00:00Hey, it's Eastside Dave here from 95.9, the Rat W-R-A-T-F-M of the Morning Rat Race.
00:08Make sure you listen to Carl and Dave in the morning, each weekday morning, 6 to 10 a.m.
00:12Here with my pal here, Stanley Mack, the co-host of the Eastside Dave & Son Wrestling Show,
00:17nationally syndicated on B-Pod Studios.
00:20And we're here with the legendary, the great, Chris Jericho.
00:26Chris, how are you?
00:28Big victory last night over Eddie Kingston and Santana and Ortiz, you, Jake Hager, and Daniel Garcia.
00:36The Jericho Appreciation Society right now on fire.
00:40And any thoughts and opinions from last night's Dynamite where you guys were absolutely victorious?
00:45Yeah, I mean, it's been going really well, this kind of new story and this new gang.
00:54And I kind of knew that there'd be some great chemistry there just from the guys, how they were working prior to being in the Jericho Appreciation Society.
01:03And obviously, I know Jake Hager's one of the most underrated guys in the business, so I wanted to definitely include him in there.
01:10And Matt Menard and Cool Hand Ange and, of course, Danny Garcia have been doing some great stuff right out of the gate.
01:20It's only been three, four, five weeks, and you can already see the impact that the JAS has made.
01:26So it's been pretty cool so far.
01:27You, of course, were the first AEW World Champion.
01:32Any thoughts of reclaiming that championship?
01:35I mean, again, it just seems like right now, it's all guns blazing with Chris Jericho.
01:41You really seem like you're on fire, and it seems like a world championship, not out of reach.
01:45Well, to me, it's the storylines that are the most important thing and how you can grab the audience and connect with the crowd.
01:55And sometimes the champion has the best story in the company, and sometimes they don't.
02:01And I think for us right now, we've got so many cool things coming up and so many ideas that it's always great to be the world champion, but a lot of times you don't need it.
02:10You know what I mean?
02:11So I think our storyline is strong enough to kind of go beyond that even, go beyond the world champion.
02:16I mean, if you look right now where Hangman Page is with Adam Cole, I think the Jericho Appreciation Society is much more of the talk of the town.
02:24So, yeah, it's always good to be the world champion, but to me, it's also more important and most important just to have a great story that connects with the audience and gets them involved in what you're doing.
02:35Stanley, this is Chris.
02:37This is my partner, Stanley Mack.
02:39He's my co-host.
02:40He's the good guy of the show.
02:42Yeah, yeah, I'm the hated one.
02:44Stan, any questions for Chris here?
02:46Actually, yes.
02:48I was wondering, since obviously you've had two different theme songs, I was wondering, which one do you prefer?
02:54Do you prefer the Break the Walls or Judas?
02:58Judas, for sure, by far.
03:00Yeah, I can't even really envision coming out to Break the Walls anymore.
03:03That's a good question, by the way.
03:05Very good host here.
03:06Yeah, I think Judas, it fits better for where I'm at right now.
03:12And the fact that it's our song, it's a Fozzy song that we wrote and we recorded, just makes it even extra cool because nobody else has that.
03:23You know what I mean?
03:23People sing along with Punk's song, for example, or Jungle Boy's song.
03:27But those are songs recorded by other people.
03:31We actually wrote, recorded Judas and had a big hit with it before I started using it as ring music.
03:38And then when I started using it for music, it just went through the roof to, as you saw last night, the song went gold, which is huge to have a gold record.
03:44I mean, I can tell you, playing on the rat, you know, we're still playing the heck out of Judas.
03:50It's getting tons of spins and it's because people call up requested all the time.
03:54Right, right.
03:54I mean, it's one of those things that you, once you have a song that kind of gets into the fabric of the pop culture, it goes beyond, you know, not that it's, you know, you shook me all night long, but you hear shook me all night long for the rest of our lives.
04:08It's going to play it whenever.
04:10It doesn't have to be in the charts.
04:10It's true.
04:11And Judas kind of has that, especially due to the fact that we hear it every week on a national, you know, television program in front of a million people.
04:20So all that stuff counts and it adds to the whole presentation and package.
04:25And, you know, when we started the JAS and people were like, why are you still using Judas?
04:29People like it so much and you guys are bad guys.
04:31And it's like, well, you could stop using it and, you know, get that one week reaction of like, we're not going to let you hear Judas or sing Judas.
04:38And there's some booze, but then in the long run, you're taking away one of the coolest, most unique parts of our show, which is the fact that people just love singing that song.
04:47So I think it kind of transcends heel or baby face, good guy or bad guy.
04:51It's just a cool moment and a very unique part of our AW show that people tune in to check out and see and be a part of.
04:58It's an incredible experience.
04:59We were at the Prudential Center and the entire place was singing the night where the people were singing acapella.
05:06I actually pulled that video, put it on our website, and it was one of the biggest websites of the week.
05:13I mean, one of the biggest videos of the week.
05:15It was something that I showed Robin, who I believe you talked to today on The Rat, and even she was getting goosebumps.
05:21You know, I'm a massive wrestling fan, but you don't have to be a wrestling fan to appreciate that moment of 15,000 people singing Judas acapella.
05:29It was pretty amazing.
05:30Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things that we, I was in Houston, and we had the idea of, you know, MJF doesn't allow me to use the ring music.
05:40And so we thought, well, let's see what happens, you know.
