Chris Jericho on changing characters in wrestling: “You have to try something new, commit to it, and most of the time it works”
During an interview with gameshub.com, Chris Jericho was asked about which of his wrestling characters stands out the most creatively. Here was Jericho’s response…
“It’s hard to single one out because there have been so many reinventions over so many years. That idea comes directly from David Bowie, honestly. I’m a huge Bowie fan, and he was never the same guy twice. Every record was different in imagery and sound. At the core it was still Bowie, but you could go to a Halloween party and see ten people dressed as Bowie from different eras and recognise every single one of them. I think you could do the same with Chris Jericho.
The ones people still talk about most are Y2J, obviously. Then things like ‘Never, Ever Again’ from WCW. ‘You just made the list’ was only around for maybe six or eight months, but it still resonates — I now do it on Cameo and people are constantly asking me to put them on it.
The main thing for me is I never want to be a nostalgia act. I want to keep changing, keep doing things that make people angry at first. When I stopped using the countdown, cut my hair, changed from long tights to short tights — it was like KISS taking off the makeup. People want the makeup. But if you leave the makeup on forever, you die. You have to try something new, commit to it, and most of the time it works.”