Chris Jericho recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet and reflected on the celebration of his 30 years as a professional wrestler. Here are some highlights:
On keeping a log of every single match and turning it into a book:
Jericho: “There’s nobody else, to my knowledge, ever with my longevity that’s kept a list of every single match they’ve ever had, and that’s kind of what the book is based on. I mean I have it right here.”
“This is basically every match that I’ve ever had, and you can kind of see it all written down there. There’s 2,700 odd matches, and this one right here…that was written 30 years ago on this exact piece of paper.”
“30 years ago, I wrote this down and I’ve kept this kind of log ever since.”
On his most significant matches:
Jericho: “That’s a hard question because there’s so many of them that have meant a lot when you go through the different eras. I mean, the one that used to come to mind right off the bat was the Ladder Match I had with Shawn Michaels in 2008 in Portland. And the reason for that, not only was it a great ladder match, but the whole story behind it was that it was the culmination of a seven-month angle that was supposed to be less than a month. It was supposed to just be a one and done, and we extended it for seven months to the point where it kind of became the focus of the show, to where the world title was even at stake for it. So that one always meant a lot to me.”
“The Tokyo Dome match with Kenny Omega in 2018 was huge because that’s what made me fall in love with wrestling again. It made me realize like, holy s—, this is what wrestling is, there’s no handcuffs or chains involved, [it’s] pure creative freedom.”
On whether he thinks about retiring:
Jericho: “Now, it’s like I have no thoughts or anything about when will I stop because it’s just so much fun, and I’m enjoying it.”
“As long as I’m happy and I feel that I’m not you know not kind of living down my legacy rather than adding to it, I’ll continue to be here.”
The full interview is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lSoIB2_j_Q&t=764s
