Listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, few wrestlers, or entertainers for that matter, have done more to brand their name than Chris Jericho. From the eponymous List of Jericho, a bit he made famous on the WWE stage, to his rock n’ roll persona which has become part of his identity from the wrestling ring to his heavy metal rock band, Fozzy, “Jericho” is synonymous with an over-the-top drive that knows no bounds, and some say, an ego to match. We discuss the motivation behind his unrelenting self-promotion, and work ethic, throughout our talk.
Allison Kugel: Tell me about your stage name “Jericho.”
Chris Jericho: It just sounded cool. I originally thought up the name “Jack Action”, and the guy I was originally training with started laughing at Jack Action (Laughs). At the time I needed to think of a name quickly, because I had a show coming up in three weeks. I was into a band called The American Dream, and they had an album called Walls of Jericho. I was in my car, I looked at that album and I thought, “That’s a pretty cool name.” I was also a big fan of the show Teen Titans back then, and there was a character called Jericho, although he was the character with the worst superpowers. But the combination of the two and I thought, “Chris Jericho.” When I was training in Canada, they wanted me to be a country western type of character called Cowboy Chris Jericho, and I was mortified about that because I was a rocker guy. In my very first match, I’m listed as “Cowboy Chris Jericho” from Casper, Wyoming.
Allison Kugel: Then you quickly made your transition to a rock-n-roll character, I’m assuming.
Chris Jericho: Well, yeah. I mean, my character wasn’t necessarily a rocker at that point. I just wasn’t a cowboy (laughs).
Allison Kugel: I read your latest book, No Is A Four-Letter Word. You’re a Mountains in the Distance kind of a guy. You don’t rest on your laurels. It’s not about the mountain that’s already been climbed; it’s about that next mountain in the distance. Even though you’ve done a million different things, is there a dream or goal yet to be fulfilled?
Chris Jericho: I don’t really have an answer for that, because I don’t set goals or boundaries for myself. I react and go with the flow of opportunities that are offered to me. When I was a kid I wanted to be in a rock n’ roll band and I wanted to be a wrestler; those were the two goals. People didn’t think I could do either of them. But here we are 27 years later. Once you get that kind of confidence and success rate, then you become dangerous. Now I’ll try anything and most of the time it’s a success. I don’t do anything for the money. I don’t do anything that I don’t feel that I want to do. Therefore, it all flows together because I’m just being me and committing to something, and wanting it to be good.
Allison Kugel: Do you consider yourself to be a great manifester?
Chris Jericho: I look at it as being positive and believing in yourself, and eliminating negativity. That was something I learned way early on in my career when I was starting out as a wrestler at 19. People see me now as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but that wasn’t always the case. Everyone laughed when I originally said I wanted to be a wrestler; literally laughed. One time at church the pastor said, “Chris is going to Calgary to be a wrestler,” and he started laughing. I eliminated those people. Anyone who thought that I couldn’t do it or gave me any kind of negativity, I didn’t allow it to permeate.
Allison Kugel: What do you teach your three kids about making their dreams come true, or do you simply lead by example?
Chris Jericho: Just set an example, because they’re young right now. One thing I don’t tolerate in my house is if they say, “Well, I’m not good at this,” or “I suck.” No, you don’t! If you want to be good at something, you have to put the time in.
Allison Kugel: Which opportunity came first for you, the WWE or your band Fozzy?
Chris Jericho: I started playing music when I was 13 or 14. I began wrestling at 19. The wrestling took off first, but I still always dabbled in the music. Then I finally met the right guys, and the music came to fruition in 1999. I was finally able to start working on music because I had finally met the right guys that I wanted to play with. I’ve always had to keep both vocations separate, because a lot of times a celebrity will start a band more as a novelty and sometimes they’re not really all that good at it. I knew I would have to work twice as hard to get respect because of who I am, but that’s fine. There is a select group of people who can do both. Taylor Momsen of Reckless, Jared Leto with 30 Seconds to Mars, or Johnny Depp with Hollywood Vampires. If you’re good, you’re good.
