Chris Jericho – All Elite Wrestling

By starrymag | April 16, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been busy working on?

A) There are so many things. The way things are right now with the world is everything got cancelled or moved back. So, it’s kind of the perfect time to do podcasts right now. Talk is Jericho is one of the biggest in the world. With the situation that we’re now in, everybody is looking for something to do and something to keep their mind off of everything going on in the world. So, it’s easier to get people on the phone. It keeps me busy as well. I already have plenty of shows in the can, but I’ll have plenty more in the can because now is the time to kind of get peoples’ prospective on everything. It really is a fortunate time to have a podcast because it literally allows me to keep working from home and providing content for diversionary tactics for anybody who wants to check it out.

Q) We loved your All Elite Wrestling video of you in the hot tub! Is this a concept you came up with or was it a collaborative effort?

A) It’s funny because if you watch it out of context you wonder why Jericho is arguing with a drone and all these sorts of things. But in the course of All Elite Wrestling, some of it just really fit the storyline. It’s a little bit of a bizarre storyline, but once again it is something that you can create and do from home. So, that was an idea I had to still be involved in the show in a big way and not have to travel to it. They were still taping the shows. Right now, we know the more you travel the more unexpected things become. Being creative right now is a real asset during these times. If I can turn that creativity into what I’m doing with AEW or with Talk is Jericho or writing new songs for Fozzy or I started doing the “Saturday Night Special,” which was basically a Facebook Live stream with me answering questions, singing songs and telling stories – I had a quarter of a million people watching the first episode. So, we’re just looking for stuff to do and looking to have a little bit of fun. If someone like Chris Jericho, myself, can provide that in a lot of different forms. From a humanity side, it’s starting to get a little scary. From an artist’s side and creative side, it’s actually quite beneficial over the last month and for the next month or for who knows how long.

Q) How did All Elite Wrestling come to fruition?

A) There have been probably dozens of wrestling shows – wrestling companies that tried. It’s very difficult because the marketplace is the brand – the McDonalds or Coca-Cola. AEW was able to start for a few reasons. One, there is the financial aspect of it. The Kahn family is behind it and they own the Jacksonville Jaguars. We’re talking about multi, multi billionaires. Tony Kahn, who is the boss of AEW, is a very passionate and knowledgeable wrestling fan who always wanted to do this. At the end of the day, you need two things to do this – one is money and lots of it and two is a strong television deal, which we were able to get with TNT – one of the biggest cable networks in the world. You also need a roster of talent that are main event level performers that are fresh. That’s the hardest part. Just by luck of the draw, we have six to eight guys (including myself) who were all free agents at the time who are really big stars around the world and had chosen not to go to WWE for various reasons. As a result, you have AEW and that’s the reason why it was able to work at such a huge level. We have the talent, the money and the television and it’s very hard to get all three of those. But we were able to do that and once we did it was full steam ahead.

Q) Were there any specific challenges or something that surprised you about creating AEW?

A) I’ve been doing this for a long time, almost thirty years. I think the biggest challenge was the constant conveyor belt of putting on a weekly live television show and all the ups and downs that are involved in that. It’s not easy to do, but I thought everybody adapted quite well and very quickly to the trials and tribulations of putting on a show like this. We had a group of talent that had never done live TV before. Sometimes there is a period of adjustment and there really wasn’t. Everyone jumped in with both feet and adapted on the fly. It made it very successful and very entertaining. So, I think that any type of challenge that was involved in that aspect of it was really kind of conquered within a week or two weeks of having the show. A lot of challenges that exist faded because we book everything ourselves, all the interviews and promos are basically off the cuff from our own minds. So, the lack of over-analyzing makes things so much easier and eliminates a lot of problems, which makes a different style for AEW that is doing over WWE.

Q) What have been some of your favorite matches so far for All Elite Wrestling?

A) For myself, it goes by so fast. We’ve been on the air for seven months now. It’s just one after another after another. I loved the match I had with Cody Rhodes a few months ago. I loved the match I had with Moxley on our last pay-per-view. Overall, the stories that we’ve been telling are what my favorite parts are. I love the storyline we had to build up to the Cody match to build up to the Moxley match. That’s the most important thing of wrestling, that wrestling fans may know and non-wrestling fans may not. It’s very much the storytelling aspect with the twists and turns that happen when you’re enticing people and getting people involved in these matches. A match is just a match, but it’s the story that adds the life to it – much like a great movie. The best stories and plots always make for the best movies. We are in the business of telling stories and that’s something that I enjoy doing more than anything. It’s my favorite part about wrestling and it really always has been. What I enjoy most is all these little tales that we’ve been telling since we started in October.

Q) How involved are you then with the storyline aspects of All Elite Wrestling?

