00:00Where does a stadium stampede rank for you as far as, you know, a match that you can get creative
00:06with where it feels like there's limitless limit, almost limitless boundaries for what you can do.
00:11And now you have kind of a tennis set, a tennis arena setting that you can play with.
00:15And you're on the actually on the side of the elite this time, like it's a flip from kind of
00:19the original one.
00:21Yeah, you know, it's long term storyline at its finest, right?
00:24Like you'd like to think that we plan this, you know, since day one, but it's just one of those
00:29kind of cool, happy accidents, shall we say, that, you know, when you're in the Louis Armstrong Stadium, it just
00:38seemed like the right time to bring it back.
00:40You know, I was in the first two and you mentioned, where does it rank for creative creativity?
00:45It ranks a thousand percent, number one, because there's nothing there.
00:49When we first walked into the stadium in Jacksonville for the first one, I remember, I vividly remember walking out
00:56into an empty soccer field, empty.
01:00There's nothing there.
01:01What are we going to do?
01:03What is this thing?
01:04What is a stadium stampede match?
01:06It reminded me when we did the first elimination chamber.
01:08Like, what is this thing?
01:10There's never been one before.
01:11What are you supposed to do with it?
01:13So that's kind of the idea behind the stadium stampede is it's the most creative match you can have because
01:19you really don't know what you're going to do until you get there and look around and start searching through
01:24the building and start looking around the building.
01:26And what's around here?
01:27Oh, this is a tennis stadium.
01:28What is a, I don't know, is there tennis rackets here?
01:30Like, let's start with that.
01:32And then that could lead to something else.
01:34And then you start thinking, like, I remember in the first one, we started walking around and there was a
01:40pool in Jacksonville.
01:41There's a pool.
01:42We can do something in the pool in the upper stands.
01:45Oh, there's a bell.
01:46We'll put someone's head in there and ring the bell and they'll be shaking up.
01:49Or there's a bar.
01:50Let's do, like, a barroom brawl.
01:52Yeah, yeah, let's do that.
01:53That sounds good.
01:54And, you know, just whatever you can think of, you know, the second one, it's like, well, let's go into
01:58the corporate offices.
01:59Are we allowed to?
02:00Well, you know, our boss owns the place.
02:03Let's find out if we can.
02:05Well, yeah, we're allowed access in the corporate offices from four to six.
02:09Well, let's go in the corporate offices and see, you know, can we fight on a boardroom table?
02:13Can we throw someone through the glass?
02:14Like, that's kind of how it goes.
02:16Some of them you can do.
02:17Some of them you can't.
02:17You know, hangman, can he ride a horse down the field?
02:21Absolutely not.
02:22But you can ride the horse down the sidelines of the field.
02:25Okay.
02:25Can we rappel down from the scoreboard 300 feet in the air?
02:31Yeah, you can.
02:32Oh, no.
02:33Like, do we want to?
02:34Like, so all of that stuff will happen when we get there earlier in the day.
02:37And there will be some major creativity because everyone's going to have ideas and different takes on what's available and
02:42what we can and can't do.
02:43And then you just got to stitch it all together and make it make sense.
02:47When you leave, you know, almost a year ago and the learning tree doesn't seem to click and you're getting
02:53some of the, you know, kind of negative crowd reactions that you did.
02:56When you're coming back, is it almost like I have to come back as a baby face and give people
03:01a reason to kind of root for Chris Jericho again and just flip it?
03:05Because we've been to heel for so long in this company.
03:08Once again, I mean, you know, the public court will tell you that it wasn't clicking.
03:16But then there's other people who tell me that, oh, the learning tree was the best.
03:18I love the learning tree.
03:19Sign the learning tree.
03:20So when you've had longevity like I have, and it's the same as a great rock and roll band, you
03:26know, let's take Metallica, for example.
03:30Amazing career, you know, and there's fans that the first three albums are the greatest.
03:34We hate St. Anger and there's other people that love St. Anger and there's people that would love nothing more
03:38than to hear all of St. Anger live.
03:40And other ones would be like, no, kill St. Anger, destroy it.
03:43It's the same with my career.
03:45There's certain times where everybody loves it, certain times where some people love it, some don't work as well as
03:49you want.
03:49Some work better than you expected.
03:53But I think you just have to kind of go with the flow.
03:56And when I've been gone for a year, you know, and it wasn't a coincidence that I'm coming back in
04:02Winnipeg.
