December 20, 2024 • 30 mins
I had the chance to kick it with wretling icon CHRIS JERICHO. We discussed various topics over 30 minutes. Thanks for checking out the SUPERSTAR CROSSOVER!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Z one hundred, New York City's number one hit music station.
I'm Josh Martinez with my guest. I usually give nicknames.
You have too many dogs. So Chris Jericho was going on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Would give me one, Just give me a nickname?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Uh Theive how about that?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'll take it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So Final Battle tomorrow night, right, that's right? Uh Matt Cardona,
how did that all come about?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Exactly? Well, once again, kind of a little bit out
of my wheelhouse. But but Tony Kahan, when we started
talking about Final Battle and what to do being the
Ring of Honor World Champion, hence the Noive nine time
world Champion, We're kind of throwing around some names of
guys that I could work with, and he mentioned Matt Cardona.
(00:44):
I thought that's a great call because nobody would really
expect that. And I think Tony really liked the vibe
of what we did the last time I was the
Ring of Honor Champion, which is the the OCHO where
we just I just wrestled a bunch of different guys,
you know, and there was guys from different companies and
guys that came in from Japan and that sort of thing.
(01:04):
So I think he kind of liked the idea of
shaking things up, and he was impressed with Matt Cardona
earlier this year when Matt was there for the work
with Adam Copeland, and I just thought, that's great because
I've never worked with Matt before, and if I have,
it was for two minutes on Raw and some you know,
dumb single matches didn't mean anything, and that was against
Zach Ryder. But Matt Cardona I've never had a match
with before, and so I just I really liked the idea,
(01:26):
and also the fact that we're gonna be based in
New York City for you know, three shows, but the
better part of a week came up with the King
of New York idea, and then I thought, well, maybe
I just challenged someone from New York. No one would
expect Mike Cardona a little bit of being a little
bit of bang, And here we are ready to do
this match tomorrow night, which has a great buzz to
it because I think we've done a really good job
building this match over the last month, and that's what
(01:48):
wrestling's all about. So it's very exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You know. It's funny because I was talking to a
friend earlier, and they were like, didn't he pop up
at like a random independent show to attack someone? I did,
And it was funny because I was like that and
this was somebody who doesn't even watch wrestling, but I
guess it popped up on Instagram or tea tacoor whatever
and I was like yeah, like and they were like yeah,
like what's that about? And then I kind of told
him about Final Battle and stuff. Whose idea was it
for you to pop up on that GCW show?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So we were looking at Matt's dates to see what
he had sat. I really wanted to do something on
an independent show because he's the king of the indies,
and you want to create the buzz for this, like
I said, and there's so much attention going on for
the Continental Classic that I wanted to do something that
gets a little bit of an extra focus on it.
(02:32):
So we I was looking at his dates independent dates,
and he was in Los Angeles at the GCW show
and I just happened to have a gig that night
at the Whiskey with my non makeup kiss cover band
Quarantine the same night, and I was like, well, where
is it? Like maybe it's It was literally twenty minutes
down the road.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Which is probably a twenty minute twenty minute drive if
it's la.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean really right. But the thing is is like
when you have something like that happened with that bunch serendipity,
it's fate. We have to do this, and that's and
that's the basic reason. And of course everyone always thinks,
what's the really is it gonna be a is this
olive branch to GCW Is it going to create it? No?
I just happened to be literally in the same city
(03:17):
on the same date with this idea of wanting to
attack him. So we worked it out. Quarantine went on later,
Matt went on earlier, and we put this together, and
once again people are talking about it that probably wouldn't
be talking about the match if I didn't do that,
because it's outside the norm. And once again that's how
you create a buzz.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So Hammerstein, I call it Hammerstein. Some people say Hammerstein.
We just had our We just had a concert there
Friday night, and I kind of thought about it. I'm like,
this is such a fun setup.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I remember it was pronounced Hammerstein by the way,
like ram, Yeah, that's where I pronounced it.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So you've you've worked in that building before? How is
that aside from the the size of the venue, how
unique is it compared to other New York City ventus.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, well, here's the thing though, Like I've worked there officially,
but I don't remember much about it. I know the
match was ECW one night Stand, but I don't remember anything.
I remember the match, but the vibe of the venue
and I really can't recall. So in a lot of ways,
it's my first time being there, and obviously it's such
a historic venue. And I will say, you know, I've
(04:21):
worked in so many venues in New York, from you know,
obviously Madison's Core Garden, to the Barkley Center, to the
Arthur Rash Stadium to the Lost Battalion Hall and Queens
with E. CW. So I will say this venue always matters.
But the New York crowd is amazing, and I know
(04:43):
it's going to be that way at the Hammerstein Ballroom
tomorrow night and on Saturday and Sunday for Collision in Dynamite,
And I just I really like the idea of doing
three shows there in a row, a little bit of
of a kind of a small residency. I've just been
saying earlier today. It gave me a real chance to
se spend some time in New York City, like I
used to be here so many times during the year
(05:04):
because we used to run the Garden six times a year.
In w with aw it's once a year or twice
with the different arenas. But you come in, you do
the show, you leave here. I've been here since Tuesday.
We filmed all night for the King of New York
vignette we showed on Dynamite, was here yesterday doing some
more work doing the media day today, and then three
shows in a row. It gave me a chance to
(05:25):
really enjoy New York City for a little bit of time,
especially around this time of year. It is the best
time of year to be in New York. So the
whole experience has just been amazing. So I'm really looking
forward to kind of getting down to it and having
the actual shows. But everything else so far has just
been a blast. So I'm excited to kind of really
experience the Hammerstein Ballroom the way that it should be,
(05:47):
of respecting it as a very classic, you know, legendary venue.
I didn't see it that way the first time I
was there.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And it's loud.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It's loud, right, you know it's a ballroom. I do
remember that, and I think it's one of those things
where you go to these places when you have a
sold out crowd, which we'll have three nights in a row.
They're on top of you, they're hanging from the rafters,
and they're New Yorkers. You know, you know that you're
gonna get a little bit of craziness. And that's why
I wanted to do The King of New York where
(06:16):
if you're watching it, of course I'm making you. I took,
you know, the Staten Island Ferry to the meatpacking districts.
You can't take the stanton On Ferry to meet packing
district You're the worst King in New York. Ever, that's
the idea. That's why I'm doing this, so that there
will be people there who are angry at me. And
I say, once again, they're angry for all these things
I'm saying, like, for example, like Juan Soto, he's still
in New York. What's the big deal, don't worry about it,
(06:37):
and that's Yankees. What's the difference? I will kill you,
people have been saying. So that's kind of the fun
of this knowing how to We're doing a real localized
promotion for this match because it's based in New York City,
So why not do that? And I think that and
let me know if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
By the way, you're obviously the professional I'm not. I
feel like nowadays everything is so centrally focused on Okay,
it's on TV, so it's got to be national. So
for you to kind of hone in on Okay, it's
New York City even though this is a global pay
per view event, right, was that kind of your idea?
