Chris Jericho recently did an interview with Brian Fritz for Fox Sports where he talked about his 25 year career as a wrestler and more. During the interview Jericho was asked about how wrestling has changed over the years and he gave his thoughts on the current state of the industry.
“I look at the business the same way that Vince (McMahon) does. In many ways, he’s kind of my mentor as to how I feel about the wrestling business and what I think about the business. I’ve never been a guy to go, “You know what, things were a lot better when I started. Guys don’t do this anymore or boy has this ever changed. It’s just so sad to see what the business has become.” Business is always going to change and mutate and grow just like the NHL does or the NFL does.
You can’t be stuck in what things were like in 1998. Oh, the Attitude Era, everybody was over! Yeah, that’s true but there was a lot of s–t in the Attitude Era too. Plus, the Attitude Era, there were guys flying around the world and finally going into WWE. That kind of doesn’t exist anymore. So guys are basically learning on the fly on TV. And it’s harder for guys to make it nowadays. For example, “Tough Enough.” A lot of people ask, “Do you not like the fact that these guys are getting a shortcut into the business?” Shortcut? Are you kidding me? The workup of guys that are new, plus being on TV under the gun, under the spotlight form the moment they get into the business. That’s really, really hard. I wasn’t in the spotlight for my first, basically, six years and by then you know a little bit. Starting from scratch, going right into the fire, it’s pretty hard. NXT, it’s so big now. You work NXT for two weeks and everyone knows who you are and making a decision on whether they like you or not, whether you have a future. You’re screwed.
Back in those days or working Japan and Mexico and the indies, you had time to make mistakes, work on your character, learn what you’re going to do. So the way things are now may be harder than the way they use to be. I’ve always kind of had the open mind to know the business evolves. It changes. The work is going to change, the characters are going to change but it’s still a very vibrant, growing industry.”
He also talked a little bit about his feud with Shawn Michaels in 2008 and how it helped form his heel character at the time.
“Right off the bat when I started the program with Shawn (Michaels) and he took the power bomb from Batista and landed on his knee and we didn’t know if he was hurt or wasn’t hurt and I called him a hypocrite and people started booing. Then I called them hypocrites.You’re booing me? I’m telling the truth. I’m the honest man here. That guy’s the hypocrite, he’s the liar and you are cheering for him and booing me? You’re a hypocrite. Then I realized I got it. I’ve got the ultimate thing of what a heel looks for: a kernel of truth that I can pound down people’s throats until they get so sick of it they don’t want to hear it anymore.”
