Chris Jericho has discussed his chemistry with his first WWE rival The Rock and says despite the fact they no longer speak he has nothing but love for the Hollywood star.
When the countdown clock reached zero in WWE in 1999, rather than the Millennium arriving, it instead heralded the arrival of the Millennium Man, Chris Jericho. When Jericho made his arrival in the company he wasted no time in making his case for a top slot as he chose to interrupt The Rock. The moment is one of the most often replayed scenes in WWE history as the two masters of the microphone went back and forth.
Speaking to Inside The Ropes’ Alex McCarthy for talkWRESTLING, Chris Jericho recalled why he feels he had such magic moments with The Rock and says the two men could do it all together:
“I mean, the chemistry was there because Rock was such a phenomenon, it was almost impossible to go toe to toe with him on the mic, but I could, I could do that. And he recognised that fairly early on, especially with him being such a huge babyface, I was the perfect foil for him because I was the ultimate heel. And we could go toe to toe with each other. And in the ring, people forget how great of a wrestler The Rock was, is, probably still. And we had great chemistry in the ring, and we had great chemistry out of the ring, we were really close friends.”
“We don’t talk ever now, but that’s how life goes. There’s no issues but we were really really close at that time. And just once again, he’s just one of those guys when people say who’s your favourite opponents of all time? He’s always listed as far as I’m concerned. Because there was nothing we couldn’t do. Want a great match? Okay. Want a great promo? Okay. Want a great match and a great promo? Sure. And you want to do 20 minutes of improv afterwards in f*cking Tokyo in front of people that hardly speak English but are laughing their asses off okay, let’s do that too.”
Chris Jericho then recalled a funny scene between the two stars in Singapore where Jericho embraced his inner Tom Hanks:
“You know, I remember we would just do any type of improv we were I think in Singapore, and after the show, we do a conversation whatever and this f*cking balloon floated into the ring. And I grabbed it like this is my only friend like Wilson from Castaway.”
“And we did a whole promo about my friend Leroy, wherever the f*ck I called him. And at the end, Rock says ‘Oh, can I talk to Leroy?’ And Rock talks to Leroy, he goes ‘Shut your mouth Leroy!’ Pops Leroy and got the hugest reaction from the crowd and like what an asshole, why were people cheering for you popping my friend Leroy, it was just stuff like that.”
“We had so much fun with it. So yeah, I mean, obviously, he’s gone on to huge success, I’ve gone on to huge success and nothing but love and respect for him. And if I saw him tomorrow, it’d be like a day hadn’t passed, I’m sure.”
To check out the full interview and other chats with wrestling’s top stars check out the Inside The Ropes YouTube channel!
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