Chris Jericho recently spoke with Brian Fritz for FOXSports.com, and below are some highlights:
You mentioned you and Vince getting into arguments over storylines. What’s the worst argument the two of you have gotten into?
“The worst argument is when I got the job to host Downfall, the game show that I had to audition for quite a few times. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him getting involved because sometimes the company will get involved and screw things up for you. (laughs) And when I finally got the gig, I didn’t tell him and it was on the front cover of the Hollywood Reporter, which he flipped out at. He forbid me from doing it and I was going to do it. No you can’t. Yes I can. Well, you’re fired. You can’t fire me because I quit. You can’t quit because you’re fired. I’m going to fly to Connecticut to punch you in the face. I’ll give you my address. I’ll be waiting. That sort of a thing. We kind of just hung up on each other. We ended up working it all out but that was the biggest actual argument.
Most of the time with Vince, it’s not arguments, it’s just debates or it’s a very calm, ‘this is what you’re doing.’ I wasn’t supposed to be working with Fandango at WrestleMania 29. It was supposed to be Ryback and that was kind of the deal we had made. That was the promise that was made and it was changed very quickly for no real reason. I wasn’t happy about that either. Nothing against Fandango, but that spot wasn’t a really WrestleMania worthy match, but once again, once I was told that this was my role, I made it a WrestleMania-worthy match. We had about three weeks to come up with an angle and if you go and watch that match and watch the night after, the most over guy on that show was Fandango. And I’m taking a huge chunk of the credit for that, thank you very much.”
WrestleMania 32 is going to be a huge show next year at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. The company hopes to have 100,000 people there in attendance. Do you see yourself being a part of that show?
“Yes, no, maybe. It all depends. I came back a couple of weeks ago to do the Night of Champions thing and I don’t come back just for one-offs. There’s always a reason why I do everything that I do. That could give you some clues. It’s going to be the biggest show of all-time. I haven’t done the last couple of Manias and, to me, it wasn’t that the opportunity wasn’t there or the offer but what am I going to be doing? Who am I working with? What’s the storyline because I know that for WrestleMania, everyone comes back.
I was the main event of WrestleMania 18. It might be the only WrestleMania main event I might have; it might not be the only WrestleMania show-stealer. But I also know that if you’re not in the main event, your real estate on TV is less and less. I’m smart enough to know that if you get the right person and just given my own little world, give me my own little ten minute segment every week like me and [CM] Punk had three years ago when we had an amazing angle that was never the main event of anything. It was just like well, here’s the crossover segment. Here’s the open segment. All right, that’s cool. Punk and I were smart enough to know that’s all we need. We don’t need 20 minutes of talking. We don’t need electrocutions or going through tables or whatever the hell they do to build up their angles. All we need is just 10 minutes of talking time, 10 minutes of TV time and we’ll do the rest. So that’s always been my mindset. What can I figure out to do on the biggest show that’s going to kind of back door my way into becoming one of the more intriguing storylines of the entire night? If I can figure that out, then I’m always open for it.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
