Pain, Pyro and Pink Dinosaurs: The Relentless Rise of Chris Jericho
By Darren Croft
“The only failure is not trying something.”
That single line could serve as the mission statement for Jericho’s entire life. Few performers in modern entertainment have refused to stay in one lane quite like Jericho: a world-class professional wrestler, frontman of a successful heavy metal band, podcaster, author, actor and unapologetic risk-taker.
From sending VHS tapes across North America with no backup plan, to reinventing himself repeatedly inside and outside the wrestling ring, Jericho’s career has been fuelled by conviction, reinvention and sheer nerve. In a chat with Loaded, he reflects on the moments that defined him, the rivalries that pushed him, the risks that paid off, and why, after more than three decades in the spotlight, he’s still chasing what comes next.
What was the point in your life where you thought, “I’m quite good at this wrestling thing. I‘m going to pursue this as a career.”?
From day one, really. It was never a hobby. I made the decision when I was in high school that I wanted to be in a Rock n Roll band, and I wanted to be a wrestler. It was like, “How do you even do those things?” I knew I could go to a wrestling school in Calgary, which was about 14 hours away, and I just decided that was what I was going to do.
There was never any backup plan. There was never any, “Well, I’ll give this a try and see what happens.” I was just going to do it. Since I was 19 years old, this is what I’ve been doing. Amongst other things. There was never any looking back.
There were times when I made advancements in my career and realised that I’d clearly made the right choice, but I can’t remember ever thinking of giving it up. There was always something happening. Even just one match a month was enough to keep the dream going.
I was always selling myself. That’s what my dad used to tell me. “You must always keep selling.” Even when I wasn’t working, I’d be sending VHS tapes to any address I could find where someone was running shows. If someone was running a promotion in Dallas, Texas, I’d try to get in. Even if it looked impossible, I just wanted to get the word out.
I had to. There was no backup plan, and no other option.
I heard a rumour that your original stage name was going to be Jack Action. Please tell me this is true.
Ah, there was a W.A.S.P. song called Jack Action and I thought that would be such a cool name. I used to practice my autograph on a book, and the guy I was training with saw the name, ‘Jack Action’, complete with the star at the end, like Paul Stanley from Kiss used to do at the end of his autograph. The guy said, “Jack Action? Is that going to be your name? ‘Cause that’s stupid.”
So I had a rethink. There’s a Helloween song called Walls Of Jericho, and the cassette tape happened to be sitting in my car at the time. So I said, “Chris Jericho. Is that a good name?” He agreed it was much better.
I think if you’d stuck with Jack Action, your career might have taken a different path…
Yeah, you never know, right? Haha.
Which of your rivals pushed you the hardest?
I had a great rivalry with Shawn Michaels. In 2003 and 2008, I think both of them are legendary classic storylines. We pushed each other very well. I had that with Cody Rhodes, too. I remember him saying, “You push me well.” That’s what you want: someone who will push you to a higher level.
It’s like that in Rock n Roll, too. All of the different musicians you play with can take you to another level with their way of thinking or their musical ability. As a wrestler, you want to wrestle as many people as you can. As a musician, you want to play with as many other musicians as you can.
You’ve had a lot of fierce rivalries in the ring, but you must have made many friends along the way, too.
I’ve got a lot of friends who were original fans back in the day. Kenny Omega is one. I was the first guy from Winnipeg to make it out to the big leagues. You meet a lot of guys who you were superfans of, and you end up becoming peers with.
I played a bunch of shows last summer with Judas Priest and Alice Cooper. They were huge influences on me, but there we were, talking in the same dressing rooms, waiting to go out and entertain a bunch of fans.
One of the cool things about doing this is that you get to a certain level and guys you were fans of become your friends. That’s a great feeling.
Your catchphrases were legendary. “You just made the list” is my personal favourite. Were there any that didn’t make the cut?
“Razzle Dazzle” was one. Another was “Get it?” and the fans would shout, “Got it!” I mentioned these on a Q&A tour I did, and it was picked up, so now wherever I go, people are shouting “Razzle Dazzle.”
When you started working with Vince McMahon, the stunts seemed to get crazier. Were there any you didn’t think you would get away with?
If you go back to the Attitude era, you look back and wonder what we were thinking when we did this stuff. I remember once Vince had the Dudley’s Christian in my clothes and he came up with the idea that we would walk on stage just in towels, and have them ripped off us. We would be naked underneath.
I’m like, “No! I don’t wanna be naked. What are you even thinking? There’s absolutely no way I’m doing that. I’m not a male stripper. There’s kids in the crowd!”
I suggested we put one of those blurry things over our lower-abdominal area to cover us up. I think he was just saying it to see what our reactions would be. I told him he’d need to get someone else to be naked on stage in an arena.
How did you feel when you stepped away from competing in the ring?
I remember saying at that time that if you loved eating pizza, even if you ate the best pizza in the world, at some point you’d say, “I’ve had enough. I need to take a break for a while.” There was no bitterness. I just felt I needed to step away. There were other things to do. I needed to cleanse my mind and clear my head. That’s kind of how Fozzy got going. We started focusing more on the band. We felt we had something special with Fozzy, and it gave us more time to do it and build it as much as we could.
Has the constant evolution of Chis Jerico over the years contributed to your longevity in the showbiz world and enabled you to stay on top of your game?
