2019 has been quite an exciting year for Chris Jericho and his fans. On January 4th Jericho had to defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship, which he dropped to Tetsuya Naito, and then at the All Elite Wrestling Rally announced that he will be signing with the company. Jericho joined SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio on Thursday to discuss his busy start to the new year. One of the hosts of Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray asked Jericho how he could continue to be different while still being the same Chris Jericho we’ve known for years. Jericho responded by giving a nod to an iconic singer-songwriter:
“The real influence is David Bowie and I really caught on to Bowie about 10 years ago. Just analyzing things, as you do as well Bubba [Bully Ray], always thinking things in rock’n’roll terms because it’s all entertainment, as you know. A great actor does the same thing. What Bowie did was every album from ’70 to even the last record he released, Blackstar, before he died, was always different. It’s always Bowie, but there’s a different look, a different style, there’s the Berlin chronicle years. There’s the kind of Motown, let’s dance, funk years…”
“It’s always Bowie, but it’s always different. You never really knew what you’re going to get. And I remember Pat Patterson always used to laugh at me and say, ‘you always show up with a different beard, you look different every week,’ and I did that on purpose. I always changed something really small. Like changing your facial hair every week or your hairstyle. Wearing a lot of different types of colors and designs.”
Speaking of being different, Jericho’s match with Naito at Wrestle Kingdom 13 was certainly different than the rest of the card. Jericho detailed how the match came about.
“Wrestle Kingdom was an amazing show. And once again, when you’re dealing with a card that, let’s say nine matches, where every single one of them has a potential to be a show-stealer, what can I do to make my match stand out? And let’s do more of this hardcore, violent brawl, which I really liked to do when we met each other the first time in June at Dominion, but I really wanted to do that at the Tokyo Dome. That’s why I asked Gedo if we could do a No DQ match.”
“Now here’s the funny thing: I laughed when the critics and the pundits, and the sheet readers go, ‘well this is the style that fits best for Jericho. He couldn’t do a match like [Hiroshi] Tanahashi or [Kenny] Omega.’ The hell I couldn’t. What are you talking about? I could do a match like that in a second. I’ve never been a fast worker. I’ve never been a super-acrobatic worker. I’ve always been the same. I’ve never been fast. So, my speed at 48 is pretty much the same as it was at 38. It’s just psychology, your endurance and the style that you have. Yeah, of course I could do a Tanahashi or Omega match, but I’m not going to do a Tanahashi, Omega-style match when Tanahashi and Omega are the main event.”
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