Chris Jericho’s latest run with WWE turned out pretty well, with the memorable “Festival of Friendship” segment which ended his partnership with Kevin Owens serving as the highlight of a year-plus arc.
But it wasn’t too much earlier that many people were making “cool dad” jokes, complaining about his beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania 32 and insinuating the twenty-five year veteran had lost... IT.
The first undisputed champion remembers, and it’s part of how he knew it was time to end his latest stint as an active performer. Jericho told With Spandex:
For this one, I knew that it was time to go because you get to a certain level, then you turn baby face, and then that’s where you start having problems, because with the baby face you either win the title and you’re John Cena, or you start going down through the ranks. And that wouldn’t work for me, for this character, with the Jericho character.
I’ve always been better as a heel. That’s my wheelhouse. And then people start liking you, so you switch, but then it’s only a short amount of time when that stuff that they loved you doing as a heel, that they love as a baby … “It’s just a parody of himself.”
And I don’t want to deal with that sh*t. I don’t want to deal with the hardcore fans and stuff like that. I had fun with it, I knew it was time to go. I have people saying, “When are you coming back to wrestling?” It’s been 3 weeks.
Yeah, pretty much can’t argue with any of that.
Y2J has a sharp mind for reading the audience, a skill this quote demonstrates. Problem is, when/if he comes back, audiences will probably cheer him again - at least for a little while, and the cycle will repeat.
It’s part of why this Jericholic always thought the “cool dad” schtick was a means to an end, a way to speed up his heel turn. But we’ll probably never know, as a magician doesn’t reveal his tricks.
While you ponder that, check out the whole interview for more from the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla on if he’d come back as a part-timer, the big success of his band Fozzy’s new single “Judas” and more.