– Chris Jericho was recently interviewed by Canoe.ca’s SLAM! Wrestling about next week’s SmackDown 10-year anniversary special, teaming with the Big Show, his initial concern that WWE SmackDown would be a failure like WCW’s second show (Thunder) became, his band Fozzy, Jim Ross’ legacy and more. However, some of the more newsworthy quotes came when Jericho was talking about areas where WWE needs improvement.
When asked about how he thinks WWE’s brand split is going so far and whether he thinks WWE has a deep enough roster to support three seperate shows, he said:
“I think it was a better idea then than it is now. There was a lot more talent when they did the brand extension. You could actually split the rosters in two; create some competition for ourselves, especially after WCW went under. Sometimes I wonder if we should still do that with talent roster the way that it is with a lot of younger guys. It’s a good idea to give them a chance to shine, but for me the way right now, especially working Raw and Smackdown, it shows that some guys should do both shows because we need the diversity on both. But still, week in and week out, they still make it entertaining, build up a lot of Smackdown and they do it more on Raw as well, there’s room for everyone on the show, some just have to kind of grab the brass ring and run with it. I’m happy to be on both shows, I like contributing to both.”
He also acknowledged that WWE is in need of some new faces in the top spots and says WWE is making the same mistakes that doomed WCW back in the late 90s. “They have to keep the wheels turning; they can’t just base it on the same guys year in and year out. That’s how business fails; that’s how WCW failed. We have some young guys that are ready to grasp it and there are other guys that aren’t. They’re going to have to speed up the process a bit.
Jericho mentioned John Morrison, Legacy, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston. The Miz and Evan Bourne as guys who are improving and have a lot of upside potential. “Now is the time, we need these guys to step up and the thing is too, is you say step up, step up, step up, but some guys just aren’t capable; they’re not ready because they don’t have the experience yet. But as long they are improving every week, and those are guys that I kind of see as being the next wave of the company, when my generation of guys is retired or not at the same level as we are now.”
