Chris Jericho: Why Roman Reigns can't get over, New Japan Contract, Kenny Omega in WWE

well thank you for inviting us onto your tour bus 9:00 9:30 a.m. very early as a rock star very rock and roll I woke up on the floor of the bus earlier tonight and then moved to the back lounge and passed out over here so but what I did was I had the good thing about being on tour is you have like four guys who are the crew and between the four of them one of them's job is to wake me up because I always have to do stuff like this and I know they're gonna come wake me up so listen I'm a grown man I can get up to an alarm but when you know someone's gonna come and actually wake you up you just ignore the alarm so I knew you were coming I said wake me up at 8:00 so I can have some time to get up and be ready for your fine interview here today and thank you for that was sleeping on the floor on purpose or did it just happen I'm not sure so we played in Tampa last night and we were on fairly early this is what happens when you do festivals so we did a festival in Tampa it was at 6 o'clock was our show so we're done at 6:30 yeah and then the bus call means that's when the bus leaves isn't till 11:00 p.m. we played the tamper arena Amalie arena so there's lots of facilities lots of stuff to do there's catering the back there's a bar in the back there's a bar on the bus what else you gonna do right so um it was one of those nights and I vaguely remember a pretty good with my diet but I woke up this morning it's like the block of what did I eat last night and then I member oh we stopped at a truck stop and I ate a whole bag of trail mix and a hostess cherry pie that's my go to blackout drunk and snack and I could tell cuz they usually I wake up and like I'm really hungry cuz that's the diet that I'm on this morning like oh I feel terrible what was they doing Oh hostess pine very toxic what does he go what's the go to Chris Jericho drink vodka nice what straight straight vodka and I said oh we call it a yeah boy on the bus that's yeah boy sometimes I'll throw a little grapefruit juice in there but most of the time is just vodka on the rocks just outside this bust I mean there's tons of fans you're about to do an autograph signing here what is the strangest thing you've autographed babies yeah babies yeah sign my baby where do you sign a baby right in his head greatness for it no I'm I guess the arm or something like this here's one of my things god bless people but like can you hold my baby and it's like no because there's more to that the baby's gonna be crying it's not gonna look maybe soils itself soils me it get very Larry David yeah I don't want to hold your baby so babies tattoos like of me there's been some tattoos actually my my face and some of them are good some of them are like Undead Chris Jericho zombie Chris Jericho and they're not supposed to be like oh that's really cool I don't thinking oh my gosh man that's your heart and then you autograph it and then your autograph will become yeah that's a couple times I've done it where you autograph it and if it's a long signing somebody goes and gets it tattooed and comes back before the end of signing goes I did it you're like oh and that that's not too bad for me I mean that's kind of cool but yeah the pictures of you on there it's like you know you're gonna have to have this in 25 years but yeah if they're a big crossover of wrestling fans that are now Fozzie fans there is and there's this is cross-section of quite a few genres or demographics I used to say there's the wrestling fans that don't know anything about Fozzie that leave as Fozzie fans which is cool whatever gets them in the door there's Fozzie fans that don't have any interest in wrestling don't even know anything about it and then you get the Fozzie fans that like wrestling as well which is fine I mean there's there's a big crossover between wrestling fans and rock and roll fans because because they're very similar forms of energy it's interesting because you've been doing both for so long and then you've got a you know a massive hit with Judas now and you're bringing in all kinds of new Fozzie fans you've been doing music for almost twenty years right how's it feel that like after all this time now Judas is tekna-cool it's like we're a 17-year overnight sensation and you know we've had some songs that have done well in the past but Judas is is the elusive hit single it's our signature song it's our Enter Sandman or stairway to heaven or you know pour some sugar on me or whatever and it's cool you really can see the difference all across the board since Judas came out and L painless the second single is top ten and the biggest thing that I noticed and this is something that a lot of people will say Oh Rock Rock & Roll is dead a rock radio is dead it's not it's very vibrant it's it's it doesn't exist in Miami or New York or LA LA but Tampa or Fort Myers or Charleston South Carolina or you know Reno Nevada and all these places that you go to you know Philly Vegas Detroit Chicago Lubbock Texas all these gigs that we had sold out on our last tour because of the station specifically because the station is pushing the song or songs and people are getting into it now they're