Chris Jericho Admits WWE Character Transformation Was Biggest Risk Of His Career
Chris Jericho admits that making a major change to his WWE character was a huge risk that paid off.
The legendary Chris Jericho has been a household name in pro wrestling for over 30 years after getting his start in ECW and making a name for himself in WCW.
When Chris Jericho jumped to WWE in August 1999, it was one of the most anticipated debuts in company history. Over the next two decades, Jericho solidified himself as one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time.
Since joining AEW when it launched in January 2019, Jericho has continued to perform at a high level even in his mid-50s. Jericho was the first World Champion in AEW history.
During a recent interview with Dan Marston, Chris Jericho talked about one of the many instances in which he reinvented himself. This was after he came back to WWE in late 2007, his comeback as a babyface wasn’t necessarily hot, so it led to Jericho completely changing as a character in 2008, which led to arguably the best rivalry of his career with Shawn Michaels. Instead of being the cocky and entertaining Y2J character, Jericho was a suit-wearing jerk who used big words and did everything to upset the fans. Of course, it worked perfectly.
“I think probably when I dropped the whole Y2J persona and the countdown. There was a time when I came back in 2007 where I was kind of a… not gonna say diluted… version of Chris Jericho, but you know, it wasn’t the same. I had shorter hair, and it just… times had changed, right? So, I thought, I don’t wanna do this anymore, I don’t wanna be a nostalgia act.
So, I switched from, you know, I cut my hair, like I said. I switched from long tights to trunks. Dropped the Y2J. I told the announcers, “Don’t ever call me Y2J ever again”. Did a whole new video package that had none of that. Then, the countdown was synonymous with Jericho. Get rid of the countdown. It’s done.
And, that was kind of the first time where I really took a shot, cuz it was like, you know, it’s almost like KISS when they took off the makeup.”
As he continued, Jericho made the point that he needed everybody to understand he was making a change as a character.
“You know, you’re doing something very drastic here, and you want people to understand we’re doing something different. Whether you like it or don’t like it, that’s not for us to decide, but here’s where we’re going, here’s the path that we’re taking, come on board if you want to.
That was kind of… it was a big risk, you know, but not for long, and it’s something that I had to do.
And, that’s when I realized I can reinvent myself whenever I start feeling a little stale, and people will like some of it, not like some of it, but I can’t worry about what people think. I just have to worry about what I can do to be the best personality I can be.”
Chris Jericho Was Inspired By David Bowie
When it comes to changing characters, Chris Jericho cited legendary musician David Bowie as somebody he thought about when it comes to character change. When the host commented that “if you’re not evolving, you’re dying,” Jericho agreed.
“Well, that’s exactly right. And, my biggest inspiration in show business is David Bowie. I was really obsessed and interested in really paying attention to what he was doing, which he always reinvented himself. I just did a podcast a couple of months ago of all the Bowie characters and there’s literally a dozen of them.
You could go to a Halloween party and see 12 people dressed as Bowie but different versions and you would know it’s Bowie. And it’s like that with Chris Jericho as well. Every Halloween people could come as Chris Jericho and there’s every era that you can see. So that’s what my overall goal was and it kind of worked out.”
After beating Ricochet in their recent feud, Chris Jericho now has to deal with an enraged Tommaso Ciampa, whom Jericho referred to as “Tommy” during their most recent AEW confrontation, which led to a brawl between them.
Also Read: Chris Jericho Reveals The Real Reason Behind Name Change In AEW