Yes, you need to reinvent yourself. It’s not just a gimmick in a wrestling ring or a style of music. It’s about branching out into doing anything you feel you can do. That’s what I’m proud of. It’s not just wrestling or music. There's the acting, the podcast, and the cruise. I’d like to write more books. They’re all creatively fulfilling, but not easy to do. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
The secret is to be fearless when it comes to trying anything. There’s no failing anything. The only failure is not trying something. If you try something and it doesn’t work, that’s okay. If you don’t try something, you’ll never know, and that’s where the failure lies. I’ll try anything if I think I can make a good job of it, and nine out of ten times it works.
Appearing on The Masked Singer was a good example of that.
Yeah, I get asked to do that kind of thing all the time. Dancing With The Stars was the first one. The casting directors all know each other. The Masked Singer was great. I had a fantastic time. I feel I got cut short because the fans voted, and the producers had already had me rehearse three other songs. Never put the fans in charge. They don’t know what they want haha!
The crazy thing is that the costume I was in, the pink dinosaur in a wedding dress, was dangerous. If there were some kind of emergency and everyone ran out, I’d be stuck in that thing. I couldn’t get out of it. There were a couple of times I started to panic a bit, because it was very hard to breathe.
I had a small fan around my neck to give me some fresh air. If you were claustrophobic, you would not have been able to survive in that costume.
If something tragic had happened to you, I can imagine people saying afterwards, “Well, it’s how he would have wanted to go.”
Haha! Yeah, it’s better to go out dressed as a pink dinosaur in a wedding dress than to be hit by a bus.
Always the showman!
Yes!
You’re out on the road celebrating 25 years of your band, Fozzy. Does it feel like 25 years?
In some ways, it does and some ways it doesn’t, because you can see the evolution of the band. In the last seven years, we’ve become a radio band in the States. We’ve had nine top ten singles. That’s a big chunk of our career, but not all of it. We’re in a great position as we’re bigger than we’ve ever been, especially in the UK. This tour will be the biggest we’ve ever had in the UK.
It’s cool to know that people are still joining. You can have the same fans for 25 years, but it’s great to know there are more people discovering us. Any band that has longevity has that. I'm a huge Kiss fan, but I joined them when they didn’t have makeup, in the 80s. I love the non-makeup era much more than their makeup era.
When we started the 25-year tour last year, we had two different sets, including one with really obscure songs that those who had been with us for that long would know. Most of the fans didn’t know them. They were more familiar with the radio songs.
So, we play one or two songs for the older generation, but the vast majority are from the last few albums, which were more successful.
You’ve shared the stage with Metallica and Iron Maiden. Does it get any better than that?
It doesn’t get any better, and it doesn’t get any bigger. It’s one of those times when we had to sit back and really appreciate the moment. I’m looking at the poster now. I still look back at it and think, “Wow! That was amazing.” Look, opening for Iron Maiden wasn’t easy, but we did a good job.
It was so cool walking off the stage at this massive venue, and down the hallway came Iron Maiden. All six of them. It was crazy. It was at the time Bruce Dickinson had the old school pilot helmet on. I was like, “Where the fuck am I?” I felt like a kid trying to dodge the security guards in case I got kicked out. But I was supposed to be here. It was one of the greatest moments, for sure.
I wasn’t starstruck. I was just surreally proud of our band to have got to that point. The first time I met them, 20 years prior, I was super-starstruck, but as you get further along in your career, you get less so. I met Paul McCartney recently, and I thought, “You know what? Fuck it! I’m just going to go over and talk to him.”
I was a little starstruck, but I’d been waiting 40 years for this moment. He was just hanging around backstage and didn’t seem to be bothered. So, I talked to him for a while, we exchanged a few stories, took a picture, and then I left him alone.
The first time I met James Hetfield, I almost started crying. That’s how much it meant to me. Now, I see James, and we say, “Hi,” and Lars is a friend, so the days of being starstruck are pretty much gone now.
I guess when you’re at the top of your game, it’s quite difficult to be fazed by anyone.
The thing you realise, too, is that when you meet somebody whose work you appreciate, you think, this is just someone with a really cool job. When you strip it all away, it’s just a person. That’s the relationship I have with all of these guys who were my heroes. One of them even annoys me. I won’t name him. He was one of my biggest heroes, but he gets on my nerves all the time.
Is there anything else you’d still like Fozzy to achieve?
We’ve ticked so many boxes. I suppose a tour with Iron Maiden would be great, but you have to look at it from a business point of view and think your merch is going to be low and you’ll only be paid X amount of dollars. You also don’t get to do the VIP experience, which is kind of the lifeblood of being on tour.
So, I think I’d like to continue to build Fozzy’s headlining numbers. The biggest crowds we’ve had have been in the UK, especially Glasgow, London and Nottingham.
Is there a dream you’ve yet to chase?
I’d like to do more acting. If you can make it to a high level in wrestling- and I think I have- and you’re playing a character, that’s acting. I have about four acting projects in the can, waiting to go at the moment.
What’s been the proudest moment in your showbiz career?
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment. I think the thing I’m most proud of is being able to do this for 35 years. Getting to tour the world and do what I love the most. Making money is great, but getting to do it is the dream. If I had to pinpoint anything…headlining the Tokyo Dome with Kenny Omega, starting AEW and seeing it become such a success, stealing the show with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XIX and drawing 1,000 tickets for the first time in Nottingham.
What I do also makes other people happy, and that’s important. Giving them lifelong memories that help them to forget about their troubles for a moment, and helping them to chase their dreams.
That means a lot to me.
Grab your Fozzy tickets at fozzyrock.com