will be wrestling, however we can confirm that Paul Heyman will also be part of the show, which is Lesnar’s first domestic live event since returning to WWE back in 2012.
Also announced for the show is John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus and an appearance by Chris Jericho.
– The WWE Network launch that took place in Malaysia this past week was as a regular television station, not a streaming service.
– Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho is scheduled to work WWE live events on September 11th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, September 12th in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, September 25th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and September 26th in Rochester, New York.
– The movie “Trainwreck,” which features WWE United States Champion John Cena, finished at number three at the box office for its’ opening weekend, drawing $30,097,040. Industry projections had the film estimated at doing a $25 million opening weekend, so by all accounts, the project is already a success.
– It was revealed this afternoon on the official Instagram account of Tough Enough that Chelsea Green suffered an injury to her ankle during today’s challenge.
A photo posted by WWE ToughEnough (@wwetoughenough) on Jul 15, 2015 at 12:13pm PDT
– Following the conclusion of the promo battle at the Improv, Chris Jericho dissects which of the Tough Enough competitors he believed shined and what Sara and ZZ need to do to step up going forward.
– Stephanie McMahon joined ESPN’s inaugural Sports Humanitarian of the Year Awards in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday. Click here for WWE’s photos from the event.
– Former WWE Diva AJ Lee and current WWE Diva Paige reunited while in Los Angeles, California on Thursday. The hashtag “FreaksAndGeeks” trended worldwide for several hours today after Paige posted a photo of the two together, which you can view below.
Sources at the USA Network indicate that officials in the network believe pro wrestling’s popularity is cycling downward, which is indicated by the recent decline in ratings.
USA Network reportedly feels that the format of Tough Enough being taped and live isn’t working because it doesn’t give the judges enough time to make fair decisions, and fans are only given a few minutes instead of a full day or full week to vote. They apparently feel this turns off the audience and leads to a poor word-of-mouth buzz.
Additionally, USA officials felt Steve Austin was a dynamic presence with charisma that carried the previous Tough Enough season, while Chris Jericho comes off as a game show host. They aren’t blaming Jericho for anything as much as they are blaming the format of the show. They feel Tough Enough comes off like a game show instead of a reality TV competition.
USA is also concerned with the fact that the last two Tough Enough winners — Daniel Puder and Andy Leavine — were released by WWE before ever amounting to anything in the promotion. The feeling is that winning the show means nothing, which is another reason why fans don’t seem to care about it.
– As shown in the video above, next week’s episode of Tough Enough will feature the 2015 King of the Ring winner King Barrett.
– As noted earlier, during the Tough Enough challenge for next Tuesday’s show, an altercation took place following the challenge between Patrick and Mada.
Some in attendance noted that Josh and Tanner also got involved and things got so heated that the production team had to step in to break it up.
The WWE and Chris Jericho shared photos on Instagram from the Orlando Improv where the challenge, which was focusing on the contestant’s work on the microphone.
https://instagram.com/p/44xyu0gFFq/
Orlando Improv is Jerichoooo! What can he possibly have in store for the competitors of #ToughEnough @chrisjerichofozzy
https://instagram.com/p/45BIP4GDgr/
Ladies & Germs…its #ChrisJericho LIVE at the #OrlandoImprov!! Well not quite….I was actually hosting next weeks challenge for the @wwetoughenough crew! Tune in next Tuesday to see what happened!! #promobattle #ididtellsomejokesthough #theywerehilarious
– Chris Jericho suffered a neck injury during his match in Japan with Neville this past weekend. The injury happened when Jericho caught Neville on a dive spot. Originally, the injury was believed to be a serious one, however he has reportedly recovered from it already and is under the belief that it will be completely gone in a few days.
– In addition to the announced matches for this month’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev and Nikki Bella vs. Paige are expected. While Bella-Paige isn’t official yet, we can confirm that it was on the books for the event as recent as a week ago. In the case of Ziggler and Rusev, WWE is doing an angle where Ziggler is “out indefinitely,” so they might hold off on that match.
WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” and revealed the fact that he helped facilitate the reunion between former enemies Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.
“I ended up getting Bret’s number and giving it to Shawn,” said Kidd. “I don’t think they could have spoken on the phone. I think Shawn’s smart and knew Bret’s itinerary, so when Bret was on the plane for that first Raw back, maybe Shawn called because he knew he was in the air.”
Kidd concluded, “It went straight to voicemail and [he] left a message so at least there’s that little bit of peace.”
You can listen to the complete interview right now at PodcastOne.com.
The folks at Chair Shot Reality have released the latest blog by former WWE head writer Vince Russo. In the latest edition of the blog, Russo recalls the original plans for Chris Jericho’s debut in the WWE during the Attitude Era.
