Chris Jericho has discussed his latest character.
Always looking to reinvent himself in professional wrestling, Jericho recently introduced his latest vision of The Learning Tree. Looking to teach younger talents how to be successful as himself, Jericho has already recruited Big Bill, who helped the FTW Champion retain the title against Katsuyori Shibata.
Appearing on The Kevin Karius Show, Jericho discussed the stories and characters in professional wrestling and why he believes they are more important than the match itself:
“I just started doing this Learning Tree gimmick a few weeks ago. That’s the best thing about wrestling, when people start to get mad at you, you turn into a bad guy and when people like you, you turn into a good guy.
This is the start of this whole new persona as we continue the story. That’s the most important thing about wrestling, the story. The matches are important, but the characters and the storylines are what really draws people into watching you and draws people into following what you’re doing. To me, that’s always been the most important thing,”
Discussing his latest creation, The Learning Tree, Jericho explained his inspiration behind the gimmick and how it has made the fans hate him:
“The teacher. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I thought, what’s a cool way to personify that and make people mad? I’ve been doing this at a high level, I thought, I’ll adopt this persona of being the seasoned vet that teaches the rookies the ways of the game. That’s how it started, and the way we’ve portrayed it, people get really mad at me for it. That’s what you want. By being the seasoned vet who knows everything, that makes people mad at me. That’s wrestling for you.”
Chris Jericho Criticises Fans
As has been seen in previous storylines involving the former World Champion, feuds tend to play out over the course of multiple months and are not settled after one pay-per-view. Although the move has been met with criticism in the past from some fans, Chris Jericho explained why he has an issue with a certain portion of the wrestling fanbase.
H/t to Fightful.