Werstling

WWF Superstar Chris Jericho has taken time out of his red hot schedule to do an interview with KissAsylum.com. It turns out that the "Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla" is both a long time KISS fan and KissAsylum.com visitor, and he agreed to help us celebrate KissAsylum.com's recent milestone of 5 million visitors by doing an interview. After all, who better than the "Millennium Man" himself to help usher KISS Asylum into the new millennium and make sure we are Y2J compliant?! In this interview, the "Man of 1004 Holds" touches on a multitude of topics, including: how he became a KISS fan, his metal tribute band Fozzy Osbourne, favorite matches and hardest bump, his new life in the WWF, Sid Vicious and WCW ripping off his "Millennium Man" gimmick, his picks in some fantasy KISS Member vs. Wrestler match-ups, and much more. Read on for all that Y2J has to say!

KA: How long have you been a KISS fan?

CJ: Well, I used to hang out with these guys when I was about 11 or 12, about 1981 or '82, and we used to play Dungeons and Dragons together and they were big KISS fans. I was more of a Beatles fan. I was like 11 years old at the time and I loved the Beatles and they loved KISS. It's kind of funny because now that you think about it, KISS is kind of like a metal Beatles sort of thing. But I didn't really buy into KISS until about '84. My first experiences with KISS was actually the non make-up years. Animalize was the first album I had, and after that I kind of got more into the make-up KISS. I was a big fan of the 80's and 90's non make-up KISS. Of course, make-up KISS is always cool, but I like the non make-up KISS even a little bit more to be honest.

KA: Paul is your favorite member, right?

CJ: Yeah, Paul is my favorite member. You can see why from the question I just answered. On all of the KISS albums in the 80's Paul's songs were the best and Gene's were almost all throw aways. You can actually see that demonstrated in that, let's see, in 1982 they did the "I Love It Loud" video, which was a Gene song, and then they didn't do another Gene video for another 10 years until "Unholy" in 1992! That 10 year period it was all Paul. That's why Paul is always my favorite because his songs were always the best. His character is my favorite too.

KA: Paul's been having a successful run as "The Phantom" up in Toronto, did you get a chance to see him as the Phantom yet?

CJ: No, I didn't get a chance to see him. And actually the biggest regret I have with quitting WCW is that I missed KISS by a month! But a cool thing was that a friend of mine named Bill Torborg was playing blackjack with Gene in Vegas afterwards and while they were talking about wrestling and stuff Gene brought up my name and said that he though I was really charismatic. So, Gene Simmons knows who I am and that's cool.

KA: How about the Detroit Rock City movie, did you catch it?

CJ: Yeah I went and saw it; I was probably one of the few. I actually enjoyed it. I though it was really good. I thought the KISS appearance was kind of cheesy though because they threw in everything like the fire breathing and the bombs going off all in the middle of a 2 second song. But in general the movie was real good and I liked it. It reminded me a lot of that one Beatles movie "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Same idea.

KA: How are you liking the WWF so far compared to WCW?

CJ: It has been great. I am 100% happy that I am in WWF with everything from the organization to the professionalism. I am 100% happy that I decided to go there. No regrets at all.

KA: Officially, who is your first program going to be with? Is it going to be Shamrock?

CJ: I think it is going to be Shamrock, yeah. Then Road Dogg when he comes back from his injury.

KA: Obviously there are quite a few people in the WWF that you have never worked with before. Is there anybody in particular that you are really looking forward to getting a chance to work with?

CJ: Well, right now everything is so new it's basically everybody! Actually the only guy that I had worked with before was X-Pac, and I am looking forward to working with him again. Others? Obviously you've got Austin and Mankind and guys like The Rock. Also guys like Edge and Christian and Triple H... pretty much everybody. Like I said, I am just excited to be there so anybody that they want me to work with I am looking forward to it.

KA: So I guess you must be pretty happy with the build up they gave you and the commitment they've shown so far in things like your entrance music, Titantron video, pyro, the whole nine yards.

CJ: Yeah, I like it 100%. Some of the ideas were mine, and of course they added their magic touch to them. Everything has been great and I think my entrance is one of the best ones going on right now. It is really cool to come out there like it's a real rock n' roll show, very KISS-esque.

KA: The WWF seems to go the extra mile on things like presentation, "packaging," music, that kind of thing. When are we going to start seeing the WWF Jericho stuff like the T-shirts and action figures?

CJ: After only three weeks they already have a Chris Jericho shirt for sale on the Internet. There are already two of them actually. I helped design both of them, which was cool. The other merchandise stuff starts immediately when you get there, so there are probably already dolls being made and stuff like that already. I don't know for sure, I'm just going by the way that they seem to do things.

KA: My husband and I were joking about the WWF Jericho action figure and wondering if it's going to come with his back to the front of the package.

CJ: That's actually a pretty good idea!

KA: As far as the music aspect goes, who does your entrance theme?