Below is an excerpt from the blog:
“When I was working as the Head of Creative for the WWE, part of my job was to constantly be scouting talent in an effort to make the “team” roster the best that it could possibly be. Honestly, most of my suggestions came from ECW, where I suggested the likes of the Dudley’s, Taz, Al Snow and the BWO. Through whatever working relationship Vince had with Paul Heyman at the time, the “idea” was for me to tell Vince who would be an asset to the WWE roster from ECW, triggering Vince to inform Paul who we were interested in. Unfortunately, this rarely worked out the way Vince had planned, for whenever we told Paul we were interested in one of his talents—he told Vince they weren’t interested back. This routine caused some back door maneuvering on both my part, and certain ECW talents at the time, but eventually we got who we wanted and they came to the destination of their choice.
The situation in acquiring WCW talent was much more difficult being that there was no working relationship in place–and both sides hated each other. Vince McMahon was always one to try and stay as far away as possible for lawsuits, so he rarely crossed the line when it came to purging WCW talent. However, even knowing Vince’s limitations, the first time I ever saw Chris Jericho—I KNEW that I had to be writing for him in a WWE uniform!
From the moment he ever walked through that WCW entrance, Jericho absolutely dripped with charisma. And, I’m talking about PRE-Attitude Era, when it wasn’t yet even “cool” to be “cool” in wrestling. Jericho was light years ahead of the curve. There were no unbelievable “heel faces” when he was shopping boos from the fans, and there was certainly no kissing babies when he wanted you to like him. Chris Jericho was simply being Chris Jericho–a bona-fied superstar in the wrestling business, to become iconic in the years to come.
Honestly, I can’t remember that initial conversation with Chris, I’m sure he probably does. I can’t recall whether he reached out to me, or I to him. Either way, it didn’t matter, all that did was that WE WERE TALKING!
What I do recall is how nervous Chris was. Even though his contract was expiring with WCW and he clearly just was just wanting to look at his other options, talking to “the enemy” was just taboo at that time.
After several conversations, Chris decided that he was going to be WWE bound once his WCW contract expired. From there, JR took over in the negotiations, because that was never my job–nor did I ever want it to be–and television product went into full “LET’S IMMEDIATELY GET JERICHO OVER” mode. I have to give Kevin Dunn and his entire staff an ENORMOUS amount of credit for making Jericho “special” from the moment we saw him. To this very moment I see it, feel it and STILL pop for it! What incredible vision Dunn’s staff had—a vision that is far and away the standard bearer when it comes to sports-entertainment.
It goes without saying that Chris was over in the WWE from the start—however—what many people don’t know is that when Ed Ferrara and myself wrote our last WWE show, which was delivered to Vince before we made the decision to go to WCW, we had Jericho defeating “The Rock” in the middle 1-2-3, which Ed and I felt would have almost immediately brought Jericho to a new level, without hurting “The Rock” in doing the job. Unfortunately, once we said our goodbyes to Vince, the finish of the match was changed and Rock beat Chris Jericho. For there, I felt that it took the WWE much longer to get Jericho to that next level–compared to if he would have beaten Rock that night.
Regardless–it didn’t matter. Chris was destined to become one of the biggest stars in the business—and he achieved that. And, at the end of the day let me make this perfectly clear—THAT WAS ALL ON HIM!”
– WWE United States Champion John Cena took to Twitter on Sunday to thank the fans in Japan and to look ahead to Monday’s WWE RAW crowd. Monday’s RAW takes place in Chicago, Illinois, a city that Cena always gets a ton of heat in.
Thanks to @WWE Tokyo, Singapore! VERY excited 4 #RAW in AllState Arena. Such a special place. Im sure the crowd will be VERY vocal. #respect
– Tyson Kidd and Natalya are the guests on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– Earlier this morning, WWE their “Beast in the East” live event on the WWE Network around the world from the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Results from the show can be seen at this link.
Two dark matches took place at the event including The Lucha Dragon defeating New Day members Xavier Woods and Big E, while Cesaro defeated Diego of Los Matadores.
– Chris Jericho opened the live event in Tokyo by taking on Neville and following his match he posted the following on Instagram:
WWE were live this morning (July 4th) from Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan for their “Beast in the East” special event which was broadcast on the WWE Network.
The event has been focused around Brock Lesnar making his return to Japan where he would compete in a WWE ring for the first time since WrestleMania 31 where he lost the WWE Championship.
Below are the results for the show:
Chris Jericho vs Neville Winner: Chris Jericho by making Neville submit with the Lion Tamer.
WWE Divas Championship
Paige vs. Tamina vs. Nikki Bella (c) Winner: Nikka Bella retains with a forearm on Tamina.
Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar Winner: Lesnar wins with an F5 and attacks New Day after the match.
WWE NXT Championship Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens (c) Winner: Finn Balor wins after defeating Kevin Owens with a Coup De Grace.
John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane & King Barrett Winner: John Cena and & Dolph Ziggler win after Cena hits the AA on King Barrett.
If you didn’t get to see the show live then click this link to be taken to the WWE Network where you can catch a replay of exactly what went down.
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which is available right now, features an interview with actor Scott Baio. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Tough Enough coaches Booker T, Lita and Billy Gunn break down week two of the show in the video featured below.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus carried the torch for the Pan Am Games in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada last week. Below are some photos of Trish at the event.