no fuzzy to come into the show it really does matter so when you get that hit song and it gets played on the radio over and over and over again you get results I heard it at Russell Kingdom and I'm like I know that song whose idea was that mine yeah we've been trying to get into Japan for 17 years and it's just one of those things Japanese are very strict in what they think and how they operate and I think they still can't figure out that wrestler guy is a singer because in Japan you can't do that it's either one or the other yeah and I thought well if we can use Judas that Russell Kingdom to come to the ring to a it's a great ring song B it has to be something different from my WB music obviously and see it's a cheap plug for my band if 40,000 people are listening to Judas as I walk to the ring and I walk to the ring very slowly and I can hear the whole three minutes to always be hustling always be closing alec baldwin says so that was kind of the idea and as a result I think we're going to Japan in January this next year so it worked amazing yeah I are you still doing anything with New Japan nothing planned if it looked like you were working towards another angle there it did it's a little bit old-school leave with some heat brother beat up my ito so you know I lose to Kenny on a Sunday beat up night eh Oh on a Monday and if I never go back well I left with some heat sure the thought process was to go back and we tried it just didn't work out I mean obviously there's a certain level of finance and a certain level that sort of thing because that match made New Japan a lot of money like Millions so when you get that feather in your cap now you know now it's not a sort of looking for they're not taking a chance by easy Chris Jericho now they know exactly what they're gonna get and for me to not be in double to be I have to be compensated at a high level or else it's not worth it because you know definitely one day can just wake up and go you're worth you Japan will never want to use you again see you later buddy so that's the risk I take you know what I mean and I don't do anything for money but when you're jeopardizing one job for another you have to make sure that you have you know the backend built in so so are you not under contract with WWE yeah like pay pay as you go play a pay and play no I mean I really haven't up until May of last year I was under contract and then the Judas to recycle started yeah and since then I did one show somewhere in West Virginia because they were taping the southpaw regional wrestling yeah and I wanted to I do the first one I want to do the second one so they flew me in of course when I get there well you want to do a match okay Cheryl do a match in Smackdown then I did a quick little thing of the 25th anniversary yeah and then they called me for the Saudi Arabia think is I think that's all guns blazing you know they want everybody on board everybody involved so they call me from time to time but it's not under contracts just the one and done I think people don't realize that sure you were supposed to do the casket match you replace true said that rusev has replaced you people don't realize you still are on this card in Saudi Arabia well I wasn't on the casket match at first either okay it was I was announced for the greatest royal rumble and then I got a text asking if I want to do a casket match and I said yeah sure and then I got a text a couple days later saying you're not in the casket I'm actually more like yes sure no problem that's the thing with WB is it changes constantly and you have to go with the flow and it'd be great to do a casket match should be great not to do it so who knows I might get added back in I might get out of it into that match five minutes before that's how it works like you know that fans read into it as fans think that there's something else going on and and and the most I can say is it just that's just the way it is it changes there's a lot of changes and dumb to being anybody that's ever worked there will tell you that's it goes by you know Vince McMahon reads you know it has got feelings and kind of reads between the lines and I don't know if he's got tea leaves or whatever he does but he goes by his feeling and his feeling was he would rather do the rusev casket match and for me like I said dude I have had plans that have been in the process of happening for six months to get changed and I've had plans that happen in six minutes so when you've been there as long as I have you just go with it man and that's the best way to grow in the wve to have the diversity and the longevity you just got to go with the flow you know and that's and that and you can read into it or want to read into but for me it's just that's just that's how it is and that's no big deal you do these autograph signings or when you run into people at airports or out out and about what's the one thing people want you to do do they want you to call them a stupid idiot put you on the list the two biggest ones would put me on the list what's your reaction to that I have rules now oh not a joke you can't request to be on the list the answer's no and you can't ask me to put somebody in the list like if your girlfriend breaks up with you and