Chris Jericho On Why AEW Has “Become The Coolest Wrestling Company In The World”
AEW star Chris Jericho appeared on Audacy's Bubba Show on 100.7 Star in Pittsburgh recently to promote AEW's upcoming Dynamite and Rampage tapings in Pittsburgh. In addition to talking about those shows, Jericho was also asked about who he would like to face in a potential retirement match. His answer?
"Who knows man? It doesn't matter, that sort of stuff doesn't matter," Jericho said. "It's all storyline and it's all the angles that you're doing. This has been a really good time for us and one of the reasons why AEW has really gone through the roof and become the coolest wrestling company in the world today is because of our storytelling. We've had this angle, as we say in wrestling, this story with Jericho and MJF for almost a year now. And it's culminating with these five labors of Jericho, which I took from the twelve labors of Hercules from Greek mythology. And I kind of have to get through these different guys in order to get to wrestle MJF again.
"So we're going to have, I think the fourth labor of Jericho, in Pittsburgh. Who's it going to be, what's it going to be, it's all part of the story and you kind of have to follow along and watch and see. Whenever I have the last match, who knows when that might be, it all depends on the storyline and what's going on at the time. But I don't think I'm going to be one of those guys that goes 'this is the last and it's the big bruhaha' and cries at the end of it and goes 'thank you for the memories!' I'm not that type of guy, I don't care about that sort of stuff. When I have my last match, you may not even know it. It just depends. As long as I can continue to perform at the highest of levels, that I feel that I can, then I'll keep going. And when I feel that I can't, I'll step aside. And when that is, who knows, and who it's against, it all depends on where we're at at the time."
Jericho was also asked about his recent appearance on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, where Jericho went through his entire career. Jericho talked about the constant evolution of his career and the amount of thought he has put into his work.
"It's one of those things where I've been doing this for thirty years and have had, it's basically been constantly evolving and constantly morphing," Jericho said. "And changing things to kind of stay ahead of the wave is the way I'd put it. And as a result when you kind of start to delve into these things and kind of go into the psyche of why I do these things, there's actually is always a plan. I think that's one of the thing about wrestling that people don't understand, there's a lot of intelligence involved. At least for the guys that have made it to the top of the top and have been doing it for a long time.
"It's not just two half naked men slathered in oil play fighting. There's actually websites you can go to to find that. But when I think you get a chance to do a Broken Skull and really kind of peel back the layers of the onion and get into the whole reason for these things, people go 'wow that was actually very smart.' A lot of it is luck and a lot of it is being really smart, but most of it is having a plan, an idea, and not being afraid to try things."
Jericho also took the time to put over DDP Yoga, started by his good friend and former WCW/WWE star Diamond Dallas Page. He credited yoga for helping elongate his career and in particular heal from an injury he suffered a decade ago.
"I had a herniated disc about ten years ago and started doing yoga," Jericho said. "If you guys remember DDP who was huge in WCW in the 90s, he actually reinvented himself and started a yoga program called DDP Yoga. And it's just been very beneficial for me. I actually got it when I did Dancing With the Stars, if you can believe that. I think 20 years of wrestling up till that kind of had me out of wack, that kind of was the final straw. But I think, as you get older, your body changes. And before it was 'how much you bench?' and maybe you were benching 400 lbs for two.
"As you get into your 40s you're like 'okay, how much you bench doesn't really matter anymore. How much do you need to do to still keep your body in shape as you get older?' And yoga was a great kind of conduit for me to kind of progress from weight lifting to yoga, and stretching out and getting rid of this herniated disc, which is great. I was told by three different doctors that I needed back surgery, and I didn't want to do it. So yoga actually kind of saved the day and elongated my career by where we are still."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Bubba Show On 100.7 Star and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription