Chris Jericho on His Cruise Event, NJPW Character, and New Goth Look

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Chris Jericho discussing his upcoming cruise event, his character in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and his new “goth” look.

On the topic of his upcoming cruise event, Jericho stated the idea to team up with The Young Bucks was due to him needing a main event match for his cruise’s wrestling show. He also stated it was Nick Jackson who came up with the idea for the Alpha Club versus Bullet Club match for the cruise.

“Our official name of the team is, ‘The Bucks of Jericho… or is it Y2Jackson. I needed a main event and I’d been talking with the Bucks about doing something with them, and Nick Jackson was the one who said, ‘Why don’t the three of us team up and face Kenny, Marty, and Cody?’

We were all in Osaka back in June and I inducted the Bucks into the Alpha Club. So now we can do Alpha Club vs. Bullet Club as the main event on the cruise.

Coming from the world I come from, which is WWE and Vince McMahon, the tagline sells tickets even more than the match. The only way to see it is to come on board.”

On the topic of his character in NJPW being different than in the WWE, Jericho stated it was due to his desire to constantly reinvent himself as a wrestler for both brand and career longevity reasons. He also stated having less restrictions in NJPW played a big role in the direction he went for his character in the company.

“The New Japan Jericho is not WWE’s Jericho. This, once again, distances those two characters from each other, which is exactly the way I want it.

I’m always about reinventing myself, evolving and changing. That helps you stay current, helps build your brand, and gives you longevity.

It’s very cool to go back to Japan, where I started, and be part of this worldwide growth of New Japan. There are no real restrictions on what I can do in New Japan.

We did the original beatdown with Kenny and got some blood going, which you never see in the WWE nowadays, and 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.”

On the topic of his recent “goth” look in NJPW, Jericho stated he initially got the idea after disguising himself as Bushi during an event. Jericho also stated a recent piece of fan art of him as The Joker was another source of inspiration for his new look.

“I was sitting in the crowd so I wanted to look as much like Bushi as I could. Bushi wears black lipstick, so I put the black lipstick on and darkened my eyes with dark eyeliner. When I took the mask off, I had a very gothic look. People are saying this has a vibe from Clockwork Orange or Alice Cooper, and it’s kind of a combination of both of those, but it was inspired by neither. It feels like more of a serial killer, lunatic character.”

“I showed that to [New Japan booker] Gedo, and he said, ‘Do you want a hat?’ He gave me a fedora, which really fit the vibe of the crazy, wacky, out-of-his f—ing mind character.

“And when it came time for the Naito match, I knew I needed something different. The lighted jacket and the sparkly trunks didn’t fit anymore.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included his long term plans for his Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise and streaming issues for his cruise’s wrestling show.