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Interview Highlights: Jericho in-depth on future, TNA's lousy booking, drugs, regulation, Owen inspiration
Oct 27, 2007 - 3:18:15 AM |
The Long Island Press features a lengthy Q&A with Chris Jericho regarding his new book and current events in pro wrestling (oh, and his future). The following are key excerpts:
Chris Jericho [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
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-On his future: "Well, I always said when I left the WWE that I wasn't retiring. I was just getting away, taking a break, working on some other stuff. I was just mentally fried, I had nothing left to give. If you're not 100 percent committed to anything, you should just get out, because it's just not going to be good for anybody. So, I knew when the time was right that I would come back and be better than ever, but it was on my own time. I was able to walk away on my own terms, and I was going to keep it that way. And I would go back on my own terms, not because I had to, because I wanted to. There's a big difference. Writing this book really helped me to get back to that place where I thought that I could really go back to wrestling and have a great time and enjoy myself and have some fun with it. So, I think the book helped me kind of quote-unquote find myself, and remember how much passion I had. And also how fortunate and rare it is for a kid to have his dream at such and young age and be able to achieve it, that's a pretty cool dream and I didn't want to take that for granted, either. So, when the time is right, I'll know it, and I'll come back and be better than ever. And until then, I'm just happy doing what I'm doing."
-On an actual potential return date to WWE, citing his book signing in Philly on Oct. 29 when Raw is in town, and another in Long Island where Smackdown/ECW takes place on Tuesday: "You know, I can honestly say that I don't know for sure when, but I will tell you as well that even if I did I'm a magician. I keep my secrets and my tricks to myself, and I like that. I think it's one of the things I've always enjoyed about wrestling. And once again, going back to the way I was when I was a fan, I don't think it's fair or good for fans to know everything. And as much as it's great to have technology and it's cool that people know [more], I think it's also cool when people don't know, and that's something I've worked very hard to make sure that...it's still good to be surprised. And I think that everyone will agree with me that in a day and age where people know things before they happen, I don't think that anyone is going to know my story until it happens. And I think people in a vacuum would rather have it that way. "
-On TNA and whether he considered going to TNA rather than returning to WWE: "They have a lot of issues booking-wise, but those things will be worked out in the wash. But, the way I look at it is they've done everything they set out to do. They started out as a pay-per-view company, then they got on national TV. Then they got on Spike TV, then they got a primetime spot, then they got a two-hour primetime spot, so they've been moving forward, doing everything that they said they were going to do, so I think that's better for everybody involved. And I wouldn't be a businessman if I didn't talk to both companies. My only factor is that I never had any issues or axes to grind with the WWE. I liked working for the WWE, I enjoyed my time there, enjoyed working for Vince, I like Vince, I like everybody that's there. So I mean, obviously they would have first dibs, so to speak, because when you're working the big leagues, working on top of the mountain, of course you're going to go back there. And keep in mind, I wrote a whole book about my whole life mission and dream of being a WWE Superstar, so unless I had I had some kind of a huge blowup, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't want to go back there again."
-On the potential of regulation of wrestling and drug usage being stamped out: "I think as a whole a lot of wrestling companies have a tendency to be very defensive. But I think if that was what was ruled, it would probably end up being best for the business. If that's the case, nobody does it. You know what, it's not going to make good wrestlers bad, it's not going to make bad wrestlers good, either way. The guys that are good will always be good, no matter what. And I think that's the most important thing. I think a lot of people kind of don't understand that steroids or drugs or anything like that doesn't make you a better performer. And I think if you just eliminate it completely, then it's just going to be exactly the same as it always was. It's just that guys might not be as big."
-On finding out the nature of pro wrestling: "(B)eing a wrestling fan back in the '80s was more a magical...kind of a teen version of believing in Santa Claus, where you just didn't know for sure. Obviously, I wasn't stupid. I knew there was some stuff going on. I mean, we wrestled the whole BTWF booking matches and booking finishes, so we knew indirectly that's the way it was, or at least suspected. Or see somebody saying something in the ring, like, "Oh, he just said, 'Suplex,' and he gave him a suplex. See." But the thing is, to actually find out about it, just like when you're a kid and you believe in Santa Claus, and you kind of knew [the truth], but when your parents finally told you, you just felt so ripped off and so betrayed that it was just a big lie. It's the biggest lie that parents tell their kids for years. And the same thing with wrestling: When Catfish Charlie told me how the wrestling business was a work, I knew it, and it got to me, but not that much. But then, it's still, "The champion's the champion." And he told me that's a lie, too, the promoters decide who the champion is. So that one was really hard for me to kind of wrap my head around. It really came out of left field, because there was no Internet, there were no insider newsletters, and if there were, I sure didn't know about them."
-On Mick Foley as a pioneer for wrestling books: "I think Mick was a pioneer in that he took wrestling books to the masses. I think my story would've been able to do that, too, had I written it nine years ago when Mick wrote his. Our books are very, very unique in the fact that we've had so many years of experience. I bet Bret Hart's book might be the same. You can't just pick up a pen and write a book about this, when you're talking about some guys who have been in the business for five or six years that are writing books. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I just think the whole journey, and the fact that it's more of a follow-your-dream book than an actual wrestling book, per se. This is the dream I had at a young age, and having no idea how to accomplish this, what did I have to do to make it happen? And this is what I had to do."
-On Owen Hart influencing him to become a wrestler: "Owen Hart was the link between fantasy and reality for me. Actually, that's a great line. I should have written that in my book. He was the guy that from watching wrestling for so many years, and then Stampede Wrestling came on. But actually seeing Owen Hart wrestling in Calgary, and I grew up in Winnipeg, that was the first time that I really put two and two together: A) I knew this guy wasn't a giant, neither was I; B) His style was something I had never seen before and never even thought about the things he was doing. So that really came to life to me as far as being an acrobat, doing all these ridiculously cool moves; and C) The fact that he was doing it in Calgary, a place that I had been as a kid. Anyone could get on a bus and 12 hours later would be there. This wasn't New York or Chicago or Los Angeles or Atlanta, places that even if I had been there I still didn't know how I could get there. It's was not in my universe. Moving to L.A. was not in my universe at 17 years old. Moving to Calgary to train, to be like Owen Hart, was something like, "I could actually do this." And that's where it became a real thing for me, a living, breathing dream, rather than just a pipe dream."
There is a lot more to this interview: Article Link.
Keller's Analysis: What jumped out at me most is how quickly he talked about TNA has booking issues to deal with. Boy, is that true. His candor about how regulation might be good for the industry and how if drugs got stamped out, wrestlers would still be big, just not as big, and they'd be healthier. It's nice to hear him say those things, since he came across as an apologist on CNN's Larry King Live show along side John Cena and in the shadow of WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt. I am glad that Jericho is being coy about his return. If he returns Monday and it's connected to the SaveUs222 videos, as most everyone anticipates, it will still be nice that he left some doubt in people's minds about it. If he never returns to WWE, there will be some very disappointed people.
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