Chris Jericho Talks His Comments About Roman Reigns Haters Being Taken Out Of Context
On the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho clarified some recent comments he made to IGN about Roman Reigns haters.
"I was a little bit misquoted in that when I said, 'If the fans don't like Roman Reigns getting a push, they should shut the hell up.'," Jericho said (thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader Isiah Maydwell for the transcription). "What I said was, I like Roman Reigns, if the fans don't appreciate Roman Reigns or don't like him, shut the hell up in complaining to me because you'll never sway my opinion.
"Everyone has an opinion, everyone is allowed to have an opinion and my opinion is I like Roman Reigns. I always have, I always will and if you don't like it, I don't care. This is my opinion, I'm not going to stand by anything else but my opinion, but it came across as me saying that fans don't deserve the right to have an opinion. That's not what I meant, that's not what I said, that's not what this country is based on, that's not what WWE is based on. I'm a Roman Reigns fan, if no one else is, I don't care. I'm cheering for him and that's beauty of the company, if you don't want to cheer for him, don't cheer for him. If you want to cheer for Funaki or Daniel Bryan or Fandango, go nuts do your thing man, but I'm just saying I like Roman Reigns."
Below are Jericho's original comments to IGN when asked if Roman Reigns was ready to headline WrestleMania:
"Look, like I've said before, if you're going to give someone a shot, give them a shot," Jericho replied. "There've been tons of guys who when they've been put in the main event at WrestleMania might not have been quote unquote ready. Who's to say who's ready and who's not? Let's see how the crowd reacts when they get there. But all I know is that Roman Reigns was everybody's favorite guy until the Royal Rumble. And then everyone turned on Roman Reigns. It's so funny how two days before, and the year before, everybody loved Roman Reigns. Everybody. All the fans did. And don't tell me that you didn't because they were all saying 'Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns ...what? Daniel Bryan didn't win the Royal Rumble? We hate Roman Reigns! Boo!' And meanwhile, ever since then – I mean, we did house shows in Calgary and Edmonton and it was like Beatlemania. They were going nuts for him. And that was a week after the Royal Rumble.
"So I think that he is ready, as much as anyone can be ready in this day and age. So let's see how it goes. I mean the match he had with Daniel Bryan at Fastlane was incredible. And you can't tell me that it was all because of Daniel Bryan. Really? Because I always heard in the business that it takes two. And I think I've proven myself to be a fairly decent worker, so if I'm telling you it takes two, I think every fan should shut the hell up and listen to what I'm saying. He did a great job of living up to his end of the bargain and he'll do the same thing at WrestleMania. They will leave no stone unturned to make that a great match. They will get all the benefits. All the bells and whistles. And as long as they can hold it together, I think it's going to be great."
Source: Talk Is Jericho
Lost in the Street Lights and Isiah Maydwell contributed to this article.