04:03I mean, that was a great place to kind of make a return and make a surprise return.
04:07And it's like, well, let's see what happens.
04:09And Winnipeg obviously went nuts.
04:10And Edmonton was even more crazy.
04:11And Vancouver was even more crazy.
04:13And it's been nothing but that ever since.
04:16So, you know, I think sometimes when you're gone, people miss you.
04:22You know, and contrary to proper belief, I kind of know what I'm doing.
04:27So I just thought that it was a good time to do a babyface thing for a while, but still
04:32do it in a different way than what I've done before.
04:36And that's kind of what we've been doing.
04:38How would you kind of describe the version of Chris Jericho we're seeing?
04:41Obviously, it's just Jericho now, and a lot of people have compared it to kind of like a Prince, you
04:46know, kind of thing.
04:47Is that something you drew?
04:49I mean, you know, and that's not a bad comparison.
04:51And if you know anything about me, most of the stuff I do is pretty much influenced by music and
04:56the bands and the artists that I like.
05:00Prince is a good one.
05:01And it was funny, by not using Chris, suddenly everyone's talking.
05:07It's the most simple thing you could ever do, but it got people talking.
05:12And the reason why is because I could create another, you know, character gimmick name, you know, the Zoom Chris
05:21Jericho or, you know, the Joseph Stadusky Chris Jericho, whatever it may be.
05:26But I thought, how many more of those names do I need?
05:29It's still Chris Jericho.
05:30Why don't I just use Jericho and make it like a self-titled album?
05:36Like, once again, the Metallica Black Album or the Beatles White Album or Prince the Gold, you know, he had
05:41the gold experience.
05:42But, you know, like the White Album or the Black Album are the best examples where you just see the
05:45name and you know what to expect.
05:48You know who you're dealing with.
05:50And every memory that you have about Metallica or the Beatles is ensconced with just the name.
05:55So when you see Jericho, you're going to have thoughts about your, my favorite things done.
06:01So it just kind of leaves it completely wide open, but it also, it's as simple and as powerful as
06:08it can get.
06:08Jericho, boom.
06:10Oh, this guy did this, this, this, and this.
06:12And that's kind of what I wanted to do.
06:14And it really did create a lot of intrigue.
06:16And I've been really happy with it.
06:18You know, it's, it's, it's been a really kind of cool, I guess you'd say reinvention, but not really, really
06:24reinventing anything.
06:26Just kind of recalibrating, I guess you'd say.
06:28What's your, you know, current contract status with AEW?
06:31Obviously there was a lot of talk before you came back of his deal was frozen.
06:35He's a free agent.
06:36He's, did you come back and sign a new deal now?
06:39Just where, where did things stand with you?
06:41I like not answering those questions.
06:43Let people think as everyone had theories and thoughts and ideas.
06:46And that's, you know, I don't have to pull back the curtain on everything.
06:49I think there's still a lot of cool, intriguing things.
06:52I mean, I remember when I was a kid, I loved kind of like trying to figure out everything and,
06:57and, and what's going on.
06:58And like, what's, what's, what's behind the scenes.
07:00And, you know, you couldn't there, you had no access back then.
07:03So, you know, I think, I think I've always enjoyed working in AEW.
07:09I'm, I'm having a great time now and, you know, I'm still being able to do this at a high
07:15level.
07:16And, you know, I, I, I, I'm lighter than I've been in probably 10 years.
07:21You know, I feel great.
07:23So my contract status is, is I'm here in AEW and I'm excited to be here and we'll see what
07:28happens over the next little while.
07:30You know, you didn't want to talk about your contract status, but when there was that point
07:33where people are expecting you to like show up on Raw or show up on the Royal Rumble and
07:37you're sitting at home, are you kind of chuckling at these people?
07:41Like they're, everyone's waiting for me to come and I'm, I'm, I'm not going to be there.
07:45It's, it's, it's just, you know, I'm honored that people are care.
07:48You know what I mean?
07:49Like I never take that for granted after being in show business for 35, almost 36 years.
07:55If people are talking and caring about what I'm doing, that's, that's the most important
08:00thing, you know?
08:02And people build themselves up into a frenzy.
08:04They do it.
08:05They do it in rock and roll too.
08:06They do it, you know, in movies and they just, okay, this is what's going to happen.
08:09This is what's going to happen.