Was there a conglomoration of everybody's kind of thoughts?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It was actually Tony Kanna had the idea like you
should be the King of New York because you actually
are from New York, born in New York. And then
I was like, I love it, Like you know, once again,
you take the ideas from your boss and you make
it great. And I liked the concept of that and
jumped right into it. I went right to Amazon and
bought like I Heart New York shirt and New York
(07:33):
baseball and Yankee stuff, and it's like, I love the
fact we did this King of New York vinet the
other night, like I said, where I went around to
all the places where true New Yorker would never go,
Rockefeller Center, skating on the ice, raid of City Music Hall,
you know, the Yankey pizza places in you know, Times
Square or whatever it may be. But I'm also wearing
this cheesy hoodie that just says New York Baseball. I
(07:57):
just love that. It's not even the Met, not even
the or the Met's either one. It's just New York Baseball.
To me, that's like, no true New York baseball fan
would buy a shirt that just says New York Baseball
on it. Right. It's like it's like being a I
don't know, Iron Maiden fan of buying a British metal
shirt and thinking, hey, I'm a Maiden show with a
(08:18):
British metal shirt. Doesn't that count. I really liked that idea,
and so just jump right in with it with both feet.
And like you said, we're making it very localized, because
that's going to translate, you know, And it's not like
we're localizing you know, Lafayette, Louisiana or something. It's New
York City. Everyone knows what this is, they know what
we're doing here. And I think it's just going to
translate to more energy and more electricity at the actual
(08:39):
gigs themself.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Do you have any personal memories of New York City
that immediately when you see a certain block, or you
hear a certain neighborhood or something, you immediately get pulled
back to a store.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I mean, my dad played for the New York Rangers.
So I was born in matt Hassett on Long Island,
So I legitimately remember being at the Garden at probably
three or four years old thinking it was so loud.
I remember my Grandma had nitted me a like a
like a sweater, and I was holding over my ears
because it was so loud. That really bothered me. And
(09:12):
I also remember being mad at my dad because he
wouldn't wave at me when he was skating down the ice,
like on a breakaway or something. You know. So I
do have a connection to the Garden. There was a
show that we did. I meant, gosh, I've headlined the
Garden twenty times, but one of those shows versus John
Cena in twenty eight or two thousand and eight cage
match show at Christmas. It was a cage match. It
(09:35):
did the highest gross at my MSG ever for WV
at that point in time. I'm sure it's been beaten since.
But so to go from kind of growing up in
the Garden as a little kid to headlining the biggest
WV show in history at the Garden, money wise, was
a pretty cool moment for me. So I have a
lot of those types of memories of New York and
just spending so much time here. Like I said, the
(09:57):
two thousands, especially working in the w we were here
every second month, So every two months you'd be in here,
staying downtown, staying in Times Square, going around doing all
the press and all the stuff. But yeah, I played
hockey at the Garden. Christopher Reeve had the Super Skate
Show four years in a row. How crazy was that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It was crazy, Like just as a hockey fan, your dad,
it was insane with in.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That building, if you will, it was insane. And that
was the fun part of it because it was celebrities
versus the Rangers. So I got to play against Messi
and I scored a goal in Kirk McClain, who was
the goaltender at the time, a real goal, not like
a I took this horrible slap shot where the puck
was kind of flipping like a bat and I went
right over his shoulder, like that's real, man. I scored
a goal in the garden for real. I would go off,
(10:45):
what's that? Yeah, the whole thing, and I would have
a fight every year because it's a show business thing.
So I fought David Boianis, the actor. I fought Chad
Smith and the Chili Peppers were still best friends of
this day. And the last time I played, I said,
I'll play again, but my dad has to be invited
and we have to be on opposite teams. And I
fought my dad in the garden, which is great, and
(11:06):
he punched me hard. He's gonna give me a little mouse,
and he also scored a goal. He like, you know,
these NHL guys, I don't care if there's seventy or
whatever he was at the time. They're still better than
everybody because it's hard to make it to the ANHL.
And I remember Glenn Anderson was on the range at
the time. He said, go stand in front of the
net and keep your stick on the ice as long
(11:28):
as you can do that. And I can stand in
front of boomer size and trying to push me out
of the way, like you can't move me. I scored
like four goals. He would just shoot the puck off
my stick in the flection. Like these guys are just
masterminds at what they do. So that was a really
cool moment getting a chance to do that, like you said,
as a hockey fan, Madison Square Garden meeting so much.
And so there's been a lot of those types of memories.
(11:48):
I always love New York, but I took it for
granted over last few years. Like I said, you come in,
you do the show, you leave. It's more about, oh
my gosh, it's gonna take such a long time to
get to the airport at the venue. Being here and
getting a chance to just relax and enjoy enjoy the vibe.
It's it's such a great city.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
From a stopping and smelling the roses standpoint, that's my biggest.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Issue in life.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Sure how often do you catch yourself not doing that enough?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I actually do do it more than you might expect.
I do enjoy things, and that's why I'm still in
the business and still interesting because I enjoy, you know,
in these moments, and like you said, some people don't
do that, and I've been very fortunate to not be
that guy, because even when you get caught up in
the steam of travel gig, travel gig, and it could
(12:35):
be for music, or if it could be for you
know whatever, one of my cruises or one of my
podcasts or whatever, you have to realize that this is
pretty cool stuff that we're doing here, you know, Like
I like doing media days, and you get the schedule
and it's a long day, six forty five in the lobby,
and we're going here, here, and here, and this is
my last it's kind of the last interview for the day.
(12:56):
And I'm at the point I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm good.
But I enjoy it and it's fun, and it's not
something I ever was like, oh my gosh, now I
have to go promote the show that I'm on. Never
felt that way. I'm on a show, I've released a
record or doing a podcast or be in a movie
or whatever. I want people to know about it. I'm
proud of that. So you have to do that side
of it as well. So yeah, I really do take
(13:19):
some time as much as I can to really enjoy
what's been going on.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
When was the last time you made yourself smile like
legitimate doing something for you that you were like, I'm happy.
I'm just gonna do this little thing and I'm gonna
be happy doing it, and I don't care what anyone
else thinks.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I mean, that's all relative, you know what I mean,
Like when I'm at home, you know, having a kickboxing
session or having your dog lick your face or whatever.
But I mean even just the other night when I
was skating at Rockfeller Center with the Ring of Honor
title over my shoulder and some people know him, some
people have no idea, who's this idiot like skating around
with a like was it a boxing belt or wrestling belt,
(13:54):
a championship belt. I was getting a kick out of myself.
I just thought, this is so freaking preposterous. This I
love it, you know, and you play it straight. You're
not like, hey, like you just I just love kind
of just these dumb things that we get to do
for a living. You know, we paid the tourists, you know,
they got the double decker buses, and he was just
(14:14):
sitting there and it's forty bucks for the ride and
I only had twenty nine bucks. I'm like, I could
be like if we got any cash, and like if
people only knew this. We got twenty nine bucks to
give to the driver to drive us two blocks down, down, down,
Times Square and we're getting a great shot. It's just me.
I'm standing on top of the winds in my hair,
I got my the titles up there, and this freaking
(14:36):
traffic light comes and I'm like, I would like to
know how many people have lost an eye, been decapitated,
got cocked out from not paying attention. It's like an
Indiana Jones move you go through the tunnel, you better duck.