CJ: It's the WWF "in house" guy Jim Johnson. He does all of the stuff. We basically sat down together and I originally wanted to get a song with more of a 80's/metal type riff. He was kind of coming from, "Well, that's probably going to seem a little bit outdated." And then I heard his idea and I liked it, so we went that way and I just beefed it up a little bit by adding more guitars and some things along those lines. I think it is pretty cool.

KA: It's very cool. And that first entrance on RAW was awesome! It was one of the most exciting things I can remember seeing in wrestling in a long, long time.

CJ: Thank you. It was awesome and I had a really good time.

KA: You were supposed to have a program at one point with Goldberg before you left WCW. What's the story behind why that never happened?

CJ: I don't know. No one ever told me. I mean it was actually on the board, it was kind of progressing, the people were into it and really responded to it, and then for whatever reason WCW ditched it. I really don't know why. That's when I kind of knew it was time to get out of WCW.

KA: What you do think of the way of WCW and Sid are ripping you off by running the whole "Millennium Man" thing?

CJ: It is obvious that they are ripping me off because they started the same time as me. I think the people know that it is just basically a cheap rip off. Nothing against those guys, but they always do stuff like that, can't think of their own ideas. Actually, they even have their own "millennium clocks" for their video game, so I guess it is a compliment to me 'cause at least I know that I had a good idea if everyone wants to steal it!

KA: Well, whose idea was the Y2J, yours or the WWF's?

CJ: That was mine

KA: Was it planned or off the cuff?

CJ: It was planned. It just kind of fit in with whole millennium thing.

KA: Well it's great. And WWF really needs to get the merchandise out there while they can, before the millennium hype dies or you change to another angle.

CJ: Right, exactly!

KA: What would you say was the best match or two you have ever personally wrestled?

CJ: I had one in that stands out in my mind from 1995 in Japan against Ultimo Dragon that was really good, around July 7, 1995. That was one of my favorites. The other one that I really enjoyed was in Knoxville at a tribute show for one of our referees, Brian Hildebrand, who has cancer. It was me and Eddie Guerero against Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit. That was a real good one.
[KA Note: This interview with Jericho took place on September 4, 1999. Sadly, the wrestling world lost Brian "The Shooter" Hildebrand on September 8, 1999. Please take some time to read both Chris Jericho's tribute to Brian in his latest commentary on ChrisJericho.com and columnist Mark Madden's tribute to a man who will be missed by friends and fans alike.]

KA: What's the hardest bump you have ever taken?

CJ: Probably a top-rope Frankenstiner in '97 when I landed on my head at Halloween Havoc in Vegas.

KA: Ow!

CJ: Yeah, that one hurt!

KA: Not including ones you participated in, what are some of the best matches you've ever seen?

CJ: Probably the Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon ladder match from '94. The Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker cage match from, I think it was '97. Quite a few from Japan. Chris Benoit's performance in the '94 Super J Cup was tremendous. I always like the more exciting, high flying kind of type matches. Those are more my style.

KA: Speaking of what's "your style", have you ever thought of doing any acting? WWF seems to be able to get their wrestlers placement on some tv shows, do you think that might be a possibility for you?

CJ: I would love to do that, that would be great. Obviously that is always something that is in the back of your head, and wrestling has got so much drama and character playing involved anyways. So wrestlers are almost naturals.... and we can do our own stunts as well!

KA: Yeah, two for one there.

CJ: Exactly.

KA: Besides wrestling, you're also very into music. Why don't you tell those who might not be familiar with your musical pursuits about your band Fozzy Osborne?

CJ: Sure! Basically we are an 80's metal tribute band. All the songs we chose are from 1986 or earlier, real metal stuff. It's me and a bunch of the guys from Stuck Mojo, Rich, Bud and Dan. We even did a couple of KISS songs, "Lick it up", "Cool Gin" and "She." Actually we did a medley of those three songs. It's a good time. We played a couple of gigs this summer and the people really enjoyed them, we drew some big crowds. The only reason we haven't had a chance to follow up on that is because my schedule and Stuck Mojo's schedule are both quite busy right now. Hopefully we will keep it going because it was a lot of fun. We did a lot of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, White Snake, Metallica, stuff like that. It was a good time.

KA: Is that something that was a consideration when you went to WWF, that they would be flexible with you and your schedule if you wanted time off to do stuff like that?

CJ: It wasn't really a consideration, but I did let them know it was something I was planning on doing, and if I ever had any kind of offers to do that I am going to be doing it. So, I don't even have to ask their permission to do it, which is cool.

KA: Do you ever see yourself switching from wrestling to music?

