Chris Jericho is the most over star on Monday Night Raw right now, and he owes some of his current success to the List of Jericho. Each and every week fans tune into Raw to see what Jericho is going to do, and who he’s going to add to the List of Jericho.
Jericho was recently a guest on The LAW, and during the interview he talked about who came up with the List of Jericho, and how it’s developed since it was created.
“So what happened was the gift of Jericho and I wish I could take credit for saying I came up with it but Jimmy Jacobs, who has become a writer in WWE, his name is Chris Scobille but his wrestler name is Jimmy Jacobs, no stranger to anybody who is a fan of Ring of Honor or any of those big independent companies. He said I’ve got this idea of the List of Jericho and you put a couple names on it. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea and we did it. Of course you do it once and it was kind of funny, that’s pretty funny, let’s do it again. So we do it again the next week, it gets a little bit of a buzz and then I go to the props truck and say can you make me big, thick list in case I want to use it to hit somebody over the head with and engrave something on. Then, they just put a red piece of paper on it that said the List of Jericho. Meanwhile, this thing is growing. Then, the one week where I said you just made the list and people cheered, it’s like holy (expletive) this is not what we expected. Then, the week we were in there with New Day and I put all three of them on the list, I said the secret is when I put you on the list, you have to sell it like it’s a horrible thing and Woods was great. If people are laughing at it, then it doesn’t get over but because it’s a serious thing, to be on the list is horrible then suddenly we have this whole new world of stuff to deal with.”
People pop big time for the List of Jericho, but right now Jericho is technically a heel, so he’s always reaching for boos. The first ever Undisputed Champion also talked about how the list has gotten over organically, and how he’s using it to make people boo.
Related: The Gift Of Jericho: 4 Reasons Why You Need To Drink It In Man
“I was talking to Vince the other day and I said the list is more over than half the roster and he said yeah, I wish the list could work. The entity of this thing that doesn’t even exist and is now a character on the show. The best gimmicks and best things that work always happen organically. You can’t shove something down people’s throats. It just happens and it becomes a thing. The only thing I can compare this to is the angle I had with Shawn Michaels back in 2008. That was supposed to be just a one night thing that turned into a 7 month angle, culminating in a battle for the world heavyweight championship. That was not supposed to happen, that was never the plan. It was nothing more than a drop of the bucket sort of thing and that’s kind of what this whole character has been, especially the list. Now, the other day when I came out with the list, it’s like people are going nuts for it. Just a quick story, I was in Edmonton and Calgary the other day. I was in Edmonton, still a heel so I’ve got to be a heel, I don’t want to be a cool heel and I don’t want to embrace it because then I’m a baby face so I’m still doing what I can to stay a heel and I’m doing good. I’m threatening to fight Wayne Gretzky, I’m doing all this stuff in Edmonton, I go are you going to boo me, you know what happens when you boo me, you just made the list and suddenly, people just pop huge. So what do I do? The next night in Calgary, I start insulting the Harts, I’m going to beat up every Hart family member, girls, guys, kids included. Big boos. You know what happens when you boo me? People are starting to build. Oh, you thought you were going to be on the list? No, I’m sorry, you’re not worthy of being on the list. The fine people of Edmonton last night, they belong on the list. Calgary, no chance and that got boos so now not being on the list is the new being on the list and I did that last night on Raw for the first time where I refused to put Roman on the list and I refused to put anyone in Hartford on the list. That made me a heel for the night so you just never really know what’s going to get over but you have to take advantage of it when it does.”
In regards to TNA’s issues, Jericho said that he hopes TNA can turn things around for the sake of the fans and the wrestlers who work there. He added that he was interested to see what Billy Corgan would have done with the company, because Billy is very passionate about his work.
He praised Matt Hardy for reinventing himself with the Broken Matt Hardy character, and he revealed that the entire locker room watched The Final Deletion.
“We were in the sumo arena this past July having a WWE show and I had Wi-Fi and we were all gathered around my computer to watch the Final Deletion. I’m talking the entire dressing room, John Cena, AJ Styles, everyone was trying to crowd around and watch it and I wouldn’t let anybody watch it if they didn’t see it from the start so we had 3 or 4 viewings of the damn thing and that’s before our show for a sold out crowd in Japan. When was the last time you heard anything involving TNA getting that kind of a buzz? I’m pulling for TNA, I have been from the start and hopefully they’re able to change things around and make it something viable once again.”
During the interview Chris Jericho also talks about working with Roman Reigns, insulting fans in the United States and more. You can check out the full interview here.
“You can’t shove something down people’s throats.” If only Vince could undesrtand this about Roman.
Crazy to think that after all the effort they put into pushing Roman, the List of Jericho is more over than he is, and it only took two weeks to get it over haha.
I think even Braun Strowman is more over than Roman. The list is another example of Jericho’s brilliance.