Chris Jericho Reveals Which WWE Look He Disliked, Talks Cruise & NJPW
As noted, Chris Jericho recently spoke with Impact Wrestling backstage interviewer Alicia Atout for an in-depth sit-down interview. “Round two” of their discussion was recently released. Featured below are some of the highlights.
On The Jericho Cruise and if he plans to do it again: “[The cruise] was one of those things where no one really knew what to expect. Once it happened, it’s just like, ‘Wow this is so much fun,’ and the reason for that was because it’s never been before. Matches on the ship being in the middle of the ocean, that’s never been done before. So, it was something where people are like ‘Okay, that sounds alright,’ but then were like, ‘Oh my god, this is going to be a destination vacation for me for years to come.’ That’s always been the plan to be an annual occurrence. Standing right now, we are in deep discussion to do another.”
On reinventing himself in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and loving his run with the promotion: “I hate to say, but if I go back to the WWE there won’t be a ‘List.’ I mean it doesn’t feel right anymore. For me to walk out there with ‘The List’ and put somebody on it just seems like, ‘Oh, that’s so 2016,’ which was huge and people want to see it, but I just can’t allow myself to not continue to be creative. That’s why I love working in New Japan. I love that character. Don’t really know how it started. I mean there’s a definite lineage that I could tell you step-by-step, but I didn’t just show up and go ‘Okay, I’m gonna wear a hat and put makeup on my face, and be completely crazy.’ It was an evolve and a change doing this so over-the-top brutal character, the brutal beatdowns on Kenny Omega and Naito. Wearing a light up scarf and sparkly underwear didn’t seem to fit anymore.”
On one character that he feels didn’t fit: “When I came back in 2007 as kind of the short hair Y2J, it was a disconnect. It didn’t fit. I’ve been gone for two years and I didn’t look like the same guy and going back there with the same catchphrases, it felt stale. I knew that it wasn’t working and that’s why I had to completely change everything. That’s when I switched from shorts, to long pants, to tights, got rid of the countdown, started wearing a suit, and all that sort of stuff. It’s all of the process of realizing you don’t want to be a nostalgia act and people don’t want it either. It doesn’t work. It’ll never be more over the second time you do something that you did the first time.”
Check out round two of Alicia Atout’s interview with Chris Jericho below, or at YouTube.com.
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