Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog to promote this Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights from the interview..
On the reason he’s still around: “I’ve gone far beyond having to do anything for any financial reasons, but it’s a good time to go out there in the ring and it’s very second nature to me. Mentally, it’s still there, and you think about things a little differently after doing this for 25 years. Physically, I feel better than I felt ten years ago. I just started doing yoga five years ago, and it just changed everything around for me, as far as the soreness and the level I had of pain I’d feel during or after a match. But the most important reason I still do this is because I enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun, and I like working with the younger guys–it reinvigorates my desire to continue. Those guys work a lot like the gang of guys from my generation, and that gives me a kick, as well.”
On his current WWE status: “I do as many shows as I can to keep my foot in the WWE door, so I’m not gone for a year at a time. I’ve been off TV for a year, but I’ve worked 50 shows in the interim just doing live events, which, to me, is a lot more fun. I’m also working with all of the younger guys–I worked with Kevin Owens two weeks ago when Cena broke his nose–and that’s fun, too. Anyway I can be involved, I enjoy it. When it comes time for me to be full time, we’ll figure out what I’m going to do and I’ll come back.”
“The invitation is there 365 days a year. It’s not like I’m auditioning for a job with the WWE. It’s the other way around, ‘Give us as many dates as you can. You want to just work weekends? Do it. You want to just work TV? That’s fine, too.’ They leave it up to me, and I like working the schedule I’m on now. I like working the weekends. I don’t have time to commit to doing TV. For example, I don’t work weekends when we have Fozzy shows. I’m working the ones that I’m choosing, but I have the invitation to work 300 days a year with WWE if I wanted.”
On Tough Enough: “We’ve never seen anything like this version of Tough Enough, where it’s half-reality and half-live. When you start something new, there is a little bit of process to see how you’re going to make something work. So, as the weeks have gone by, I’ve increased my presence in the show. I was in the ring helping the competitors work out and book their match [last week], so being involved a little more in the reality portion of it balances out what I’m doing on the live part, as well. It’s been a lot of work, but the show has come into its own. People are always going to complain, ‘I wish it was that way,’ or ‘I wish that guy stayed,’ but it’s a whole new world for us that we’ve created. It kind of reminds me of when the Elimination Chamber happened. We’d never seen one before and there wasn’t anything to look back on, so you had to figure it out as you went along. And that’s what we’ve been doing, and it’s been working out–and it’s a great series so far.”
On the recent Hulk Hogan scandal: “I’m nobody to judge anybody. I’ve had just as many issues as anybody else. But you stand by your friends in good times and bad times, and Hulk’s my friend. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
On Vince McMahon still being the boss: ?“Until the day he leaves this earth, Vince McMahon is in charge of every aspect of the company. It’s his company and it always will be. He’s giving out more responsibilities but, at the end of the day, anyone who was any responsibilities delegated by Vince still has to get final approval by Vince. He’s still the boss. I work with him very closely on Tough Enough every Tuesday in the direction meetings, and he still has a lot of great ideas. He still has his finger on the pulse of what’s going on. And it doesn’t matter what you hear other people say–everybody who works in the WWE knows who the boss is.”
On Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker at SummerSlam: “Undertaker has to win. There is no way he loses twice. Brock is at his best when he’s there to just fight. “That’s why his match with Reigns at WrestleMania was so good, and that’s something Lesnar and Undertaker didn’t do as much as they could have in their match at WrestleMania [30]. That pull-apart we saw a couple weeks ago on Raw between Lesnar and Undertaker will be the type of match we’ll see. It will be a rough fight. I’m sure they’ll exchange many false finishers, and each one will do the other’s finishing move, but it will be more violent and more hard-hitting. Any time Undertaker is on the show, you know it’s going to be a great show.”
Check out the complete interview at SI.com.