Chris Jericho discusses Dynamite on the 'Jericho Cruise', Marko Stunt, wrestling Cody at Full Gear and Randy Orton using AEW as leverage (Exclusive)
2018 was a big year for Chris Jericho, he toured the world with Fozzy, brought us the Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager At Sea, debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom, brought back the 'List of Jericho' for RAW's 25th Anniversary and surprised the world by showing up at ALL IN.
I was able to talk to Chris about the incredible year he had in 2018 and I asked him what was next for him. This is what he told me,
I've really kind of built myself into this position where I don't have to do anything I don't want to do, I don't have to go anywhere I don't want to go so I'm not rushing it, we'll see what happens. I've been working really hard this year, I think after the New Japan thing is done, maybe it's time to take some time and disappear for a while.
(You can read my full interview with Chris Jericho from last year here)
Well, 2019 has almost come and gone and let me tell you something. Chris Jericho did not take some time and disappear for a while. He did the opposite.
He signed for AEW, he became the promotion's first-ever world champion, he birthed one of the biggest wrestling catchphrases in years with 'A little bit of the bubbly', he's appearing in his second Wrestle Kingdom to face 'The Ace' Tanahashi, he's still touring with Fozzy and he's holding another wrestling and rock music cruise!
So the only natural conclusion was to interview him again! We talked about Marko Stunt, AEW, Randy Orton, Ric Flair and so much more!
The second Jericho cruise is sold out! Tell me how you feel about that!
Jericho: How can I not feel anything but amazing about it! I think the cool thing was that last year we sold out kind of right on the wire but there were a lot of discounts and a lot of upgrades and that kind of thing. I was sold out but it was more of a ‘technical knockout’ whereas this one sold out completely and four months earlier.
So it just goes to show that there are a lot of people that were super excited about the cruise last year. There’s a lot of people that were probably disappointed they didn’t go and have a lot of fun once the word got out on how much fun it really was. So, I think it’s just a testament on how exciting the cruise was and how much fun everybody had. I think it was sold out on word of mouth from last year.”
Obviously you did something right with the first cruise, but what have you got planned for this one to avoid that dreaded ‘second-album blues.’
Jericho: Well, if it’s not broke don’t fix it. I think last year was a real kind of feeling out process, how do you do a rock and wrestling cruise? Did I book the right amount of bands, did I book the right amount of current stars and Hall Of Famers, I think it was a real great mix, I just did more of the same. I’ve got some great bands and I put together amazing deal with AEW to continue the ball rolling and have an amazing wrestling company on the ship. I think bringing Ric Flair on board was kind of the coup of all coups, last year Mick Foley was probably the biggest single name that I might have had. I contacted Ric and he agreed.”
Ric Flair is certainly a great get for the cruise! Can you tell us more about what he’ll be doing?
Chris Jericho: We’ll be doing a live Talk Is Jericho and he’ll be involved in some other festivities that haven’t been announced yet, but there’ll be plenty of Ric Flair activity and involvement for sure on the ship.
Next: Will there be a live episode of AEW Dynamite emanating from the cruise? Jericho spills the beans