Speculation about Chris Jericho’s return to wrestling began almost immediately after the former undisputed champion left WWE nearly two years ago. It remains to be seen whether he will come back to WWE or sign with TNA, but this much is certain: Jericho will make a special appearance at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show tomorrow in Dundalk.
I spoke with Jericho in a telephone interview yesterday.
Q: It’s well known that you and Chris Benoit were close friends. Before getting into questions about your career, I wanted to ask what your thoughts are on the tragic events of two weeks ago.
A: It’s hard to separate the man that did these terrible, horrible crimes from the guy that I knew who was like a big brother to me, who was a great friend, a great mentor and a great influence on me in such a positive way. I’ll never understand why he did what he did, but all I know is the guy that I knew was just a sweetheart of a guy and one of my best friends, and I’m going to miss him.
Q: Moving on to something more lighthearted, how much have you missed wrestling since leaving WWE?
A: I was really mentally burned out when I left; I just never realized it at the time. It took me about a year and a half to kind of collect my thoughts. Actually what happened was that I wrote a book on my journey to make it to WWE from being a kid. And once I was done the book, it kind of made me realize how much I love the wrestling business and – not to sound too sappy – helped me find myself as a person and as a professional and to start digging wrestling again. So, probably about the last six months, I’ve been paying attention to wrestling and getting into it and watching it again. Whereas, for the first year and a half, I really just was so mentally fried, I just didn’t have any desire to have anything to do with the business. But now I feel differently.
Q: There has been a lot of speculation about when you will return to wrestling and whether it will be with WWE or TNA. Can you give us any clue as to when you might be coming back and which company you are leaning toward?
A: I haven’t really even come that close to getting into specifics of when or where. It’s funny because I hear those rumors all the time. I’m usually the last one to know. People will come up to me and say, “Hey, I heard you’re going here,” and I’m like, “Wow, I didn’t know that. I wish I could help you with that one.” I like both of those companies. I like Ring of Honor as well. I have my favorites in all three of those groups and it’s fun to watch all three of them because, first and foremost, I’m a wrestling fan. That’s why I wanted to be a wrestler in the first place and that’s why I think I did as well as I did, because I always enjoyed the product and tried to put myself in the fans’ shoes and ask, “If I was in this crowd what would I want to see?” And then I tried to deliver that. I really have no time frame or anything like that. But now I’m lurking in the shadows, so watch out – you never know.
Q: How do you feel about TNA dropping your name a few times on their show? Apparently, Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar weren’t too happy about it when their names were mentioned.
A: I don’t know why they wouldn’t be happy about it unless they’re taking themselves way too seriously. For me, I think it’s great. It keeps your name out there, and who am I to complain if my name has enough value to be used as a teaser for something?. I mean, they wouldn’t use Funaki’s name or Big Bully Busick. I’m smart enough to know that if things like that are going on – rumors on the Web and dropping of my name on TNA shows – that just means that people want to see me come back. I find it a real compliment that whenever I do signings, people ask, “When are you going to come back?” Or they say, “Wrestling hasn’t been the same since you left” or “wrestling needs you.” That’s a lot better than saying, “Man, wrestling’s a lot better now that you’re not around.”
Q: When you do come back, do you want to work a full schedule again or do you want to be a guy who kind of comes and goes and makes special appearances?
A: No, that’s not me. I’m “go hard or go home.” When I left, I never said I was retiring. I just said I needed a break and I said when the time was right and I could come back better than ever, I would. When I come back, it’s to come back and make a difference and to play the game. I don’t really think guys coming in for special appearances and leaving really helps. If you come in for one show every two or three months, it’s a good nostalgia thing, but you really can’t make any forward progress. You might as well just come out and wave at the crowd like an ex-president at a parade and then disappear. If I come back, it’s to do what I do best and become one of the biggest names in wrestling again.
Q: You mentioned mental burnout as one of your reasons for needing a break from wrestling. How are you feeling from a physical standpoint?
A: I was pretty fortunate. They used to call me Hockey Puck in the locker room because I never got hurt. I never missed a show in WWE for any sort of injury, so when I left it wasn’t for a physical reason. I feel great; I’m in great shape. But I didn’t feel all that bad physically when I left.
Q: How much of your decision to take a sabbatical had to do with wanting to spend time with your family?
A: It had a lot to do with it. There were some other things I wanted to do creatively, but that was 50 percent of the reason. The other 50 percent was that I wanted to stay home more with my family, and then almost one year ago we had twins, so now I have a very young family. It’s nice just doing nothing but hanging around with my family. But after a while you start feeling that urge creatively to do some more stuff, and that’s when I would go work – write a book or film a movie or do some stuff with the band.
Q: Speaking of some of your other projects, what was your experience like working with The Groundlings, the improv troupe?
A: It was great. I did MADtv, and one of the producers was a Groundling. He thought it would be great if I went to watch one of the shows, and I did. And the head of The Groundlings was a wrestling fan and thought I should do one of the shows. I did one and they kept asking me back. I worked with them for a year, from April ’06 to April ’07, pretty much on a monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, basis. I almost became like an honorary member of The Groundlings. And The Groundlings are the best improv troupe in the world. Will Ferrell is a Groundling, Phil Hartman, Sherri Oteri, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Coolidge – some great, great people. So working with them was very difficult, but to hold my own and kind of make a place for myself was actually quite a feather in my cap. I learned a lot. They always asked me, “Have you ever had improv training? You’re really good at this.” Well, yes and no. No, I’ve never had training like those guys had, which is very strict, methodical training But just from wrestling, a lot of the stuff I’ve done is improv. Standing in the ring with Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock for 20 minutes after a match just improving with one another, that’s another form of improv. It helped me to kind of slip in with them really easily and I have an open invitation to go back whenever I want.
Q: You just mentioned improving with Austin. When I interviewed him a few years ago, his feeling was that wrestling was too scripted. He liked working old school, where you know the finish of the match but you don’t script the whole match, and when you do a promo you speak from the heart rather than memorizing something that was written for you. What are your thoughts?
A: I agree with both of those things 100 percent. Sometimes I think a promo has to be a little more scripted, but if that’s the case you can always do bullet points. But I always had a hand in that. I refused to take a piece of paper given to me by somebody who didn’t know my character. There’s some good writers in WWE that I like to work with, but I think it gets to the point now where th