Just stuff like that. I was laughing, like if people
only knew the stuff that we do to entertain them,
and that I like that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Now from a more business standpoint, starting Jenny Glory first,
AW will be simulcasting, Yeah, on Max. How big of
a deal is that for for you guys.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I mean it's it's it's massive. It's never been done
before the first time ever in wrestling that that the
weekly program twice a week will be simulcast on Max
and on TNT for Collision and TBS for Dynamite, And
I mean it just shows the growth of AW and
it's it's just been over five years. That to me
just blows my mind. I think of any other corporation
(15:29):
to get to that level in five years. I mean
you've got to talk about you know, Beatlemany or something
like that. I guarantee Coca Cola wasn't doing what we're
doing after five years, or w B or any of
those types of companies. So it's a big deal and
kind of be the trailblazer in being the first to
simulcast both of our weekly shows on Max, which is
(15:49):
such a huge streaming platform. It just it just continues
to show the growth of this company. It's very very
quickly as well, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So I spoke to Tone about this at full gear
during the press or the post pay per view scrum.
You guys are taking a more unique approach to venues
in twenty twenty five for TV. How exciting is that
to try new things out?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, it really is, man, And I think the worst
thing you could ever do is to kind of, like
in any business, overprice yourself or over extend yourself. And
you know, we're at a place where to go to
some of the middle sized venues, not in every city,
but in some of them. It's a very smart move
for many reasons, but most importantly just the vibe of
(16:35):
of of the fans. Then you know, like you want
to put ten thousand people into an arena and if
you can, you do. If you're down to five thousand,
but you go to a you know, a four thousand
seed arena, it increases demand and it just makes the
show that much more exciting and it translates so much
better on TV. So I think right now, with all
(16:57):
of the different choices that people have to buy tickets
to go to shows, I think we're smart to moving
some of these, like you mentioned, different size venues, because
it just makes it cooler. And we have always had
the cool factor in aw especially when we started and
then going to the pandemic coming out of the pandemic,
And I think one way is the supply and demand.
(17:18):
And if you have you know, this many tickets for
sale and they're gone, it just makes the product hotter
that you know, you can just continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
So we talked about New York a lot. I'm also
on air in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Chicago another great wrestling city.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Which I got to say, and I hate to admit this,
but All State Arena is the loudest venue I have
ever been inside of I have like the wooden planks
up top. Any fond memories in Chicago, I.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Mean that's where I made my w W debut was
August ninth, Yeah, nineteen ninety nine. There you go, There
you go.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Still by the way, greatest debut, greatest introduction of all time,
Thank you greatest.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
A lot of people say that, you know, we built
that up so well, and it was such a genius
to have the countdown clock, which we and for four
weeks prior to expire to hit zero right in the
middle of the Rocks promo. I mean, what a way
to debut, someone like you said. But that was in
All State, and we've been to All State many times afterwards.
It's one of those things. Every time we go to
Chicago anywhere, it's always loud, but All State holds some
(18:17):
special special memories for me. And it's been such a
long time since actually russelled. I was there a couple
of years ago to see the Scorpions, which was amazing.
Like here I am like an All State arena now
seeing a show because I'd never seen a show at
the All State I've only done shows there, so to
actually go and check it out was actually very Cool's
like when I went and saw the Ranger game years ago,
when aw first started at Madison Square Garden. I don't
(18:41):
think i'd ever sat in Madison Square Garden since I
was a kid to actually see a game. I think
I went to Metallica there maybe in two thousand and nine.
But very rare that you get to go to some
of these arenas that you're used to performing in and
actually enjoy the show. So yeah, All State is some
of the greatest memories I have. I'm also some of
the hardest memories. I remember one time we had a
(19:03):
pay per view there and I was super hungover and
I had to have as called Duchess of Queensbury match.
Sue Ahison was the Queen. Sue was one of the
old School employees with B. It was against against Regal,
William Regal. It was just kind of just ridiculous match
where he changed the rules as you go.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
I actually remember this well.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
If you watch it again, you'll see a highly hungover
Chris Jericho trying to figure his way out through that
match in the All State Arena.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Was that partying in Chicago the night before? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
of course, yeah, Switching Gears a little bit. I kind
of want to get into your head. You're a huge
music fan, yes, big time into rock. You have the band,
But is there anyone that you've recently been introduced to
through your kids music, let's say, playing them that you're like, Oh,
this is not exactly something I would have sought out,
(19:53):
but I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Of this one. Well, we were just talking early about Shaboozi.
Then once again, the name is so fun to say,
and I was like, who is this guy? I saw him?
So I was telling you a halftime for a football game,
and I was really impressed by him. And I love
guys who you know. It's like, it's like Jelly Roll.
You see him and it's not what you're expecting. I
like that. So those are a couple. But for rock bands,
(20:15):
I think the Struts if you have if you like
rock and roll and you haven't heard the Struts, you
need to check them out because they are kind of
a cross between Queen and Bowie and the Black Crows
and kind of all that's cool about that era of
music and the sound of that. And there's a lot
of great new rock and roll bands coming up that
have that vibe. But right now, I mean, country is
(20:38):
the new rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Dude, A country has exploed. Mean we we here at
the biggest pop station on the planet. There are several
different country songs and artists that we played heavily, right
and like, listen, I'll be the first one.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I'm born in the hood, grew up on hip hop
and Spanish music. I don't get it necessarily a lot
of times I don't, you know, but I did radio
in Iowa and that was eye opening. I realized what
muddin was and which was I'll never do that again.
But you know, exploring kind of the country that way, literally,
like the United States, was really eye opening. Is any
(21:11):
any cities that you went to that that opened your
eyes throughout your whole career where you were like, I
didn't realize Spokane, Washington could be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Once again, to me, it's never where you go, it's
who you're with. You make your own fun. But that's
one of the great things about doing what I do
is you get to travel across the whole country, across
the whole world and just see these amazing cities, like
you know, like a San Antonio or an Austin or
you know, you're just mentioning stuff like you know, like
Green Bay, Wisconsin. Never would expect it. I always had
(21:40):
so much fun in Green Bay, great times like in Peoria, Illinois,
like just thinking of throw throw a city at me.
I've probably had a blast the San Diego, beautiful city.
But yeah, you mentioned I mean South Dakota had great
times there just I mean not only just from from
aw andw but from Fozzy as well. And we've toured
every state and like you said, you show up in
a Boise, Idaho and you're like, what's going on here?
(22:02):
And you foind Ou, Oh wow, there's lots going on here.
It's a great place to.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Go with San Diego where you won the undisputed title
from here.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It is, man, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, geez, you're on a roll. You should go on
Jericho Jeopardy. We should start that, by the way. Eleven
years talk to Jericho, Yeah, dude, Yeah, congratulations, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, over one thousand episodes and I remember starting at
December of twenty thirteen, so yeah, we just hit eleven years.
A couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
A pioneer in the Wrestling podcast came, let me say this,
thank you there's a few people you included Stone Colds
up there. I don't think you guys are getting the
love that you truly deserve from just a straight podcasting
hosting lane the way that you guys were putting on
podcasts and obviously in your case still doing it. And
I will give you your podcasting flowers. Thank you for
(22:48):
like everyone in their mother me included, has a podcast
now that people don't realize it. You've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yes, there's literally over a million podcasts, and you've seen
how the bus this has changed over the years. But
when I started, you know, not even just wrestling podcasts,
podcasts in general. I remember I went to the Adam
Carolla Show to do a podcast, and I remember asking
my publisher at the time, why are you sending me
to do a podcast? Because I literally thought a podcast
(23:14):
was like a college kid thing that you just do
in your dorm or like put it up on your website,
like who's listening to this? And I went into his
studio and he had a plack up on the wall.
