Chris Jericho talks about evolving his character over the years

Chris Jericho is the AEW World Champion. Before his AEW gimmick of being Le Champion, he had another popular gimmick with the List Of Jericho in WWE. He has continued to reinvent himself over the years and that will not be stopping anytime soon.

 


 

While speaking to 101.1 WKXQ, Jericho provided an explanation as to how he has managed to come up with new characters and avoid being banal. He does not let his characters stagnate, as he is always looking to change it up in order to entertain the fans.

“You’re constantly evolving, updating and not living in the past. I think that I was never cut out for that. I never wanted to do the same thing twice and I know, I feel it, when the time is right to change. I knew when it was right to change out of ‘Y2J’, I knew with the countdown clock, The List.”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to be in AEW because I know if I went back to WWE they’d want me to do The List because it’s so popular. It doesn’t fit anymore, you know? It’s one of those things where time moves on and it’s good to always update your act, update your look, update what you’re doing and still obviously pay homage to your history and your legacy, but constantly make it more contemporary. That’s not selling out.”

“You talk about the new Ozzy [Osbourne] song ‘Under The Graveyard’—it’s number 4 this week. Ozzy with a top 5 song at 70 years old? But the reason is the song is still Ozzy, it’s got a different guitar player, it sounds more contemporary, it just sounds more now. That’s kind of what I’ve always done with Chris Jericho. If something starts feeling a little bit nostalgic, I drop it.”

“I have no problems dropping it. It’s great to go back and look at it and remember it, but The List was 2016. ‘A Little Bit Of The Bubbly’ and ‘Le Champion’ is 2019, that’s where I live now. I think it’s great to have a body of work that people go ‘I like this era best. I like that era best.’ but as long as you continue to keep your fans guessing, so they never know exactly what they’re going to get from you, they’ll be that much more engaged and that much more apt to continue to follow you.”

Y2J surely has many years left to go as a professional wrestler, so it is likely we will be seeing him in different avatars from what he is now.

h/t to  Wrestle Zone for the transcription.

Harrison Carter
Harrison Carter
Harrison Carter has been a huge pro wrestling fan since 2002, and it's been his first love ever since then. He has years of writing experience for all things pro wrestling. His interests outside of wrestling include films, books and soccer.

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