CJ: Well, not on a full time basis. Obviously it was always my dream, and for that style of music I can actually sing pretty good believe it or not! I do a good Bruce Dickinson and a good Ozzie. Yeah, I would love to continue on with playing music because it is a great time and it is a lot of fun. But as far as making it a full time career I would never have the audacity to think that I could do it full time and make a decent amount of money at it. Although, other guys like Don Johnson and Shaquile O'Neal have made albums, so why couldn't I?! Maybe some day I will do an album, I would love to. It would be like a dream if I could do that. But just doing the gigs on their own was a dream, so even if I just played live every once in a while that is still a lot of fun too. It's the same kind of rush you feel when you are wrestling, you know? Its like the roar of the crowd and you are nervous because you don't know if it is going to go good or bad and hopefully you hit all your spots. But it turned out real good and the guys I was playing with are pros and that made it a lot easier too.

KA: Let's kind of jump around here a little bit with some random questions. The top knot that you wear, is that from Gene?

CJ: Kind of. I didn't wear it to say I'm going to be like Gene Simmons. I've been doing that for a couple of years now, actually five or six years. At first it was just kind of way to get cheap heat to have people say, "That guy looks like an idiot!" But now I actually kind of like it. Obviously Gene is the purveyor of the top knot, and I am probably doing for the same reason he did it, which is to do something different and just get a little bit of reaction.

KA: Who would win in a fight, Ralphus or Finkel?

CJ: Well, Ralphus has the weight advantage. Finkel had got the experience advantage. But they are both just complete morons so they would probably just fall on top of each other and break their own necks! Good question though.

KA: KISS vs. wrestler match ups, you pick the winner. Peter "The Cat" Criss vs. Ernest "The Cat" Miller.

CJ: Oh, Peter for sure. He is number three, so he would definitely destroy. Ernest may be the three time Karate champ, but Peter Chris in number 3 period.

KA: Ex-KISS member Vinnie Vincent vs. X-Pac.

CJ: Oh, X-Pac would destroy him. Vinnie Vincent is an awesome song writer, but if you ever saw the "Boys Are Gonna Rock" video he has that huge spare tire around his stomach, the big beer belly. I think X-Pac would just give him a spin kick right in the beer belly and that would be it for Vinnie.

KA: Paul Stanley vs. Paul Bearer.

CJ: Paul [Stanley] would win against anybody. Paul would destroy Goldberg with one finger!

KA: Gene "The Demon" Simmons vs. Brian "The Demon" Adams.

CJ: Oh, you gotta give it to Mean Gene. He can shoot fire, he speaks with that demon voice, there is no way anybody else could win. And for the bonus runner up question, Eric Carr, even though he is deceased, would still beat up Eric Bischoff!

KA: Very good addition! Next ridiculous question: How's WWF's candy bowl compared to WCW's?

CJ: It's a little bit lighter. That is one thing that I have noticed, the desserts in the catering room and the candy bowl, there is not as much. There are actually no desserts in the WWF catering room. The candy bowl, like I said, is very anemic.... it's lame actually! I guess because nobody is really allowed to eat candy or desserts there.

KA: Gotta bring your own if you want it, huh?

CJ: Pretty much, yeah. The thing is if it is around people will eat it, if it is not there you don't even think about it.

KA: Out of sight, out of mind.

CJ: Yeah. I never buy the stuff at my house, but I used to eat it all the time at WCW because it was there.

KA: Ok, back to a couple of serious questions to wind it up. Do you think wrestling is getting over exposed or perhaps on a verge of a backlash of sorts?

CJ: I think it is getting over exposed to a degree. I was just thinking about it today and talking to my girlfriend about the fact that on Thursday there are two shows, Friday there is a show, Saturday there is a show, Sunday there is a show, Monday there are two shows. I think it is a little bit too much. But, there is a lot of cable to be filled, there are a lot of tv stations so..... Backlash, I really don't think so, but overexposure, possibly. But the strong are going to survive, so it's just gonna be the fringe groups that fall and falter. The bigger groups I don't think will really suffer too much.

KA: Let's bring ECW into the mix. Who are the guys there that you think deserve more exposure and attention from the mainstream since they are kind of the "hidden league."

CJ: Rob Van Dam is obviously very talented. Lance Storm is very talented. But actually most of those guys fit a good niche because Paul E. is very good at working with people's strength and eliminating their weaknesses. I think all those guys that are right there are doing real good, but I think the guys that maybe deserve a little more recognition are the two that I mentioned, even Raven too now that he is back there again.

KA: As far as interviews and cutting promos go, when you go out there with the mic do they just tell you, "You got three minutes, run it."

CJ: That's how usually it goes. I mean some guys have a little bit of hesitation with interviews and they will kind of help them along, give them lines. Other guys that they have confidence can do an interview they'll basically just say, "Talk about this guy" or "Talk about this situation." So in that case it is pretty much up to you to just say what you want to say.

KA: Well, here's the open mic for ya: anything to say to all the Jericho fans?

CJ: Watch for domination over the entire WWF by Y2J! And thank you all for following me, 'cause it's not my fault that I am better than each and every one of you!