Chris Jericho talked openly about feeling frustrated at the start of his WWE career but ultimately coming to an understanding of how the business works.
Chris Jericho has over 30 years of experience in professional wrestling, dating back to his time working on the independent circuit and training at the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling. He debuted in WWE in 1999 by interrupting The Rock on an episode of RAW Is War. Since then, Jericho has risen to the top of the wrestling industry by winning championships everywhere he has wrestled.
Although many would consider Jericho one of the best of all time, the first-ever WWE Undisputed Champion admitted that he felt pretty frustrated at the start of his WWE career. Having wrestled nine years before he arrived in the company, Jericho believed he knew what the politics were like in pro wrestling. As time passed, Jericho slowly understood that Vince McMahon had his ideas of who should be “the guy” in WWE, and Jericho looked to prove that he could fit the mold.
In the latest edition of the True Geordie podcast, Jericho spoke openly about what made McMahon see him as a top wrestler in his company and why he feels wrestlers aren’t owed anything in pro wrestling:
“I think in 2008 when I did suit and tie guy Jericho, that was the first time in 8 years of working for Vince that he saw in me what I saw in me, that this guy can be the guy. And I was the guy in the company in 2008 and 2009. I called myself the best in the world at the time, and I believed it. Not every night, but most of the time there is not another person in the world that is better than Chris Jericho as a pro-wrestler.”
In 2008, Jericho transitioned into a suit-wearing persona who spoke with a monotone voice inspired heavily by actor Javier Bardem’s character in the 2007 film No Country for Old Men. Fans and professionals within the industry highly praised the character. During this time, Jericho would become World Heavyweight Champion, defending the title against the likes of Shawn Michaels, Batista, and John Cena.
Jericho then revealed the one thing that he learned the most during his time training at the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling:
“You can’t go into it with bitterness and think they owe me this, the business owes you nothing. That’s the number one thing that we learned in the Hart brothers camp in 1990, the business owes you nothing. So don’t ever think that you f*cking worthy of a career, because you have to keep working, always.”
Now part of AEW, Chris Jericho has created his own “sports entertainment” faction called The Jericho Appreciation Society. The faction includes young talent such as Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, and Daniel Garcia. They recently went into battle inside the brutal Blood and Guts match on a special episode of AEW Dynamite.
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