This is back in twenty twelve or so, a world
Guinness record. Guinness World Record podcast downloads, and at the
time it was like five hundred million, and I was like, what,
five hundred million downloads for a podcast? What is this?
(23:39):
And then Steve was doing one at the time, and
they were looking for another wrestling guy. And I remember
telling my boss at the time was Westwood One was
the radio network. I said, I can't just do a
wrestling podcast. What else are you gonna do? I'm like
paranormal and music and you know, porn stars and comedy
and strong like whatever you name it. If I'm interested
in it, I'll do it. And that's kind of I've
(24:01):
always had that that mindset for Talk as Jericho, so
I've always kind of done it. It's not just this
or just that. It's all things that I'm interested in
or if it sounds interesting to me, you know. And
that's kind of what I built the show around, is
just there's no rules as to what's going to come out,
and you never know. Every every week it's twice a week,
and if you go through the topics, you're like, wow,
(24:22):
really you've had this person on, you've had that person
on or whatever. And to me, that that's half the fun.
Like I could have Vanilla Ice, or I could have
you know, I could have you know, the Steve Austin
or I could have you know whatever. I mean. I
had Larry the Cable Guy on a couple of weeks ago,
and last well, lastly Elizabeth Hurley, the true crime ghost Hunters,
(24:44):
you know, Bigfoot hunt, whatever it is, I'll have them
on there. And that's as you know, it's not easy
to do an interview, and people think that it is.
I don't do interviews. I just have conversations. And that's
the secret.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And I think that's something that everyone should keep in mind,
Like it's good to have like a set of questions
set up, but don't rely on the questions.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean questions set up if you really need
some backup, if you have somebody, because you know you've
got to get forty five minutes or an hour. But
sometimes you don't even need them. And I've found from
doing so many interviews, when someone has a list of questions,
they're more paying attention to what their next question is
rather than where you are in the moment. Actually learned that.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
From I was gonna say say that one more. That
is the number one rule I tell people about interview.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, that right there.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, because I tell people all the time if I'm
talking to you and I ask you question five naturally
as you're answering, I do one of these. Now I'm
looking for question six, where it was I completely for
like ignoring you in theory where you could give me
a huge nugget of info. Yeah, that could change the
course of the interview if I just asked the follow up. Yeah,
but because I ignored you to find six on this
map world, Yeah, it's all screwed up.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
That is the number one interview advice I had William
Shatner on three times. It's great because the oasis. I
don't do podcasts only my boy Chris Jericho and I
remember we were talking about something and some how I
pulled out my keys at the time, which were Avis
rental cars, and he was like, Oh, where'd you rent
your car? Avis? And we just went off on this
whole conversation about rental cars, which was great, but it's
(26:11):
like not on my wasn't on my docket to talk
to who I'm shouting about rental cars. But I really learned,
like this is great stuff because he's paying attention to
what I'm saying. Now I'm paying attention to him saying
if we go to a bar, and you meet a
girl or a guy or whatever it may be. You
don't take out a list of questions and start talking
to them. You just talk and wherever it goes, it goes.
(26:32):
And I really really learned that from from from Bill
call me Bill, Bill Shatner, and that these list of
questions that you may or may not have. First of all,
I know what it's like to get asked the same
things he doesn't't to talk about Captain Kirk. If it
gets there organically, we get there. Same thing with anybody
you talked to. There's a certain list of things that
you I know right away, Oh my gosh, you know,
like how'd you get into wrestling? It's like, really, I've
(26:52):
written five books on it. You can let me have
the great answer. So let me how you start motorsing?
Look up in a magazine what else you got? And
it's like, you're right, like this is a good chance
just to talk. Man, Wherever it goes, it goes. And
that's the beauty of a great interviewer and being a
great interviewee.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I guess before we wrap things up, you're closer to
the end of the career, ender of your career than
you are to the beginning. Have you thought about yet
how you want to close it out?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I really haven't, man, because it could end tomorrow. I
mean Sting quit at sixty five. You know, the times
have changed now in wrestling because there's so much money
involved from a television standpoint, and it's still a very
star power driven business it always has been. So you
could stay in this job a lot longer than you
ever thought you would, you know, as long as you're
(27:39):
healthy and still can perform. So I don't know what.
I haven't really thought about that. I don't I've never
been the guy who's like year long retirement ceremony. That
seems a little bit kind of like eh. But having
said that, going back to rock and roll, huge Iron
Maiden fan, and they announced in the morning that Nicko
McBrain and their drummer from forty two years, was retiring
(27:59):
that night, and then the next day announced the new drummer.
You had no time. It was like morning Nichols retiring,
last show to night tomorrow new drummer.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Like what?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
So there might be some merit to doing a final show,
But I don't think about that stuff. I really live
in what's going on right now. My sid vicious, you know,
sex pistols attitude is like, I'll just disappear and no
one will ever see me again. But I don't know
if I'd be able to do that. So I'm sure
when the time is right, i'll know it and we'll
figure out a way to do it and then go
(28:27):
from there. You know. But when I retire, it'll be
I'm retiring. I don't want to do the one where
you come back or come back so I might know.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
So you want to stick to I want like this
is the match and that I'm done after this. You're
not trying to, yes, So.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Why put that on yourself? I mean, you know, I
mentioned the Scorpions. They had a retirement tour ten years
ago and then when it was done, they went, man,
we don't want to retire anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Shares had like thirty.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, Kiss did it, Ozzie did it. So it's like, why,
you know, who's never done at the Stones? Stones are
in their eighties, they've never had a retirement tour, and
when they're ready to be done, I'm sure they'll be done.
But to me, it's like, why put that pressure on
yourself to say that? So to me, maybe I'll just
stop wrestling maybe five years, so now I might want
to have another match, maybe not, but it seems like
(29:11):
there's a lot of pressure on it. And you know
what happens if you have your retirement match and it sucks,
I mean, well then you'd be like, well, then I
have to have another one.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Now, you know, I think over the last let's say
decade or so, and we'll wrap this up. But over
the last decade or so, there is a lot of
there's been a lot of buzz and a lot of
money involved in those retirement matches. Sure, yeah, So, I
mean that's got to be just from the Chris Jericho
business sense, that's got to be tempting as hell it is.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But I've never done anything for money, honestly, never have.
When I was nineteen, I was wrestling not for money
because there was no money to maybe made. That was
putting fifty five cents in gas in my car because
that's all I had. So if you do stuff that
you love, the money always follows. If you do something
for money, it usually never works out the way that
you want it to. So to me, you know, I'll
(29:55):
know when it's time and then we'll just go from there.
But for right now, still enjoying this at the highest
of levels that you could enjoy something, and people go,
do you still enjoy it? If I didn't enjoy it,
I wouldn't do it. There's no way I would do
it at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
And you know what, you got an event tomorrow, Final
Battle Ring of Honor, Hammerstein Ballroom, Hammerstein, Hammerstein.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's the Manhattan Center.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Chris Jericho, appreciate you stopping by man.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Z one hundred, New York City's number one hit music station.