A) Like I mentioned, very much so. I have a lot of input into what I’m doing, as does everybody on our show because that’s the best way to do it. Nobody knows your character more than you. Sometimes you might need some input and different opinions to help you figure out the best way to tell those stories. But it’s not like how you do a movie where you have a script and you have to adhere to it and character must say and do these things, which is great as well. But I think with wrestling there is so much involvement in your own personality and characters that it is important to have that. The more you can write your own stuff and if you have the freedom to write your own stuff the better it is going to turn out.

Q) Does it take slipping into a costume for you to find your wrestling persona or is it old hat for you by now?

A) You play a character. It’s like doing a Fozzy show where you put your stage gear on and you get into the mindset of what you need to embody the character that you’re playing or the songs that you are singing. When you do a movie and you put on your character’s outfit or costume, it helps you embody that character a little more. It’s very important I would say because you really do have to become someone else and be larger than life in anything you do in show business, whether it is acting, singing, wrestling or standup comedy – whatever it may be. So, I think part of that is the way you look that helps you become the character that you need to become because everybody needs to become a character. You step into some kind of alter-ego when you go on stage. When you look at the greats like Paul Stanley, Ozzy Osbourne or Mick Jagger or whatever it may be in rock-n-roll, you see those guys walk on stage and they have stage wear, which then helps them play the part they are playing on stage which is why they are some of the best frontmen and entertainers in the business.

Q) Do you still get nerves before any kind of performance?

A) In a good way. I think the nerves come from wanting to put on the best performance that you can and make sure that everybody has a great time. There are some nerves there, but like I said I think if you don’t have that nervous energy it is time to start looking for a new gig. But that nervous energy isn’t where you are terrified to go on stage or have stage fright. I definitely don’t experience anything like that. To me, the experience level is there so I don’t feel that way. But definitely from wanting to make sure that everything goes well and wanting to put on the best show that you can, I’m nervous every night.

Q) Who are some AEW wrestlers to look out for?

A) At AEW that’s kind of what we do, we create stars. And that’s what you have to do as a company. When the show started it was built on my back, but it wasn’t too long before it was resting on other backs as well. I think in our company Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, MJF and Jungle Boy and Jack Evans. There are a lot of guys in their early 20’s that are already becoming big stars for us in a very short period of time and that’s because of the stories we are telling. That’s the importance of it – it’s important to build homegrown stars. That is what makes a wrestling company popular. It’s like “Saturday Night Live.” You have to have those characters that people enjoy and relate to and it’s constantly turning around. What’s popular now might not be popular in two or three years from now. You always have to be ready to find what the next best thing is going to be. Our cast of characters has quite a few candidates of who that next big thing is going to be. We have a great lineup. It’s like a great football team where you have amazing Super Bowl winning vets, you have got guys in the prime of their career and then you’ve got guys who are first-round draft picks that are going to be big stars on the starting lineup for many years to come.

Q) Will fans be able to expect some new Fozzy music soon?

A) We’ve been recording for the last few months and writing. Had we not had to stay at home we probably would have a lot more songs in the can. We have four songs done and about another eight songs written. The album is going to be called 2020, so we have to get it out by the end of the year. That’s for sure! I think now that we’re on Sony Music it’s more about our singles. Our “first single” from this record “No Where to Run” went to the Top 10. It’s our third Top 10 ever, so I think that Sony is more concerned that we have constant content of steady single releases to keep the ball rolling. I don’t know when the record will be out, but I’m sure we’ll have another single out probably within the next couple of months depending on what goes on in the world.

Q) Who are some upcoming Talk is Jericho guests that you can tease?

A) It’s more of the same. I have a great idea of what the show is. It’s music, wrestling, paranormal, world events, politics and watching along some movies and matches and discussions on film. Just whatever I’m interested at the time. I think it’s one of the reasons why it is so popular. You might not know who the guest is, but you trust me as a host to check it out. I don’t have anybody on the show that I don’t find interesting or isn’t topical in some way or another. I think I’ve got a great amount of goodwill because of that. I have a lot of guests this week that I’m going to be talking to and when the shows will air I’m not exactly sure yet, but like I said, it’s the perfect time to be doing something like a podcast because there are plenty of people out there that are looking for things to do – both as guests and as listeners.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure we share with our readers?

A) There is nothing in the can because there is nothing being made. After I did the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot it was huge for me. When you’re in a movie directed by Kevin Smith and starring Chris Hemsworth and Val Kilmer and big-time names like that – Rosario Dawson. And Chris Jericho is right in the middle of it, it definitely had a lot of eyeballs on that. It’s something I definitely want to do more of in the future. When all of this goes away and they start creating content again, I hope to be doing more acting for sure.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) I have been very fortunate to build up a great fanbase of people who enjoy what I do in all aspects. What is Jericho’s job? It’s being Jericho. I have a lot of people that trust me, like I said, for their entertainment needs. [chuckles] I think it’s a good place to be. A lot of people trust what I do and I never do anything half-assed. I don’t do anything for a paycheck. It’s all because I want to do it and I enjoy doing it. I think people appreciate that about me, which is why I have such a great fanbase.