they put her on the list of hey man it's not my girlfriend make your own freakin list but yeah everybody wants to play can you film a video that's what I don't do videos because it's just too much it feels a little weird I'll do them in rare occasions but I gotta film it can you put me list no and the other one is can you put me in the walls of Jericho that one if I had a dollar you know I'd be you know I'd have 57 dollars but and that's just stupid - like I always just say hey man I get paid a lot of money to put people in the walls what do you do put somebody in the walls Jericho they're laughing makes the whole thing look stupid so then I have to really cinch it in because it does hurt when you do it right and then I get lawsuits okay so I won't put you on the list and I won't put you the walls of Jericho that's that's about it or make a video there's a lawsuit they will take that $57 from you they will have it back that's a lot of money you were especially with your last run I mean everything you've done throughout your Debbie W career you've gotten over like in this insane incredible way but I loved how in your last run you were able to put the word it over yeah that was just kind of a test for me it's all about confidence and when you have confidence you can do anything you can get anything over and I was like yeah I want to see if I can get one word over it you know I mean like okay stupid idiot really drink it in man really the list really all right now I'm now I'm cocky let's see if I can get it's over or the other ones but there was a little too click of a pen you know you just made the list yeah see those are more just kind of exercises for me and it was a fun run because if you're looking at let's say I'm a rock and roll band let's say Chris Jericho is a band 27 years in I had like four or five of my biggest hits ever I don't think there's ever been a band that had their biggest hits 27 years in you know so that's pretty cool I take great pride in that you know getting over is just about stones I think the stones blood is strong and though that era early 94 Buddha lounge stones if you count that as big hits I was about 25 years I did the math oh my head continues right if getting over is just about having that confidence and running with it how come Roman reigns can't get over with the fans please a a great wrestler one of my favorites to work with and bees one of the best guys he's so cool he's funny he's super laid back but man that guy's on my favorite view I've got a group text with Roman and a couple other guys and we have laughs constant last last last I think the fans much like he's like a modern-day John Cena for years fans just busine because they think it's the cool thing to do they're not paying any attention to what he's really doing and that's what Roman is now they just see Roman initially start booing because it's the end thing rather than just shutting up and and watching this guy for what he is which is a great performer and that'll come you know obviously maybe if he turned heel but if he turned heel all the people that booed him would start cheering him yeah you know I mean it's so um I think it's just a matter of time staying the course and he needs some good good heels to work with the heels that want to be heels you know like or can be heels like a guy like there's not a lot of that right there isn't like a guy like Samoa Joe I mean he's a big tough ass kicker who's great promo he looks tough what's to hate you know how what's the heel about small John I'm not saying in a bad way but dude if I see I loved Samoa Joe before ever met him because I just think that guy like he kicks people's asses like guy like that yeah it's like Brock lesner how can you ever cast Brock Lesnar as a heel he's a big giant ugly you know guy who beats the hell out of guys and wins all the time what's the hate about that so what they brought in your boy Kenny I mean Kenny is so over what still wouldn't be a he'll I don't think you know yeah honestly like if it was me as a heel I could get it over maybe Miz like those type of heels yeah I don't know if people would buy them is and that connect and that place though but you needed some kind of a real crybaby cowardly heel against Roman reigns I had an idea without I wanted to do that I pitched to Vince I wanted to throw a fireball in his eyes and blind him the old-school Memphis o idea yeah but we never did it but something like that maybe would help what was Vince's reaction to that people think about it and we were gonna have a program that had changed had we had a long program I probably could have got it done yeah so there's a secret Wow there's an exclusive just for the Chris dad you press it Van Vliet manfully it's very close it's like freakin van Halen man that's a cool name van vliet you've been in the band I could open for you guys sometime Fozzie and vans Leif live in concert there it is amazing we'll make it happen here I I was talking with Jimmy Jacobs recently and I didn't know that he was the one who came up with the list Jimmy and I worked together all that 2016 Ron he was writing and at first I was like who's this guy you know and then we started working together and he really started figuring out