Origins Of Chris Jericho’s Famous List Revealed
The List of Jericho swept WWE as Chris Jericho would put anyone that got in his way, or even just mildly annoyed him, to his dreaded list.
The list became so successful that when Jericho began it he was hated by the WWE audience but the more he clicked his pen and the more he added names to the list, the more loved he became once again.
Speaking on McGuire On Wrestling, former WWE producer Jimmy Jacobs explained that the origins of Jericho’s list came from a very real list kept by a former ECW star and NXT coach, Steve Corino:
“We were in Memphis and Jericho was going to come out and air his grievances against Mick Foley. I thought, ‘He should have a list of grievances, like a physical list.’ I thought about, in real life, Steve Corino has the Corino Sh*t List. The people who, in his life and in his career, they make his list and they are dead to him.
“I thought, ‘What if Jericho has the same sort of thing, except he’s super petty and puts all sorts of people on it for all different reasons.’ Once I came up with that, I knew it was a good idea because I started having more ideas on top of it. That’s when you know you have a good idea when you’re in a creative room and someone pitches something and a bunch of people start piling on, you know you have something with some legs.
“I came up with what I thought was good, I pitched it to Chris, and he was like, ‘So, you’re talking about doing this for more than just tonight?’ ‘Yeah, this could be your thing. You’ve been doing the gift of Jericho, drinking it in. This can be like the List of Jericho.’
“He got it right away and added on to it and added the big clipboard and the way he would deliver the click of the pen. He really brought it to life. It was a fun time getting a thing that hit the bullseye. For a while, that would get the biggest reactions on Raw, when Chris Jericho would put your name on the list. That’s what you build to.”
Jacobs then added that it was on the house shows that he knew they’d come across something very special as Chris Jericho would close the shows:
“For me, it was when Chris had to turn babyface, because he had to turn babyface, and they would end the house shows with him putting the city on the list. That, to me, was ‘we made it.’ You always send the people home with the biggest pop. It’s not enough to get the one, two, three. After the match, you cut the promo, ‘You know what happens Phoenix? You know what happens when you’re a great crowd? You just made the list.’ That was a big deal for me.”