Jim Ross has discussed the real-life animosity between Chris Jericho and Triple H when Jericho jumped ship to WWE in 1999 from WCW.
Jericho stunned the wrestling world when the new Millennium came early to WWE in the summer of 1999 when Chris Jericho defected from World Championship Wrestling to turn RAW into RAW Is Jericho. When the countdown clock ran down on WWE television while The Rock was espousing his views in the ring, Jericho was revealed to the WWE audience to a rapturous reception.
While the WWE fans were delighted to see Chris Jericho in the company, Jim Ross detailed that some WWE Superstars didn’t feel the same way – particularly Triple H who was on the cusp of superstardom in the company.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast [available early and ad-free at AdFreeShows.com], Jim Ross discussed what he felt Triple H’s motives were in suggesting that Jericho needed to adapt to the WWE style:
“Triple H probably didn’t like him because he’s shorter and he’s a hell of a hand, and somebody’s gonna get to figure out what he’s all about. I thought for a guy as smart as Paul Levesque [Triple H], and he is, and I saw he’s getting better from his heart issues, which is great. He’s so smart, hence why I named him the Cerebral Assassin on an entrance.”
“There’s gotta be a motive there. There’s gotta be an agenda of some kind why Triple H would say that [Jericho needed to learn “the WWE style”], and I believe it was politically based. Now, he won’t agree with that.”
Earlier this year while appearing on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho discussed the ill-feeling between himself and The Game at the time:
“There were some people that just didn’t want me there because I was a WCW guy, not realizing [that he ultimately wanted to work for WWE]. I talked to Triple H about this on Talk Is Jericho. We hated each other for years and we don’t even really know why now, but at the time it was like, ‘This guy’s a piece of sh*t.’”