Lengthy earlier than he was unintentionally placing Massive Invoice by way of barbed wire and dropping the FTW World Title to Hook at AEW All In, Chris Jericho was a 29 yr outdated WCW star, having hit the ceiling and trying to apply his craft elsewhere. That occurred in 1999, when Jericho jumped from WCW to WWE, resulting in a close to 20 yr run with the promotion that may assist solidify Jericho as a future wrestling Corridor of Famer.
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On a latest episode of “Speak is Jericho” celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of his WWE debut, Jericho took followers by way of the method of his bounce from WCW to WWE, revealing that he was trying to change up his character as nicely when he switched promotions. As he is completed so previously, Jericho reiterated that the inspiration for his WWE character got here from essentially the most unlikely of locations.
“I keep in mind being within the submit workplace in Clearwater; I used to be dwelling in Clearwater, Florida on the time,” Jericho mentioned. “And it was proper earlier than…that is in all probability round June or so of 99, and there was a giant countdown clock on the wall that mentioned “countdown to the brand new millennium.” And on the time it was, I do not know, 5 months, eighteen days, fifteen hours, thirty seven seconds…that kind of a factor. And I keep in mind, the concept simply struck me. ‘That will be a extremely cool approach for any person to come back right into a wrestling firm.’ And I am like ‘Wait a second; that be a extremely cool approach for me to enter the WWE. Like a countdown.'”
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Jericho Reveals Who He Pitched Preliminary WWE Gimmick To
Jericho then took the concept to then WWE head author Vince Russo, himself only some months away from leaping from WWE to WCW. Whereas Jericho would later go on to have an excellent relationship with Vince McMahon, the 2 had hardly spoken throughout that point, main Jericho to work extra intently with Russo earlier than the concept was introduced to McMahon.
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“So I referred to as him [Russo] and I mentioned I had this concept of debuting with a countdown clock,” Jericho mentioned. “And the countdown would go after which when it hits zero, there I’m. And I used to be pondering it might hit zero like after I was, from what I recall…it might hit zero simply as my WWE contract started, or one thing alongside these strains.
“So I pitched that concept, after which just a few days later, Russo referred to as me again and mentioned ‘Vince actually likes the concept, however he will have the clock finish when ‘Uncooked’ begins, not when your contract begins.’ However I feel my contract began finish of June or one thing, and we had determined, I suppose Vince had determined, I used to be going to begin August 9. I used to be like ‘That is an excellent thought, let’s try this.'”
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For those who use any of the quotes on this article, please credit score “Speak Is Jericho” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
