00:00 Well, here's something you don't see every day. On April 11th, the day of WrestleMania
00:04 37 night 2, the names AEW, Tony Khan, Kenny Omega, Young Bucks and Orange Bloody Cassidy
00:10 were featured in official WWE programming. Hell, two hours into Chris Jericho's appearance
00:15 on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, they display a picture of Jericho holding
00:19 the AEW title. I mean, sure, the program chapters only ever refer to All Elite Wrestling as
00:24 "a new company", but man, it's something to hear Steve Austin say AEW on WrestleMania
00:30 weekend. While the two hour interview between The Rattlesnake and Le Champion might not
00:34 spill quite as much tea as fans might have liked, there were still plenty of ace stories
00:38 that made it a hell of a watch. I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFarKnown and here are the
00:41 10 biggest takeaways from Chris Jericho on the Broken Skull Sessions.
00:45 Number 1. Another forbidden door opens. While the big story going into this show is the
00:49 proverbial "forbidden door" between WWE and AEW being smashed in, as you might expect,
00:55 it's not the main focus of the show, with Austin Jericho instead taking us on a potted
00:59 retrospective of Y2J's entire career, which makes it all the more amusing that Jericho's
01:03 big break came from the opening of another forbidden door.
01:07 In 1996, boss man of New Japan Pro Wrestling Antonio Inoki organised a World Wrestling
01:11 Peace Festival, an event designed to bring together multiple wrestling promotions for
01:15 a collaborative show. WCW took part, as did New Japan, Mishinoku Pro, WWF did not of course,
01:22 both AAA and CMLL took part, which was surprising considering their rivalry. Lionheart Chris
01:27 Jericho also took part in a triangle match with Konnan and Bam Bam Bigelow. At the event,
01:32 Jericho met Bischoff, who invited him to be a part of WCW, although apparently Bischoff
01:38 then left the show before watching Jericho's match.
01:43 Number 2. Leaving WCW. Gosh, working for WCW seems like it'd be
01:47 hard work. Jericho recounts a number of strange stories, working without a signed contract
01:52 for the first 17 months of his employment, being told he'd be WCW's Shawn Michaels
01:57 before getting locked in the Cruiserweight division, which Jericho compared to being
02:00 low in an Indian caste system, but the most he'd provoke Goldberg, and when the PPV match
02:05 finally came, Goldberg would literally spear him out of his shoes. Despite putting in the
02:10 work, the money match was consistently rejected, which led to Jericho letting his contract
02:14 expire and looking for better things.
02:16 Number 3. Vince McMahon's trust exercise. It seems like everyone's got a 'Vince
02:20 is a really weird dude' story, which makes sense. Look at him. Jericho says that during
02:25 the final months of his WCW contract, he was summoned for a meeting with Vince McMahon
02:29 at Vince McMahon's house. Jericho attended the 'secret meeting', ate brownies with
02:35 Vince, sat in awkwardly on a booking meeting, and then had a brief chat with Vince with
02:39 scary old bastard McMahon, saying nothing to him except 'okay, let us know when your
02:44 contract is up'. A confusing day, then. Jericho only realised later that the entire meeting
02:49 was actually just a test to see if Jericho would blab about it, or if he was someone
02:54 that Vince could trust. Since word about the meeting didn't get around, he was designated
02:58 the right type of human to work for WWE. Not a paranoid place to work, then. At all, I
03:03 see.
03:04 Number 4. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Yeah, it turns out WWE was a super paranoid
03:08 place to join in the late 90s, especially if you were a former WCW guy. Despite a whopper
03:13 of a debut, Jericho recounts a few stories of him struggling during his first year with
03:18 the company. Apparently him and Triple H hated each other. That doesn't help. He was consistently
03:22 being booked to lose. A bunch of WWF guys, the game included, still saw him as a WCW
03:28 guy who wasn't prepared to adapt to the WWF style. It all came to a head in April 2000,
03:33 the month after Mania 2000, for which Jericho was originally on the poster, before being
03:37 replaced by Mick Foley, though Jericho doesn't actually mention that, but still worth thinking
03:41 about. Backstage at the April 17th Raw, Jericho requested a chat with Vince to tell him "I
03:47 want out", but never actually made it to that meeting because he found out "Oh hey, that's
03:52 the night they were going to have him briefly win the world title". Jericho describes it
03:56 as a turning point. He let Triple H lead that match, proved he could play ball with a guy
04:00 he didn't like, they had a great match together, and after he gave up the belt, Vince said
04:04 "Don't worry, you'll have it again someday". And indeed he did.
04:09 5. The Saddest World Title Win Of All Time
04:13 In probably the funniest section of the interview, Jericho ran down everything that happened
04:17 the night he became the first ever undisputed champion at Vengeance 2001, and poor lad.
04:22 First of all, he found out in the least ceremonious way possible, overhearing Vince at catering
04:27 three hours before the show saying to Undertaker, loud enough for Y2J to hear "You know how
04:31 you know the business is going down the toilet, we're putting the title on Jericho, thanks
04:35 boss, in front of everyone". The finish of that main event was so overbooked and Austin
04:40 was so mentally fried by that point in his career he couldn't keep track and told Jericho
04:44 "Just call it to me". There was no one there backstage when he won because everyone used
04:49 the main event as a chance to beat the traffic, and later that night he locked himself out
04:53 of his hotel room getting a pizza, the guy wouldn't let him back in his room, and when
04:57 he finally did get back in he dropped his pizza on the floor. What a night.