– WWE Network will be airing new original programming immediately following tonight’s edition of WWE RAW. At 11:06pm EST., a new episode of WWE Swerved will premiere and will be immediately followed by a 30-minute sneak peek at the “Monday Night War: Shots Fired” DVD, which features Triple H and Sting talking to Renee Young.
– Chris Jericho reportedly received the biggest ovation of anyone on the card at the WWE live event in Reading, Pennsylvania on Sunday night. Jericho tweeted the following after his match with King Barrett.
– WWE.com has a new interview up with NXT recruit Nhooph Al-Areebi from Toronto, who is WWE’s first Arab-Canadian Diva. Here’s what she said about signing with WWE:
“My tryout was last June, but I didn’t hear back until August that they were interested, but to keep working out, training and taking bookings [on the independents], because I was on their shortlist to hire. At first, I was a little bummed out, because I wanted to get my life started now. This was what I wanted to do. I found out in October that they were interested in giving me a contract. It was the happiest day of my life. I was running around the apartment crying, calling my mom. It was crazy.”
– The injury that Erick Rowan suffered during his match with Cesaro at the June 19th WWE live event is said to be a torn biceps. The current belief, according to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, is that due to the injury and the recovery process, Rowan will likely be out of action for up to four months. However, if Rowan decides — or is forced — to undergo surgery, he could be looking at a longer absence from the ring.
– Longtime WWE performer The Great Khali is the guest on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which is available right now. During the interview, Jericho talks mostly about Great Khali’s life growing up as a giant, as well as his early pro wrestling career. Y2J also brings up Khali’s film work, such as his memorable role in the Adam Sandler remake of the movie, “The Longest Yard.” You can download the show today at PodcastOne.com.
– 1990s hip-hop star Vanilla Ice is the guest on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which also features Jericho’s thoughts and memories of the late Dusty Rhodes. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross joined fellow legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on his latest “Steve Austin Show” to talk about the life and times of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. You can download that show at PodcastOne.com as well.
– WWE posted the following teaser video for tonight’s edition of NXT, which features the anticipated showdown between NXT Champion Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe.
– Although WWE originally had The Miz scheduled as a third participant in the WWE Intercontinental Championship bout at this Sunday’s WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view, for whatever reason they decided to make it a straight singles match between Big Show and Ryback.
– While Chris Jericho will be wrestling Neville on the July 4th live WWE Network special from Sumo Hall in Japan, it is not the original opponent he requested. Originally, Jericho specifically asked to work with Hideo Itami, however when he found out Itami was hurt, he asked for Finn Balor. For whatever reason, WWE decided to go with Neville vs. Jericho for the live special on 7/4, however it is believed that Jericho will be working Balor on the non-televised date in the same building on 7/3.
– Chris Jericho announced on Twitter that former NXT head trainer Bill DeMott will be appearing on this week’s episode of Talk is Jericho to discuss his departure from WWE. The show drops this Friday.
– Former WWE Diva Chyna has launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a new documentary about her life titled, “The Reconstruction of Chyna.” She’s seeking $10,000 and as of this writing, has raised $185 with 29 days to go.
In a new Glide Magazine interview with Chris Jericho, the part-time WWE performer and Fozzy front man talks about balancing his pro wrestling and music careers.
“When I was a kid I wanted to be in a rock band and I wanted to be a wrestler,” said Jericho. “Twelve years old I started playing in bands and I love rock & roll and I love music, I love playing and I also really love wrestling. I kind of thought I could probably do that too. It’s something I had a real passion for.”
Jericho continued, “There’s never been like one or the other. It’s always been a duality there whereas I believe in both and I love both and I’ve done both my entire life. It’s not like I started in music when Fozzy started. I was playing in high school bands and garage bands since I was twelve years old so it’s something I have always done. Even when I started wrestling, I still played and recorded demos and played in bands and did what I could. So it’s just always something that I’ve done.”
Jericho continued, explaining how he doesn’t see much of a difference between what he does in wrestling and what he does in music.
“There are two halves to what I do career-wise and I don’t see the difference between the two,” said Jericho. “They are both very much based in an entertainment element; a live, grooving off of the audience, very hard hitting, aggressive forms of entertainment that are both very contingent on the energy that you get from the crowd. And that’s kind of the same properties that I use as the front man of Fozzy, the same properties I use when I’m wrestling. It’s making that connection with the audience and that’s the most important thing.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is scheduled to appear at the NXT live event in Columbus, Ohio next week. Flair, however, is not booked to appear on the NXT live event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also booked for next week’s NXT live events is WWE Superstar Zack Ryder.
– ECW Original Axl Rotten is the guest on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE posted the following video of NBA star Dwight Howard at the SmackDown television taping this past Tuesday night in Houston, Texas.
As announced on this week’s edition of NXT TV, WWE will be holding a live WWE Network special from Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th. Below is the full lineup for the show.
– Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston
– John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane & King Barrett
– Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor (NXT Title)
– Chris Jericho vs. Neville
– The New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro*
– Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi (WWE Divas Title)
– The Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores
* – Tyson Kidd may be pulled from this match due to injury.