I'm Josh Martinez with my guest. I usually give nicknames.
You have too many dogs. So Chris Jericho was going on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Would give me one, Just give me a nickname?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Uh Theive how about that?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'll take it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So Final Battle tomorrow night, right, that's right? Uh Matt Cardona,
how did that all come about?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Exactly? Well, once again, kind of a little bit out
of my wheelhouse. But but Tony Kahan, when we started
talking about Final Battle and what to do being the
Ring of Honor World Champion, hence the Noive nine time
world Champion, We're kind of throwing around some names of
guys that I could work with, and he mentioned Matt Cardona.
(00:44):
I thought that's a great call because nobody would really
expect that. And I think Tony really liked the vibe
of what we did the last time I was the
Ring of Honor Champion, which is the the OCHO where
we just I just wrestled a bunch of different guys,
you know, and there was guys from different companies and
guys that came in from Japan and that sort of thing.
(01:04):
So I think he kind of liked the idea of
shaking things up, and he was impressed with Matt Cardona
earlier this year when Matt was there for the work
with Adam Copeland, and I just thought, that's great because
I've never worked with Matt before, and if I have,
it was for two minutes on Raw and some you know,
dumb single matches didn't mean anything, and that was against
Zach Ryder. But Matt Cardona I've never had a match
with before, and so I just I really liked the idea,
(01:26):
and also the fact that we're gonna be based in
New York City for you know, three shows, but the
better part of a week came up with the King
of New York idea, and then I thought, well, maybe
I just challenged someone from New York. No one would
expect Mike Cardona a little bit of being a little
bit of bang, And here we are ready to do
this match tomorrow night, which has a great buzz to
it because I think we've done a really good job
building this match over the last month, and that's what
(01:48):
wrestling's all about. So it's very exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You know. It's funny because I was talking to a
friend earlier, and they were like, didn't he pop up
at like a random independent show to attack someone? I did,
And it was funny because I was like that and
this was somebody who doesn't even watch wrestling, but I
guess it popped up on Instagram or tea tacoor whatever
and I was like yeah, like and they were like yeah,
like what's that about? And then I kind of told
him about Final Battle and stuff. Whose idea was it
for you to pop up on that GCW show?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So we were looking at Matt's dates to see what
he had sat. I really wanted to do something on
an independent show because he's the king of the indies,
and you want to create the buzz for this, like
I said, and there's so much attention going on for
the Continental Classic that I wanted to do something that
gets a little bit of an extra focus on it.
(02:32):
So we I was looking at his dates independent dates,
and he was in Los Angeles at the GCW show
and I just happened to have a gig that night
at the Whiskey with my non makeup kiss cover band
Quarantine the same night, and I was like, well, where
is it? Like maybe it's It was literally twenty minutes
down the road.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Which is probably a twenty minute twenty minute drive if
it's la.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean really right. But the thing is is like
when you have something like that happened with that bunch serendipity,
it's fate. We have to do this, and that's and
that's the basic reason. And of course everyone always thinks,
what's the really is it gonna be a is this
olive branch to GCW Is it going to create it? No?
I just happened to be literally in the same city
(03:17):
on the same date with this idea of wanting to
attack him. So we worked it out. Quarantine went on later,
Matt went on earlier, and we put this together, and
once again people are talking about it that probably wouldn't
be talking about the match if I didn't do that,
because it's outside the norm. And once again that's how
you create a buzz.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So Hammerstein, I call it Hammerstein. Some people say Hammerstein.
We just had our We just had a concert there
Friday night, and I kind of thought about it. I'm like,
this is such a fun setup.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I remember it was pronounced Hammerstein by the way,
like ram, Yeah, that's where I pronounced it.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So you've you've worked in that building before? How is
that aside from the the size of the venue, how
unique is it compared to other New York City ventus.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, well, here's the thing though, Like I've worked there officially,
but I don't remember much about it. I know the
match was ECW one night Stand, but I don't remember anything.
I remember the match, but the vibe of the venue
and I really can't recall. So in a lot of ways,
it's my first time being there, and obviously it's such
a historic venue. And I will say, you know, I've
(04:21):
worked in so many venues in New York, from you know,
obviously Madison's Core Garden, to the Barkley Center, to the
Arthur Rash Stadium to the Lost Battalion Hall and Queens
with E. CW. So I will say this venue always matters.
But the New York crowd is amazing, and I know
(04:43):
it's going to be that way at the Hammerstein Ballroom
tomorrow night and on Saturday and Sunday for Collision in Dynamite,
And I just I really like the idea of doing
three shows there in a row, a little bit of
of a kind of a small residency. I've just been
saying earlier today. It gave me a real chance to
se spend some time in New York City, like I
used to be here so many times during the year
(05:04):
because we used to run the Garden six times a year.
In w with aw it's once a year or twice
with the different arenas. But you come in, you do
the show, you leave here. I've been here since Tuesday.
We filmed all night for the King of New York
vignette we showed on Dynamite, was here yesterday doing some
more work doing the media day today, and then three
shows in a row. It gave me a chance to
(05:25):
really enjoy New York City for a little bit of time,
especially around this time of year. It is the best
time of year to be in New York. So the
whole experience has just been amazing. So I'm really looking
forward to kind of getting down to it and having
the actual shows. But everything else so far has just
been a blast. So I'm excited to kind of really
experience the Hammerstein Ballroom the way that it should be,
(05:47):
of respecting it as a very classic, you know, legendary venue.
I didn't see it that way the first time I
was there.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And it's loud.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It's loud, right, you know it's a ballroom. I do
remember that, and I think it's one of those things
where you go to these places when you have a
sold out crowd, which we'll have three nights in a row.
They're on top of you, they're hanging from the rafters,
and they're New Yorkers. You know, you know that you're
gonna get a little bit of craziness. And that's why
I wanted to do The King of New York where
(06:16):
if you're watching it, of course I'm making you. I took,
you know, the Staten Island Ferry to the meatpacking districts.
You can't take the stanton On Ferry to meet packing
district You're the worst King in New York. Ever, that's
the idea. That's why I'm doing this, so that there
will be people there who are angry at me. And
I say, once again, they're angry for all these things
I'm saying, like, for example, like Juan Soto, he's still
in New York. What's the big deal, don't worry about it,
(06:37):
and that's Yankees. What's the difference? I will kill you,
people have been saying. So that's kind of the fun
of this knowing how to We're doing a real localized
promotion for this match because it's based in New York City,
So why not do that? And I think that and
let me know if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
By the way, you're obviously the professional I'm not. I
feel like nowadays everything is so centrally focused on Okay,
it's on TV, so it's got to be national. So
for you to kind of hone in on Okay, it's
New York City even though this is a global pay
per view event, right, was that kind of your idea?
