A recent episode of TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast featured Chris Jericho as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Jericho’s thoughts about his feud with Nick Wayne in AEW and why Wayne’s necklace has been such a big part of their story.
“The reason why we started that, we sat down before we did that initial promo and it’s like, what is our angle going to be? I mean, once again, 2005, he’s 21 years old. I’m 55. You don’t want to make it old guy versus young guy because that doesn’t translate and I don’t feel like an old guy, I don’t work like an old guy. Is it going to be legacy versus not? Then we just, it’s experience. He’s got 10 years of experience at 21, 10 years from now he’s going to be unbelievable but right now, you don’t know what you don’t know. You’re Chris Jericho and I’m Nick Bockwinkel. He was saying that he wants to get rid of the puka necklace and I thought, well, let’s try and make that part of the story where it’s not about the necklace, it’s about the representation of the old Nick Wayne. The old Nick Wayne that could lose to Chris Jericho, well, that’s not going to happen ever again. This necklace is gone, the old Nick Wayne is out, the new Nick Wayne is in. The new Nick Wayne that wears a suit, the Nick Wayne that can hold his own in a promo against Chris Jericho. The Nick Wayne that might have a chance to beat Chris Jericho, well don’t know yet. But, the point being it wasn’t about the necklace itself, it was like a totem of where that was signifying the end of this version and now we’re going into the next version, next phase of Nick Wayne, who has potential to be a world champion.”
Jericho also gave his thoughts about how he isn’t worried about the idea of him needing to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for his wrestling career and him working in AEW preventing him from being potentially inducted for a long while.
“I had a great career in WWE. It was almost 20 years with a few years here [and there] off, it was always my dream to be in the WWE. Did I create enough memorable moments and matches and characters and creations and rivalries and moments to be in the WWE Hall Of Fame? Absolutely. That’s all I need. If I’m in, if I’m not in, if it’s tribalism or if it’s politics, I get that too, man. I’ve been in this business for 36 years, I understand how it works. It’s not personal, I’m not insulted. If my finish my career with AEW and the first inductee or the second inductee or the tenth inductee into the AEW Hall Of Fame, that’s great too. I’m in the Hall Of Fame in my head and in the heads of anybody that appreciates the work I’ve done. That’s good enough for me man, it really is. I don’t need anything else that that, you know? That might sound a little bit like, oh, but it’s really true. I’ve had a real blessed life and I’ve got a chance to travel around the world doing what I always wanted to do and making people happy by doing it or getting people angry by doing it, which is the same thing. That’s hall of fame all across the board, you know?”
Jericho also gave his thoughts about the longevity of his wrestling career and why he does not like to say no to any of his bosses he works for in wrestling.
“To get longevity in this business, you learn that you don’t say no to your boss. You say, ‘Well, how about we try it this way?’, give an alternative answer. Nothing will infuriate your boss more than just saying no. I mean, I work for somebody that’s paying me money, a lot of money, to do what he wants. Vince used to say, ‘I just book the shit, you make it good.’ Sometimes it’s not easy, but that’s the boss.“
Jericho also gave his thoughts about his belief that it is the wrestler’s job to make the boss happy with their work.
“Whoever was the boss, it’s my job to make him happy with the work that I’m doing. There’s no boss that’s easy to say no to, but every good boss you collaborate with. That’s the secret of being a good general and it’s the secret to being a good boss. Tony’s great to collaborate with, Vince was great to collaborate with. I didn’t really have the opportunity to collaborate with Bischoff much because I was too far down the food chain and by the time that I felt that I was worthy of that, I was pretty much out the door. So yeah, you work together to create the best possible match you can.”
Jericho also gave his thoughts about working with AEW CEO Tony Khan and how him and Samoa Joe didn’t like a creative idea that Khan was presenting when they worked together in AEW.
“I remember I was working with Samoa Joe once in AEW. Tony wanted something and neither one of us felt it. We basically said, ‘Maybe we should think about it or whatever.’ Tony, you could tell, he was very — not disappointed, but he very much wanted us to do this. The moment he left the room, Joe and I looked at each other like, ‘Alright, how are we going to make it work?’ We had a conversation, we had to reshuffle the deck and move this there and get rid of this and add this, then went back and told Tony and he’s like, ‘That’s so great, thank you so much.’ He’s happy and we’re going to make it great. It’s completely different from what we originally wanted to do, but he’s the fucking boss. He’s the one who tells us what he wants and if you don’t like it, you go make eight billion dollars and start your own wrestling company. That’s what a pro does, that’s what you do. It’s not always the way you want it, but I’m not the boss.”
Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3
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