what my voice is and nobody writes for me they write with me so we're sitting down together but he would always come up with some some first drafts and then I'd punch it up or I don't like this or this sucks so let's do that and then one day is just like hey man what if you have like you know you had a list that he'd put my fingers big Foley he put Mick Foley on your list like like a list like a list he's like yeah look that's pretty funny like you said Steve Corino has a literal list yeah that's what he told me yeah I just said yeah that's pretty interesting let's give it a try and then you can always tell like right off the bat I'd put him on the list I said that's pretty funny let's get a list and the original list having that bag right there the original list was a red clipboard about this size but I think I just literally wrote like the list of Jericho on a sharpie and if you watch there's one episode where I put all three members of the new day on the list and it's with a red clipboard and that's where I was like this is awesome and that's when I started doing like oh yeah and I told you guys like when I put you on the list act like you can't believe it like you really like please don't like if you know if you guys don't sell it it won't get over but when I put them on they're like no don't do it don't do it and that's kind of what really started getting over like everyone was in on the gag to make it a big thing I gave you're on the list it's the worst thing so act like it and that kind of where it all started you said on talked as Jericho that the list was more over than y2j and the light-up jacket do you do you think that now is that maybe just a little bit of recency bias ah dude I mean I think at this point if you put a clipboard on a dummy on a mannequin with a lighted jacket just stuck it in the ring people probably more interested in that than not seeing me but um yeah I mean like I said it was it was a late career big hit for me and it helped because I always like to reinvent myself I never want to do the same thing you know I don't want to be a nostalgia act and I could still be y2j and saying never ever again but it's stale I don't even like that and then we did the list arrow Jarek or whatever you wanna call it I told don't call me ygj announcers marketing there is no more y2j y2j is gone this is a new guy you know and that's why you know jerichoholics gone it's the Friends of Jericho and you know the list and all this other stuff and then when I went to new Japan who's the Alpha you know start on that idea fans so always refresh and keep it keep it new let's talk about how busy you are Tampa last night Orlando today you're playing the festival kind of signing and then you're off to Saudi Arabia like where do you find time to just you know for yourself well I mean after Saudi Arabia there's a couple of things and then I get like two and a half weeks off you know I just kind of focus on those times I just had a week off now but I mean I'm busy by design but also fortunate you know like with Aziz I do we caught lightning in a bottle this is our chance to get to the next level and you have to you have to take advantage of that you know and I haven't been full-time wrestling in 8 years but when the fuzzy tour cycle ends I go back to dem to be here then the new Japan idea came and that worked out for the shows that we did there so I just play it by ear man I don't have a plan I don't have a big you know a list of things though that people asked me was like what's next what do you what else do you want to do and it's like I all I wanted to do is be in a rock band and be a wrestler that's it yeah so the rest of it is all just kind of a bonus you know podcast has gone over the top talk is Jericho that's huge for best-selling books that's been great you know hosting some more stuff for the Travel Channel and you do it all you've been in films and some other stuff like that so like I said man it's it's a good it's a good time and like I said I told you I don't do anything for money so I just do things that are interesting for me and that'll have fun with ya as long as I can continue to do that it's all good all right thank you so much great to see you brother bleeped there it is coming soon help people to subscribe yes subscribe Nikki tell people who subscribe we have a Nikki and Novak Nikki Novak it's our friend from Fandango she's awesome yes she made this happen she did so thank you Nikki and you know what she's obsessed with the list you put her on the list I was here how come yes she earned definitely you you

Channel: Chris Van Vliet

Views: 480,677

Rating: 4.9011979 out of 5

Keywords: chris jericho interview, chris jericho greatest royal rumble, chris jericho kenny omega, chris jericho roman reigns, roman reigns, chris jericho the list, chris jericho funny, fozzy interview, fozzy judas, chris van vliet, chris jericho the undertaker, chris jericho wrestle kingdom, wwe interview, shoot interview, wwe, new japan pro wrestling, kenny omega interview, chris jericho kevin owens, wrestling fireball, jericho vs naito, chris jericho naito, chris jericho new japan

Id: q2X1dgETlw8

Length: 20min 37sec (1237 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018