Was there a conglomoration of everybody's kind of thoughts?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It was actually Tony Kanna had the idea like you
should be the King of New York because you actually
are from New York, born in New York. And then
I was like, I love it, Like you know, once again,
you take the ideas from your boss and you make
it great. And I liked the concept of that and
jumped right into it. I went right to Amazon and
bought like I Heart New York shirt and New York
(07:33):
baseball and Yankee stuff, and it's like, I love the
fact we did this King of New York vinet the
other night, like I said, where I went around to
all the places where true New Yorker would never go,
Rockefeller Center, skating on the ice, raid of City Music Hall,
you know, the Yankey pizza places in you know, Times
Square or whatever it may be. But I'm also wearing
this cheesy hoodie that just says New York Baseball. I
(07:57):
just love that. It's not even the Met, not even
the or the Met's either one. It's just New York Baseball.
To me, that's like, no true New York baseball fan
would buy a shirt that just says New York Baseball
on it. Right. It's like it's like being a I
don't know, Iron Maiden fan of buying a British metal
shirt and thinking, hey, I'm a Maiden show with a
(08:18):
British metal shirt. Doesn't that count. I really liked that idea,
and so just jump right in with it with both feet.
And like you said, we're making it very localized, because
that's going to translate, you know, And it's not like
we're localizing you know, Lafayette, Louisiana or something. It's New
York City. Everyone knows what this is, they know what
we're doing here. And I think it's just going to
translate to more energy and more electricity at the actual
(08:39):
gigs themself.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Do you have any personal memories of New York City
that immediately when you see a certain block, or you
hear a certain neighborhood or something, you immediately get pulled
back to a store.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I mean, my dad played for the New York Rangers.
So I was born in matt Hassett on Long Island,
So I legitimately remember being at the Garden at probably
three or four years old thinking it was so loud.
I remember my Grandma had nitted me a like a
like a sweater, and I was holding over my ears
because it was so loud. That really bothered me. And
(09:12):
I also remember being mad at my dad because he
wouldn't wave at me when he was skating down the ice,
like on a breakaway or something. You know. So I
do have a connection to the Garden. There was a
show that we did. I meant, gosh, I've headlined the
Garden twenty times, but one of those shows versus John
Cena in twenty eight or two thousand and eight cage
match show at Christmas. It was a cage match. It
(09:35):
did the highest gross at my MSG ever for WV
at that point in time. I'm sure it's been beaten since.
But so to go from kind of growing up in
the Garden as a little kid to headlining the biggest
WV show in history at the Garden, money wise, was
a pretty cool moment for me. So I have a
lot of those types of memories of New York and
just spending so much time here. Like I said, the
(09:57):
two thousands, especially working in the w we were here
every second month, So every two months you'd be in here,
staying downtown, staying in Times Square, going around doing all
the press and all the stuff. But yeah, I played
hockey at the Garden. Christopher Reeve had the Super Skate
Show four years in a row. How crazy was that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It was crazy, Like just as a hockey fan, your dad,
it was insane with in.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That building, if you will, it was insane. And that
was the fun part of it because it was celebrities
versus the Rangers. So I got to play against Messi
and I scored a goal in Kirk McClain, who was
the goaltender at the time, a real goal, not like
a I took this horrible slap shot where the puck
was kind of flipping like a bat and I went
right over his shoulder, like that's real, man. I scored
a goal in the garden for real. I would go off,
(10:45):
what's that? Yeah, the whole thing, and I would have
a fight every year because it's a show business thing.
So I fought David Boianis, the actor. I fought Chad
Smith and the Chili Peppers were still best friends of
this day. And the last time I played, I said,
I'll play again, but my dad has to be invited
and we have to be on opposite teams. And I
fought my dad in the garden, which is great, and
(11:06):
he punched me hard. He's gonna give me a little mouse,
and he also scored a goal. He like, you know,
these NHL guys, I don't care if there's seventy or
whatever he was at the time. They're still better than
everybody because it's hard to make it to the ANHL.
And I remember Glenn Anderson was on the range at
the time. He said, go stand in front of the
net and keep your stick on the ice as long
(11:28):
as you can do that. And I can stand in
front of boomer size and trying to push me out
of the way, like you can't move me. I scored
like four goals. He would just shoot the puck off
my stick in the flection. Like these guys are just
masterminds at what they do. So that was a really
cool moment getting a chance to do that, like you said,
as a hockey fan, Madison Square Garden meeting so much.
And so there's been a lot of those types of memories.
(11:48):
I always love New York, but I took it for
granted over last few years. Like I said, you come in,
you do the show, you leave. It's more about, oh
my gosh, it's gonna take such a long time to
get to the airport at the venue. Being here and
getting a chance to just relax and enjoy enjoy the vibe.
It's it's such a great city.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
From a stopping and smelling the roses standpoint, that's my biggest.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Issue in life.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Sure how often do you catch yourself not doing that enough?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I actually do do it more than you might expect.
I do enjoy things, and that's why I'm still in
the business and still interesting because I enjoy, you know,
in these moments, and like you said, some people don't
do that, and I've been very fortunate to not be
that guy, because even when you get caught up in
the steam of travel gig, travel gig, and it could
(12:35):
be for music, or if it could be for you
know whatever, one of my cruises or one of my
podcasts or whatever, you have to realize that this is
pretty cool stuff that we're doing here, you know, Like
I like doing media days, and you get the schedule
and it's a long day, six forty five in the lobby,
and we're going here, here, and here, and this is
my last it's kind of the last interview for the day.
(12:56):
And I'm at the point I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm good.
But I enjoy it and it's fun, and it's not
something I ever was like, oh my gosh, now I
have to go promote the show that I'm on. Never
felt that way. I'm on a show, I've released a
record or doing a podcast or be in a movie
or whatever. I want people to know about it. I'm
proud of that. So you have to do that side
of it as well. So yeah, I really do take
(13:19):
some time as much as I can to really enjoy
what's been going on.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
When was the last time you made yourself smile like
legitimate doing something for you that you were like, I'm happy.
I'm just gonna do this little thing and I'm gonna
be happy doing it, and I don't care what anyone
else thinks.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I mean, that's all relative, you know what I mean,
Like when I'm at home, you know, having a kickboxing
session or having your dog lick your face or whatever.
But I mean even just the other night when I
was skating at Rockfeller Center with the Ring of Honor
title over my shoulder and some people know him, some
people have no idea, who's this idiot like skating around
with a like was it a boxing belt or wrestling belt,
(13:54):
a championship belt. I was getting a kick out of myself.
I just thought, this is so freaking preposterous. This I
love it, you know, and you play it straight. You're
not like, hey, like you just I just love kind
of just these dumb things that we get to do
for a living. You know, we paid the tourists, you know,
they got the double decker buses, and he was just
(14:14):
sitting there and it's forty bucks for the ride and
I only had twenty nine bucks. I'm like, I could
be like if we got any cash, and like if
people only knew this. We got twenty nine bucks to
give to the driver to drive us two blocks down, down, down,
Times Square and we're getting a great shot. It's just me.
I'm standing on top of the winds in my hair,
I got my the titles up there, and this freaking
(14:36):
traffic light comes and I'm like, I would like to
know how many people have lost an eye, been decapitated,
got cocked out from not paying attention. It's like an
Indiana Jones move you go through the tunnel, you better duck.