05:42And some people were suggesting, well, maybe you should put, like, the lyrics on the screen or put lyric sheets under the people's chairs.
05:49And Tony Conant and I said, let's just, it doesn't feel right.
05:53Let's just see what happens, you know.
05:55If it works, it'll be one of the coolest moments ever.
05:58If it doesn't, well, then MJF's plan came to fruition.
06:02He screwed me, you know.
06:04And it took about two lines before the entire crowd was locked in and singing it perfectly, and everyone knew all the words.
06:10It was one of the coolest moments of my career, for sure.
06:12It was an amazing moment.
06:14Stan, you got something else for Chris?
06:16And then we got to let Chris go.
06:18He's going to put on a massive rock show today.
06:21Yeah, so how do you, like, think that this, like, obviously since you've been in war before,
06:27how do you feel like this is different than the WWE versus...
06:31AEW?
06:32How does AEW feel different than WWE?
06:34Yeah.
06:34Is that your question?
06:35Yeah.
06:36I mean, they're both great.
06:38Both have different ways of doing things.
06:41I think AEW gives you a little bit more freedom as a professional to be creative.
06:48WWE is much more regimented in how they do things.
06:52Interviews, for example, promos are very strictly approved by Vince McMahon, every word, every sentence.
07:00Whereas AEW, you just go and kind of say what you feel.
07:02And I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of people like our show, because it's a little bit more honest, maybe.
07:07A little bit more realism.
07:09But I love working for WWE, and I love working for AEW as well for different reasons.
07:16But I think the biggest one is you just get to be a little bit more creative in AEW.
07:20You feel like the live energy is a little bit better at AEW in terms of the weekly, the television show.
07:27One of the things that I definitely respond to, and I watch everything, is the live sort of feel, the unpredictable feel of it, of AEW.
07:36There is an energy there that, you know, with the other show, it's got all of its stars and stuff like that.
07:41But it does seem sometimes a little plastic, and just a little, and as opposed to AEW, which has a more live kind of, you'd never know what's going to happen feel to it.
07:53I don't know.
07:55I mean, obviously, WWE is so huge and so massive that they have a fan base like no other.
08:02And maybe because our fan base is a little bit more in the know, maybe.
08:09I mean, last night in New Orleans, you have Minoru Suzuki in the main event, and everyone knows who he is.
08:15If you stuck Suzuki out in a WWE show, some people would know who he was, and other people are like, who's this crazy-looking Japanese guy?
08:21So I think our fans are a little bit more AEW-centric, which is great, but the real task is converting new fans, you know.
08:29And you do that just by putting on great stories and having great shows with beginning and middle and end and awesome matches.
08:37But like I said, it always goes back to the stories.
08:39That's the most important thing in wrestling is how you connect with the audience to get them to want to pay and watch what you're doing.
08:47And that's all the storytelling, like I keep saying over and over again.
08:52So I think maybe if there is a difference in the fan base, it's just that ours are a little bit crazier because it's a little bit more of a, not a cult or a revolution, but, you know, if you're there, like, you know, I've been a Metallica fan since 1984.
09:05So I've always had a special connection with Metallica because I grew up with them.
09:08I was there from the start.
09:09And as huge as they are, which is amazing, they converted people that weren't Metallica fans at first.
09:15That's what AEW has to do.
09:16But I still always have a little bit of like, yeah, that's my band.
09:19Those are my guys.
09:20And I think a lot of our fans feel the same because they started with us.
09:24Nobody started with the WWE because the WWE started in the 40s.
09:28I mean, there might be some people left over there at the beginning, but not a lot.
09:33So I think that's the difference, too, a little bit more ardent and almost like your favorite football team or your favorite hockey team.
09:38You really feel an extra kindredship with them because you were there and supporting them right out of the gate.
09:44Well, it's been Chris Jericho, one of the absolute greatest of all time.
09:48Chris, I also want to say Stanley and I will volunteer as the first podcast ever to go into the Jericho Appreciation Society if you'll have us.
09:55I'm not in the media wing.
09:59And if you'll have us.
10:01And if not, you know, we still support you.
10:04You are.
10:04He's one of the legends of all time.
10:06Oh, real quick, love your podcast.
10:08I'm a massive Guns N' Roses fan.
10:10So I just wanted to say thank you for the Duff McKagan joke of the week.
10:13It's pretty spectacular.
10:15We're coming up in a couple of weeks with Max Creeps.
10:17If you haven't heard of it, you will pretty soon.
10:19We actually were all about the Max Creeps story yesterday.
10:23So what's the deal with this?
10:24I actually brought...
10:26One of the greatest punk rock bands of all time.
10:28Kind of an underground band.
10:29Okay.
10:30Very highly influential.
10:31And they broke up, which caused a big rift.
10:34I was talking to my friend Slash about it.
10:36We couldn't believe that the Max Creeps broke up.
10:38But then they just announced today that they're back together and putting out a new record.
10:42So...
10:42It's pretty impressive.
10:43It was impressive because I saw quotes from so many people, including yourself, Green Day, Slash, but I've never heard of...
10:51You're going to hear of them now.
10:52They're going to come back.
10:54The great Chris Jericho.
10:56Make sure you're watching AEW Dynamite.
10:58And we've got to thank you again.
11:01It's been an absolute honor.
11:02We've been following you for years.
11:04Stanley, say something to Chris on his way out.
11:07Thank you for everything.
11:09Thanks so much.
11:10Thank you so much.
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