Chris Jericho on Being Better as a Heel + Problems With Turning Face

Chris Jericho was interviewed by Uproxx and had these interesting things to say:

He said he’s “always been better as a heel” and talked about the problems that come up once a guy like him turns face:

You mentioned in the Washington Post, and you mentioned earlier in this interview, where you know when to leave when you’re doing a project and you know when to come back. And you mentioned in the Post that if you never wrestled again you would be okay with it. Is that something that kind of changes day to day, or is that just …?

It’s not something that I … people ask me the question, I haven’t said “no” or “yes.” I said, “If I never had another match again it wouldn’t bother me … if I never did.” If I did have another match, it would be fun but, like I said, as long as I can continue to be creative and perform at the highest levels, I’ll go back to wrestling until I’m frickin’ 90 if they’ll have me. But the day I go out there and feel that my work is not up to snuff, or that I’m just there to be there, I’m gone. I will be gone before the show; I’ll just go.

And like I said, for this one, I knew that it was time to go because you get to a certain level, then you turn baby face, and then that’s where you start having problems, because with the baby face you either win the title and you’re John Cena, or you start going down through the ranks. And that wouldn’t work for me, for this character, with the Jericho character. I’ve always been better as a heel. That’s my wheelhouse.

And then people start liking you, so you switch, but then it’s only a short amount of time when that stuff that they loved you doing as a heel, that they love as a baby … “It’s just a parody of himself.” And I don’t want to deal with that shit. I don’t want to deal with the hardcore fans and stuff like that. I had fun with it, I knew it was time to go. I have people saying, “When are you coming back to wrestling?” It’s been 3 weeks.

He was asked if he’d ever be a “part-timer” in WWE:

You’re not going to be the part-timer who shows up at WrestleMania?

No, I won’t do it because that’s not the way it should be. When you’re there, you should go on the road. That’s how you help guys to learn. That’s how I got better. This whole year I got way better because of working with the younger guys, who then were learning from me as well. They need that. And it was a great year with just an awesome locker room, great people, lots of fun. I had as much fun out of the ring as I did in the ring. And in 2015, all I did was live events. I didn’t do TV at all. It’s like the anti-type Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t have a problem doing that either. Maybe I’ll never go back on TV again. Maybe I’ll just do live events.

The good news is for me I can do what I want and they’ll take whatever Jericho I can give them, so there’s no reason for me to have to decide. When the time comes, when this album cycle is done and then Fozzy take another break or whatever it is that we’re doing, I’ll weigh my options. I’ll see what’s going on, I’ll see who’s around, and then we can go from there. And if not, like I said, it’s not a threat of like, “I’m gone.” But if I never had another match it wouldn’t bother me.