Just stuff like that. I was laughing, like if people
only knew the stuff that we do to entertain them,
and that I like that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Now from a more business standpoint, starting Jenny Glory first,
AW will be simulcasting, Yeah, on Max. How big of
a deal is that for for you guys.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I mean it's it's it's massive. It's never been done
before the first time ever in wrestling that that the
weekly program twice a week will be simulcast on Max
and on TNT for Collision and TBS for Dynamite, And
I mean it just shows the growth of AW and
it's it's just been over five years. That to me
just blows my mind. I think of any other corporation
(15:29):
to get to that level in five years. I mean
you've got to talk about you know, Beatlemany or something
like that. I guarantee Coca Cola wasn't doing what we're
doing after five years, or w B or any of
those types of companies. So it's a big deal and
kind of be the trailblazer in being the first to
simulcast both of our weekly shows on Max, which is
(15:49):
such a huge streaming platform. It just it just continues
to show the growth of this company. It's very very
quickly as well, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So I spoke to Tone about this at full gear
during the press or the post pay per view scrum.
You guys are taking a more unique approach to venues
in twenty twenty five for TV. How exciting is that
to try new things out?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, it really is, man, And I think the worst
thing you could ever do is to kind of, like
in any business, overprice yourself or over extend yourself. And
you know, we're at a place where to go to
some of the middle sized venues, not in every city,
but in some of them. It's a very smart move
for many reasons, but most importantly just the vibe of
(16:35):
of of the fans. Then you know, like you want
to put ten thousand people into an arena and if
you can, you do. If you're down to five thousand,
but you go to a you know, a four thousand
seed arena, it increases demand and it just makes the
show that much more exciting and it translates so much
better on TV. So I think right now, with all
(16:57):
of the different choices that people have to buy tickets
to go to shows, I think we're smart to moving
some of these, like you mentioned, different size venues, because
it just makes it cooler. And we have always had
the cool factor in aw especially when we started and
then going to the pandemic coming out of the pandemic,
And I think one way is the supply and demand.
(17:18):
And if you have you know, this many tickets for
sale and they're gone, it just makes the product hotter
that you know, you can just continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
So we talked about New York a lot. I'm also
on air in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Chicago another great wrestling city.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Which I got to say, and I hate to admit this,
but All State Arena is the loudest venue I have
ever been inside of I have like the wooden planks
up top. Any fond memories in Chicago, I.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Mean that's where I made my w W debut was
August ninth, Yeah, nineteen ninety nine. There you go, There
you go.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Still by the way, greatest debut, greatest introduction of all time,
Thank you greatest.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
A lot of people say that, you know, we built
that up so well, and it was such a genius
to have the countdown clock, which we and for four
weeks prior to expire to hit zero right in the
middle of the Rocks promo. I mean, what a way
to debut, someone like you said. But that was in
All State, and we've been to All State many times afterwards.
It's one of those things. Every time we go to
Chicago anywhere, it's always loud, but All State holds some
(18:17):
special special memories for me. And it's been such a
long time since actually russelled. I was there a couple
of years ago to see the Scorpions, which was amazing.
Like here I am like an All State arena now
seeing a show because I'd never seen a show at
the All State I've only done shows there, so to
actually go and check it out was actually very Cool's
like when I went and saw the Ranger game years ago,
when aw first started at Madison Square Garden. I don't
(18:41):
think i'd ever sat in Madison Square Garden since I
was a kid to actually see a game. I think
I went to Metallica there maybe in two thousand and nine.
But very rare that you get to go to some
of these arenas that you're used to performing in and
actually enjoy the show. So yeah, All State is some
of the greatest memories I have. I'm also some of
the hardest memories. I remember one time we had a
(19:03):
pay per view there and I was super hungover and
I had to have as called Duchess of Queensbury match.
Sue Ahison was the Queen. Sue was one of the
old School employees with B. It was against against Regal,
William Regal. It was just kind of just ridiculous match
where he changed the rules as you go.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
I actually remember this well.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
If you watch it again, you'll see a highly hungover
Chris Jericho trying to figure his way out through that
match in the All State Arena.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Was that partying in Chicago the night before? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
of course, yeah, Switching Gears a little bit. I kind
of want to get into your head. You're a huge
music fan, yes, big time into rock. You have the band,
But is there anyone that you've recently been introduced to
through your kids music, let's say, playing them that you're like, Oh,
this is not exactly something I would have sought out,
(19:53):
but I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Of this one. Well, we were just talking early about Shaboozi.
Then once again, the name is so fun to say,
and I was like, who is this guy? I saw him?
So I was telling you a halftime for a football game,
and I was really impressed by him. And I love
guys who you know. It's like, it's like Jelly Roll.
You see him and it's not what you're expecting. I
like that. So those are a couple. But for rock bands,
(20:15):
I think the Struts if you have if you like
rock and roll and you haven't heard the Struts, you
need to check them out because they are kind of
a cross between Queen and Bowie and the Black Crows
and kind of all that's cool about that era of
music and the sound of that. And there's a lot
of great new rock and roll bands coming up that
have that vibe. But right now, I mean, country is
(20:38):
the new rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Dude, A country has exploed. Mean we we here at
the biggest pop station on the planet. There are several
different country songs and artists that we played heavily, right
and like, listen, I'll be the first one.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I'm born in the hood, grew up on hip hop
and Spanish music. I don't get it necessarily a lot
of times I don't, you know, but I did radio
in Iowa and that was eye opening. I realized what
muddin was and which was I'll never do that again.
But you know, exploring kind of the country that way, literally,
like the United States, was really eye opening. Is any
(21:11):
any cities that you went to that that opened your
eyes throughout your whole career where you were like, I
didn't realize Spokane, Washington could be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Once again, to me, it's never where you go, it's
who you're with. You make your own fun. But that's
one of the great things about doing what I do
is you get to travel across the whole country, across
the whole world and just see these amazing cities, like
you know, like a San Antonio or an Austin or
you know, you're just mentioning stuff like you know, like
Green Bay, Wisconsin. Never would expect it. I always had
(21:40):
so much fun in Green Bay, great times like in Peoria, Illinois,
like just thinking of throw throw a city at me.
I've probably had a blast the San Diego, beautiful city.
But yeah, you mentioned I mean South Dakota had great
times there just I mean not only just from from
aw andw but from Fozzy as well. And we've toured
every state and like you said, you show up in
a Boise, Idaho and you're like, what's going on here?
(22:02):
And you foind Ou, Oh wow, there's lots going on here.
It's a great place to.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Go with San Diego where you won the undisputed title
from here.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It is, man, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, geez, you're on a roll. You should go on
Jericho Jeopardy. We should start that, by the way. Eleven
years talk to Jericho, Yeah, dude, Yeah, congratulations, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, over one thousand episodes and I remember starting at
December of twenty thirteen, so yeah, we just hit eleven years.
A couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
A pioneer in the Wrestling podcast came, let me say this,
thank you there's a few people you included Stone Colds
up there. I don't think you guys are getting the
love that you truly deserve from just a straight podcasting
hosting lane the way that you guys were putting on
podcasts and obviously in your case still doing it. And
I will give you your podcasting flowers. Thank you for
(22:48):
like everyone in their mother me included, has a podcast
now that people don't realize it. You've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yes, there's literally over a million podcasts, and you've seen
how the bus this has changed over the years. But
when I started, you know, not even just wrestling podcasts,
podcasts in general. I remember I went to the Adam
Carolla Show to do a podcast, and I remember asking
my publisher at the time, why are you sending me
to do a podcast? Because I literally thought a podcast
(23:14):
was like a college kid thing that you just do
in your dorm or like put it up on your website,
like who's listening to this? And I went into his
studio and he had a plack up on the wall.
