I used to be a really big fan of Chris Jericho. When he was in WCW he was an unbelievable worker who would put on 4 star matches damn near every night. His gimmick was really creative and he came up with some really brilliant stuff. In his book he said that WCW was really lax with what they let talent do once they went to the ring so he took advantage and came up with a few gems. The man of 1004 holds gag he did during his feud with Dean Malenko was classic. Here is a video to remind you of how awesome it was.
That's just genius. As of late I've kind of been turned off with the character he portrays on screen now. He just comes off so bland to me. I miss the days when guys would yell during a promo. The slow methodical approach can be done well but I'm not a big fan of Jericho doing it. Anyway, Jericho was on Monday Night Mayhem and he talked about a few things such as the angle involving The Nexus and the upcoming match at Summerslam:
"This match is cool, because obviously they created a great angle using guys who have never had matches on TV before basically, which I don't think has ever been done before, and to have such a talked about storyline. Seven guys who have proved nothing as far as being main-event draws, but it goes to show that when you have a good storyline, a good idea, and promote it the right way. I'm just excited about it, and I'm happy about the storyline leading up to it. I think people are really intrigued by the whole situation, and that's the best thing you could do, and to me, that's the most important thing has always been the story. The match is important, but it's the story that gets you there."
He also gave his thoughts on Wade Barrett, the winner of the inaugural season of Nexus and a guy many believe to be the next major star in the WWE:
"There really hasn't been much growth...he was good from the moment that he appeared. You could see his presence and his promo ability right off the bat was tremendous, his whole look and ambiance, so he was a star right off the bat, and as soon as I was paired up with him, I knew I was with the winner, because he's got it more than these other guys do. Work wise, we really haven't seen much from him. Is he a great worker? Is he a good worker? Does he suck?"I don't know, I think he's a good worker and has room for improvement, and that's because he doesn't have a lot of experience in WWE arenas. But he, by far, is the most talented of the group, the biggest star of the group. Whether they created Nexus or not, he would have been a great star in the WWE. The only thing we need to work on with him is his actual matches, because we haven't gotten to see much, except for a couple of three-minute matches. But other than that, I think he's the total package of what we are looking for in the WWE at this point."
Read on for his thoughts on The Nexus-NWO comparision, what he thinks of TNA and his future in the business.
With the way The Nexus have been booked there have been the inevitable comparisons to the NWO. That of course leads into talk of all the recycling of popular angles that occurs in wrestling. Jericho's thoughts on the matter:
"There's only so many ideas you could think of, and there's only so much talent out there. The bottom line is there's so many new guys on the shows nowadays, so you have to use that to your advantage, or you have to go back to your old faithful. I don't see this being the NWO, because the NWO wasn't like this."The NWO began with three guys that were all World Champions and big huge stars. So you have Hall, Nash, and Hogan who everyone had known and seen before, and that was part of the shock. The Nexus, we don't know any of these guys or seen any of them before. They have never drawn a dime anywhere, and that's the difference. This pack that are working as a well-oiled machine that's done nothing before...that's the real surprise. As far as what TNA is doing with ECW, why not?"
Truly fascinating to hear him talk about TNA and how they run their company:
They got nothing else going on, their booking is horrendous, and I say that with the utmost respect for those guys and I most desire to see them succeed, but it's crap. You know it's crap, they throw stuff up against the wall, and it's so hard to watch when it doesn't have to be."They're doing 10,000 buys on Pay-Per-View, so let's bring back The Sandman and Sabu, and maybe they could do 30,000 buys. Go for it; maybe they can do something out of it. Having a guy like Tommy Dreamer involved behind the scenes might be what they need. Get rid of the same old stuff that they have been doing over and over, and bring in someone with a new perspective, and maybe that will help them get their heads out of there asses and just making some money instead of doing this as sort of a vanity project that's been treading water for the last four years."
I think some of the things he says about TNA could apply to WWE but that's an eye of the beholder kind of thing. Finally, what he thinks he has left for the pro wrestling industry:
"Just keep giving what I've been giving for the last 20 years, which is performing at the highest level that I can, and I think the stuff I have been doing over the last three years is the best work of my career. So there's no reason for me to walk away from the WWE at this point, because I think I could perform at the level I have been doing for the last three years because you can't teach experience. The company has a great future ahead of it, and guys are starting to break through that I'm really proud of. A guy like me, who has been doing this for 20 (and I'm only 39 years old), I could keep doing this another five or six years if I want to, so when it's time for me to walk away, I'll know, but as for now, I still enjoy it. I love speculation...that's what I love about the Internet. Somebody writes something, so it becomes the gospel truth and written in stone."
I'll be happy to have him stick around for a few more years although there are reports out about his future being in doubt based on some issues with the company. We'll see how that plays out.