05:02 Number 6. I understood that reference.
05:04 It's always fun to see where people get the inspiration for their gimmicks, like Oli Davis'
05:07 current haircut being inspired by the Mayor of Whoville from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
05:12 Throughout the show Jericho outlined a lot of things he had borrowed or referenced during
05:16 his long career, the whole standing with his back to the crowd entrance thing was inspired
05:20 by Michael Jackson who did it at a concert in Mexico while Jericho was wrestling down
05:24 there, the moss covered three handled family gridonza from his list of 1004 holds was a
05:28 reference to a Dr Seuss song sung by the cat in the hat, the walk to the stage mocking
05:33 Goldberg at Fall Brawn 98 was an homage to Spinal Tap getting lost on their way to the
05:37 stage, his countdown to the millennium debut gimmick was inspired by a similar clock at
05:42 the post office, and his 2008 heel character, possibly his finest work, was modelled after
05:47 Javier Bardem's quiet intensity in No Country for Old Men.
05:51 Number 7. Heartbreak Soulmate.
05:53 It's no small wonder that Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho made magic in their 2008
05:56 feud if Y2J's WrestleMania 19 story is anything to go by. An underrated Mania classic, the
06:01 match between the two at the show of shows was also the first time that both men were
06:05 ever in the ring together. In a weird soulmate level coincidence Jericho had a flash of inspiration
06:11 and wrote down the finish of the match in a sporting goods store on the back of a receipt
06:15 but didn't know how the match would start, meanwhile Shawn had gone away and written
06:18 up the start of the match but didn't know how the finish should exactly play out.
06:22 When both men realised what each other had done they made heart eyes at each other, combined
06:27 their two halves of a match and their Mania rehearsal was done in an unprecedented 10
06:31 minutes. Cute. Cute boys.
06:34 Number 8. An Unacceptable Position.
06:36 Full credit to Chris Jericho, despite working for a rival promotion, a promotion that he
06:40 in fact carried on his back in the first few months based off his WWE generated worldwide
06:46 fame, Jericho actually has few harsh words to say about WWE. However despite such professionalism
06:52 he does tell a similar style of story over and over again which paints a picture when
06:57 taken together that of plans being changed on him at the last minute.
07:02 First was Jericho's departure from WWE in 2005, wanting to leave wrestling in general
07:06 after suffering from burnout. Jericho was repeatedly told he'd be done at SummerSlam,
07:11 so much so that he booked a holiday with his family to Disneyland the day after, only then
07:15 to be told at the last minute "no, we need you at Raw". More egregious, powers that
07:20 be, Jericho didn't name names, tried to change the iconic festival of friendship at
07:24 the last minute to scrap some of the comedic elements which forced Jericho to contact an
07:28 absent Vince to back him up.
07:30 And finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. At Mania 33, Kevin Owens and Jericho's
07:35 match at the show was changed from one of the main events over the Universal title,
07:39 which Jericho would win before dropping it to Brock the next month, to the second match
07:43 on the card for the US title. According to Jericho, going on second was "unacceptable"
07:49 and made him re-evaluate his place in the company.
07:52 9. The Parting of the Ways
07:54 Chris Jericho's final appearance for WWE was part of the greatest Royal Rumble in the
07:58 first ever Saudi Arabia WWE show, and the story behind that show is one of an acrimonious
08:04 breakup. See, Jericho's original deal with New Japan was a match with Kenny Omega at
08:08 the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 12, and it was going to be a one-off, which was approved
08:13 by Vince who told him to "go fly the WWE flag in Japan". Jericho lost, but the next
08:18 night beat up Naito to leave with some heat, but also maybe plant a seed for something
08:23 in the future, who knows, which made Vince ask "hey, what was that? That wasn't part
08:27 of the deal".
08:28 Fast forward to the greatest Royal Rumble, and the original card advertised a casket
08:32 match between Chris Jericho and The Undertaker, however before the show, Jericho told Vince
08:42 that New Japan wanted him back for a match with Naito, and shortly thereafter, Jericho
08:46 was removed from the match again and it reverted back to Rusev. Apparently the Prince wanted
08:52 the change, which Jericho doesn't believe, but he says this moment made him realise,
08:56 ok maybe this New Japan stuff can lead to more, and he became much more open to talking
09:02 with Tony Khan.
09:04 And number 10, make wrestling fun again. Without ever really getting explicit about it, throughout
09:09 the show Jericho paints a picture of a damaged friendship between him and Vince McMahon.
09:13 He talks about how Vince used to trust him, although probably not as much these days.
09:18 He refers to his relationship with Vince in the past tense a lot, but most telling is
09:23 his description of working with Kenny Omega in New Japan, putting together their match,
09:27 he didn't have to approve any of it with anyone, and he said that "wrestling became fun again".
09:33 By contrast, talking about how if he'd made a different choice and gone back to WWE, he
09:37 says "I knew what would happen. I knew the first thing I'd have to do is I'd have to
09:41 put someone on the list". Reading between the lines, it's quite a damning picture, on
09:46 WWE branded programming no less.
09:50 And that's our list, if you liked this video don't forget to like and subscribe to parts
09:54 of unknown for more silly wrestling content, jam that jam.
09:58 [Outro]
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