Allison Kugel: Do you feel that Fozzy has arrived? Or do you feel you have something more to prove?
Chris Jericho: We’ve definitely arrived, and we’re bigger now than we’ve ever been. If we stopped tomorrow that’s fine, but until we’re headlining arenas, headlining stadiums there’s always more you can do and bigger you can get. But I’m not worrying about what the Rolling Stones are doing; I’m worrying about what Fozzy is doing. As of right now, we’re the biggest we’ve ever been with a legit hit song, so yeah, we have arrived.
Allison Kugel: So, why wrestling?
Chris Jericho: Why does the world rotate? It always appealed to me. My grandma used to watch it when I was a kid. She’d freak out and yell and scream at the TV. There was always this Saturday trifecta of Bugs Bunny, wrestling and then hockey on television. That was just a Saturday night. She always loved wrestling, and I always enjoyed it and watched it with her.
Allison Kugel: You talk in your book about your experience in Saudi Arabia, when you were there wrestling for the WWE. You were shocked that women in Saudi Arabia were not permitted to attend your show. In light of what is going on in the United States right now, with women fighting for equal treatment in the workplace, and in general, and the fact that you have daughters, what kind of impression did that experience leave with you?
Chris Jericho: I’m not going to protest it. When you travel the world, different countries have different customs. Different religions have different customs; different races of people, depending upon where you are, have different customs. You can’t mess with it, you know? When in Rome, as the saying goes. I’m not going to protest going to Saudi Arabia because they don’t allow women to go to the shows. I think it’s ridiculous, and it hurt the business. And why wouldn’t you want women there? But that’s how it is. I can’t change the entire Muslim tradition and the way they do things. I just observe.
Allison Kugel: Do you think you have a big ego?
Chris Jericho: Absolutely. Not in a dangerous or bad way, but you have to be aware of who you are and what you’ve accomplished. You don’t brag about it, but ego isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You talk to anybody that’s accomplished anything and they’re going to have a little bit of an ego, because you know how much you went through to get it. Like you said about Denzel, you practice something enough, and you get good at it. Well if you practice something and you become good at it, you become one of the best at it, how could you not have an ego? But there’s still a way to be humble and have an ego, if that makes sense. Someone giving you accolades and their undying admiration, that’s a pretty cool thing. To know you’ve changed somebody’s life or influenced somebody’s life in a positive way, it’s very powerful. That is very humbling and one of the reasons I still love doing what I do after 27 years.
Allison Kugel: You’re now 47. What are your thoughts about turning 50? What does the number 50 signify in your life?
Chris Jericho: Nothing, really. I just had this match in Tokyo (at the Tokyo Dome for New Japan Wrestling) and it was a great match. People were calling it the best match of Jericho’s career, and saying, “Who can believe he did it at 47?” I don’t think of myself that way. I think of myself as someone who’s still in his prime. Because of an age, people are supposed to say that you’re not? Is aging going to happen? Of course, it is. You can’t stop time. But for now, at 47, I feel like I did when I was 27. But I’m a lot smarter and a lot better. Fifty? As long as you still try these days, you can still look good, you can still be cool, and you can still contribute.
Allison Kugel: So, Chris Jericho at 50 will be a non-event?
Chris Jericho: Jericho at 50? What happens if at 50 I have a better match than I had at 47? What happens at 50 if Fozzy has a Number 1 song? I’m much smarter now than I was when I was young. As long as my attitude and drive don’t go away, it doesn’t matter what age you are.
> Allison Kugel
Image Credits: Courtesy of Chris Jericho
Allison Kugel is a syndicated entertainment and pop culture journalist, and author of the book, Journaling Fame: A memoir of a life unhinged and on the record. Follow her on Instagram @theallisonkugel.
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