This is back in twenty twelve or so, a world
Guinness record. Guinness World Record podcast downloads, and at the
time it was like five hundred million, and I was like, what,
five hundred million downloads for a podcast? What is this?
(23:39):
And then Steve was doing one at the time, and
they were looking for another wrestling guy. And I remember
telling my boss at the time was Westwood One was
the radio network. I said, I can't just do a
wrestling podcast. What else are you gonna do? I'm like
paranormal and music and you know, porn stars and comedy
and strong like whatever you name it. If I'm interested
in it, I'll do it. And that's kind of I've
(24:01):
always had that that mindset for Talk as Jericho, so
I've always kind of done it. It's not just this
or just that. It's all things that I'm interested in
or if it sounds interesting to me, you know. And
that's kind of what I built the show around, is
just there's no rules as to what's going to come out,
and you never know. Every every week it's twice a week,
and if you go through the topics, you're like, wow,
(24:22):
really you've had this person on, you've had that person
on or whatever. And to me, that that's half the fun.
Like I could have Vanilla Ice, or I could have
you know, I could have you know, the Steve Austin
or I could have you know whatever. I mean. I
had Larry the Cable Guy on a couple of weeks ago,
and last well, lastly Elizabeth Hurley, the true crime ghost Hunters,
(24:44):
you know, Bigfoot hunt, whatever it is, I'll have them
on there. And that's as you know, it's not easy
to do an interview, and people think that it is.
I don't do interviews. I just have conversations. And that's
the secret.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And I think that's something that everyone should keep in mind,
Like it's good to have like a set of questions
set up, but don't rely on the questions.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean questions set up if you really need
some backup, if you have somebody, because you know you've
got to get forty five minutes or an hour. But
sometimes you don't even need them. And I've found from
doing so many interviews, when someone has a list of questions,
they're more paying attention to what their next question is
rather than where you are in the moment. Actually learned that.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
From I was gonna say say that one more. That
is the number one rule I tell people about interview.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, that right there.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, because I tell people all the time if I'm
talking to you and I ask you question five naturally
as you're answering, I do one of these. Now I'm
looking for question six, where it was I completely for
like ignoring you in theory where you could give me
a huge nugget of info. Yeah, that could change the
course of the interview if I just asked the follow up. Yeah,
but because I ignored you to find six on this
map world, Yeah, it's all screwed up.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
That is the number one interview advice I had William
Shatner on three times. It's great because the oasis. I
don't do podcasts only my boy Chris Jericho and I
remember we were talking about something and some how I
pulled out my keys at the time, which were Avis
rental cars, and he was like, Oh, where'd you rent
your car? Avis? And we just went off on this
whole conversation about rental cars, which was great, but it's
(26:11):
like not on my wasn't on my docket to talk
to who I'm shouting about rental cars. But I really learned,
like this is great stuff because he's paying attention to
what I'm saying. Now I'm paying attention to him saying
if we go to a bar, and you meet a
girl or a guy or whatever it may be. You
don't take out a list of questions and start talking
to them. You just talk and wherever it goes, it goes.
(26:32):
And I really really learned that from from from Bill
call me Bill, Bill Shatner, and that these list of
questions that you may or may not have. First of all,
I know what it's like to get asked the same
things he doesn't't to talk about Captain Kirk. If it
gets there organically, we get there. Same thing with anybody
you talked to. There's a certain list of things that
you I know right away, Oh my gosh, you know,
like how'd you get into wrestling? It's like, really, I've
(26:52):
written five books on it. You can let me have
the great answer. So let me how you start motorsing?
Look up in a magazine what else you got? And
it's like, you're right, like this is a good chance
just to talk. Man, Wherever it goes, it goes. And
that's the beauty of a great interviewer and being a
great interviewee.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I guess before we wrap things up, you're closer to
the end of the career, ender of your career than
you are to the beginning. Have you thought about yet
how you want to close it out?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I really haven't, man, because it could end tomorrow. I
mean Sting quit at sixty five. You know, the times
have changed now in wrestling because there's so much money
involved from a television standpoint, and it's still a very
star power driven business it always has been. So you
could stay in this job a lot longer than you
ever thought you would, you know, as long as you're
(27:39):
healthy and still can perform. So I don't know what.
I haven't really thought about that. I don't I've never
been the guy who's like year long retirement ceremony. That
seems a little bit kind of like eh. But having
said that, going back to rock and roll, huge Iron
Maiden fan, and they announced in the morning that Nicko
McBrain and their drummer from forty two years, was retiring
(27:59):
that night, and then the next day announced the new drummer.
You had no time. It was like morning Nichols retiring,
last show to night tomorrow new drummer.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Like what?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
So there might be some merit to doing a final show,
But I don't think about that stuff. I really live
in what's going on right now. My sid vicious, you know,
sex pistols attitude is like, I'll just disappear and no
one will ever see me again. But I don't know
if I'd be able to do that. So I'm sure
when the time is right, i'll know it and we'll
figure out a way to do it and then go
(28:27):
from there. You know. But when I retire, it'll be
I'm retiring. I don't want to do the one where
you come back or come back so I might know.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
So you want to stick to I want like this
is the match and that I'm done after this. You're
not trying to, yes, So.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Why put that on yourself? I mean, you know, I
mentioned the Scorpions. They had a retirement tour ten years
ago and then when it was done, they went, man,
we don't want to retire anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Shares had like thirty.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, Kiss did it, Ozzie did it. So it's like, why,
you know, who's never done at the Stones? Stones are
in their eighties, they've never had a retirement tour, and
when they're ready to be done, I'm sure they'll be done.
But to me, it's like, why put that pressure on
yourself to say that? So to me, maybe I'll just
stop wrestling maybe five years, so now I might want
to have another match, maybe not, but it seems like
(29:11):
there's a lot of pressure on it. And you know
what happens if you have your retirement match and it sucks,
I mean, well then you'd be like, well, then I
have to have another one.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Now, you know, I think over the last let's say
decade or so, and we'll wrap this up. But over
the last decade or so, there is a lot of
there's been a lot of buzz and a lot of
money involved in those retirement matches. Sure, yeah, So, I
mean that's got to be just from the Chris Jericho
business sense, that's got to be tempting as hell it is.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But I've never done anything for money, honestly, never have.
When I was nineteen, I was wrestling not for money
because there was no money to maybe made. That was
putting fifty five cents in gas in my car because
that's all I had. So if you do stuff that
you love, the money always follows. If you do something
for money, it usually never works out the way that
you want it to. So to me, you know, I'll
(29:55):
know when it's time and then we'll just go from there.
But for right now, still enjoying this at the highest
of levels that you could enjoy something, and people go,
do you still enjoy it? If I didn't enjoy it,
I wouldn't do it. There's no way I would do
it at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
And you know what, you got an event tomorrow, Final
Battle Ring of Honor, Hammerstein Ballroom, Hammerstein, Hammerstein.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's the Manhattan Center.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Chris Jericho, appreciate you stopping by man.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Always a pleasure. Thank you.
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