Chris Jericho Recalls Wanting To Make AEW Dynamite Match With Pineapple Pete Like The "Rocky" Story
On a recent Talk Is Jericho, Suge D and Chris Jericho talked about Suge D's career in the indie scene as well as their match on Dynamite. Jericho talked about the psychology that went behind the match and why it went as quickly as it did.
"Had we had that exact same match, same scenario and there was 5,000 people, they knew the story, they would have been chanting. When you hit me the week before in the street fight, they would have been chanting your name," Jericho stated. "So my psychology of this is your kicking the s–t out of Le Champion. We're painting this portrait of this guy as one of the guys. So for you to just be kicking and fighting and kicking and fighting and boom and people and you got me down, and I hit you with one move. And guess what? It's my best one that no one's ever kicked out of. I'm not hitting you with a suplex. I'm not hitting you with this or that. I have to hit you with my absolute best move. That's beaten everybody from Hangman Page to Kenny Omega to Cody Rhodes and the mascot on the field at the stadium match.
"So to me, it's like we're not wasting time. We're not wasting moves. I disrespected you. You proceeded to kick the s–t out of me. If there was a crowd, we probably could have gone an extra 30 seconds because you would have heard 'Pete. Pete. Pete,' then boom, balloon pop. Literally, our job is to suspend disbelief and people would think Pineapple Pete's got him, and it took me the only move I got that no one's ever kicked out. I'm choosing that one. It's not a Code Breaker. It's not a Lion Tamer. It's not a Lionsault. It's the Judas."
Jericho also responded to the complaints that some people gave to Suge D. He compared the match to the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones shoots the swordsman instead of wasting time fighting him.
"More people get on this this whole more is more right now. The simple storytelling goes a long way and everything like that," Suge D said. "You're obviously going to get those people that are like, 'well he well he chumped. He chumped you,' whatever it is.
"Anybody that says that you, have them come speak to me," Jericho replied. "It was like, you know Raiders of the Lost Ark? It's when the guy, the big swordsman, takes out his sword, and he spins it around. He spins it around and he's like, I don't have time for this. He's just gonna kick my ass. I'm just gonna shoot him boom done. That's what we did that day, and I was really happy with that, with that whole segment because we planted these seeds we didn't even know we planted four weeks prior in Atlanta. It was a little story inside of a big story, but that's what wrestling is like you said, we're telling stories."
Suge D also talked about the opportunities that he's gotten while working at AEW as well as the origins of "Pineapple Pete". He also shared a story about a mistake with the pyro, but he played it off anyway.
"I still remember that day. It was it was like a trip dude," Suge D remarked. "I show up. The dude rolls up to me. He's like, 'hey man, I got to talk to you about your pyro.' Literally my first response was, 'why? Why are we even doing this man?' So for those of you who watched it and I think it's still in the clip, it was supposed to go off the moment that I turned around after pointing at the tron because that's been kind of my thing. It didn't go off, but me being me it's like, OK, I'm used to stuff not going the way it's supposed to. Let's just keep it moving. We're not going to sit down there and wait.
"So when it did go off, that was like a legit reaction. That wasn't like a Buff Bagwell cosplay where I was like, haha doing all that. Oh, it really went off like this sweet. So then I turn around and I think people see me doing like the shoulder shrug or whatever it is, but it's like yeah, I guess I got it like that."
Jericho talked about how AEW doesn't have any hierarchy and how everyone are equals in AEW. He also said that he respects anyone that has ever worn a pair of tights and taken a bump including Suge D who has accomplished a lot in his 16-year wrestling career.
"We mentioned earlier talking about going with the flow, and this is something I love about being in AEW, there's no levels, ups, downs, putting someone in a broom closet [or] don't talk to me because you're this guy that guy," Jericho stated. "We all respect each other, and like I said, I'm not stupid. Soon as I started doing this Pineapple Pete thing, Tony and I were like to Tony Schiavone, two of whitest guys in the world trying to figure out how to pronounce Suge D.
"This guy has a 16-year career. I respect anybody that's ever taken a bump. Even when I was talking about some of the enhancement people, even if I'm kind of burying them to an extent, it's just trying to give them an identity. I never just say like, 'this guy just needs to get the hell out of here. If you put on a pair of tights and take a bump, I respect that. If you put on a pair of tights and take a bump and come to Japan, I mean there was a time when I was begging you go to Japan. England, I've never lived in England and wrestled in England like you have. So there's a respect level there."
Jericho also shared that he wanted to capitalize on the hype around himself and Suge D. He said he wanted their story to be like the Rocky story and praised the story that they told.
"Also, on top of that, I'm also a businessman and a storyteller," Jericho said. "All anybody is talking about, right now, involving Chris Jericho for four weeks when I did commentary was, 'you should have a match with Pineapple Pete. Pineapple Pete. Pinapple Pete. So that's when I kind of pitched the idea why don't we do Pineapple Pete? It's the biggest story that Jericho has right now with the exception of Stadium Stampede or Blood and Guts or whatever we're going to do. Let's do something fun. I said my idea is let's not just make this a squash match. Let's make it like the Rocky story. He gets the promo. We talk about it throughout the night.
"Of course, we got the promo, and my original idea was just ring the bell. I hit him with the move, 1-2-3. That's not cool either, and let's see if we can build a little bit of fire and steam. I'd seen something you had done in one of your matches where you had some fire. Like I said, if there's people here, they're gonna be behind you. That's why. A cool story that started very organically with a guy who understood what we were doing. Obviously, you had the experience of it and you had the fire to make it work. Some guys wouldn't have the fire to make it work. There's guy's here tonight that if you put them in there with me or somebody of that level wouldn't know what to do. I remember when we talked, I said, 'beat the s–t of me as hard as you can. Blow yourself up. Do what you got to do. When the time is right, I'll get my move and that's it. That's why."
Jericho noted that he didn't pitch the story for anyone. He said that he did it because it was important for the show, and he reiterates that he feels that the story he and Suge D told worked the way it did.
"We've talked more this hour than we had the whole time before that, and listen, I had respect, but I didn't do it for you or for me. I did it for the show," Jericho admitted. "It was the best thing for the show to do this story, and why just throw it away? We had something from nothing, from a stupid shirt in the middle of a pandemic where there's nine people in the crowd and something that made me smile and suddenly people got into it. That's what wrestling is all about. Other wrestling companies would just cut it off at the knees. It doesn't matter. No one's gonna care.
"I care. I would want to see this, but let's do this more than just Jericho vs. [Pineapple Pete]. Let's do something with it, and that to me is what wrestling is all about. That's the storytelling of it, and I think for the hour and a half or whatever it was that we started with your promo with and had our match later on, I bet you people are going this is gonna be something I want to see. We probably know what's going to happen, but and also too, there's also every single time you do this, you have the match where you have the match that goes three-four minutes.You get the proverbial 2.9 pinfall. We could have gone that way as well. This story worked better in my opinion, and I think it worked."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.