08:10Then it doesn't happen.
08:11You're like, well, how come that didn't happen?
08:12We were told this is going to happen.
08:14You know, why didn't Jericho come out of the box?
08:16We were told that, you know, and to me, I just look and say, listen, you know, my dad
08:21just say, there's no such thing as bad ink as long as they're talking about you.
08:24And, you know, that's not necessarily the truth, but in this case, it really was.
08:28So I think that when I, when I returned to AEW, there was a lot of, a lot of extra
08:33buzz
08:33because of all the, the talk that had happened in the year prior.
08:37And as quickly, how refreshing is it that, you know, Garby's champion now MJF said multiple
08:41title runs, you know, it's, it's those guys that, you know, I was thinking coming into
08:47this interview, like you were a part of that crew in WCW that never got made to get up
08:51to the point.
08:52Yeah.
08:53You're, you know, you guys have made these guys and they're, and they're carrying the
08:57top of the company now.
08:58It's the roles have been reversed a little bit here.
09:00Yeah.
09:00It makes me laugh.
09:01And those who know, no, it's not the case.
09:02But when, when people would accuse me of like Jericho's just bearing all the uncount,
09:05like that couldn't be the farthest from the truth.
09:07I mean, obviously sometimes it doesn't go the way you want, but the goal is always to build
09:11talent always, because I was there in WCW when that was not the goal.
09:15And I never forgot that because I was like, man, I still am bothered that I never wrestled
09:21with, with Randy Savage still pisses me off.
09:24I never got to wrestle with Bret Hart.
09:26You know, those guys were there, you know, they were there and they were looking for guys
09:30to work with.
09:32They just didn't know what we could bring to the table.
09:35Like guys like me and Chris and Eddie and Mysterio and, you know, all of those guys.
09:41So I never forgot that.
09:42And anybody that wants to work with me in AEW, if we can make it happen, I'd love to do
09:46it.
09:46And I don't care about winning or losing, man.
09:48I never have, especially now.
09:50I don't care.
09:50Let's, let's just have a great match and do what's best for the show and the story.
09:55Sometimes there's people that are furious that I've lost not once, but twice to ricochet
09:59with my own move.
10:01What a jobber.
10:02What's wrong with this guy?
10:03Boy, has he ever fallen?
10:05Like, Hey dude, calm down.
10:07Yeah.
10:08Who do you think's writing these stories, right?
10:10We've got a whole thing here.
10:11So what are you seeing that, that they were doing right to get to the point where, like
10:17I said, we're selling out Louis Armstrong, the, the, you know, the ticket numbers are
10:21all starting to trend upward again.
10:22And it kind of, if there was a little bit of hole a year or two ago, it seems like
10:27we're
10:27long out of it now.
10:29I mean, that's all Tony Khan, you know, he's very driven and he stayed the course, you
10:36know, and he's done a really good job of, of booking some really intriguing matches.
10:41And more importantly, and this is more important than anything wrestling, some possible matches,
10:46matches that people want to see.
10:48And I think once you get that going, you're like, when those matches happen, you're ready.
10:53Get, you know, take my money.
10:54You know, I think Tony did a great job of, of building the names, you know, building,
10:59building some names and really taking a chance on some guys that maybe other people didn't
11:04see it in and like speedball, Mike Bailey.
11:07Like I knew Mike was great.
11:09He was on my cruise.
11:10We, we, I put him on my cruise when he was still a free agent and had a match with
11:13him
11:14and he was amazing.
11:15I was like, this guy's really, really good.
11:17And Tony saw that and kind of didn't care about the bad things and focused on the good
11:22things.
11:22And here he is having a title match against Darby on Wednesday night, you know, so he
11:27did a really good job of building, building Darby Allen, you know, MJF doing a great job
11:30with all the stuff he's done.
11:32You know, just everybody that you could see a little bit of like, it's the same thing
11:36that reminded me of during the pandemic, when we really pulled together as a team, you
11:41know, and Tony Khan is comes from football and soccer.
11:43It's team mentality.
11:45Sometimes when you're on the team, you're the head quarterback and you're on every play.
11:48Other times you're just the, the kickoff guy and you play two or three times a game.
11:52It doesn't matter.
11:53Everybody has to do great work whenever they're put in.
11:57And if you can do that, the team builds and the team wins.
12:00And that's what, that's what we've done in AEW.
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