Chris Jericho’s run in WCW put him on the map in the United States pro wrestling scene, but no matter how hard he tried, the ceiling was way too low for him to become a major star. Jericho would eventually go to WWE, where he’d cement himself as one of the biggest names in the industry.
However, in hindsight, Eric Bischoff recalls that he never believed Jericho would be taken seriously by Vince McMahon. “I tried to keep Chris, and I was disappointed when Chris left, but I was also – part of me was like: ‘why would he go there?'” Bischoff recalled during an episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast. “I mean, I get it, at the time it was still WWE, and (…) however competitive we were, or we weren’t in that particular moment, I was just of the belief that Vince would never give a guy Chris Jericho’s size, the kind of push that Chris got; that surprised me.”
Bischoff then explained how WWE had a habit of focusing solely on larger-than-life characters, and that all the guys who got pushes were built bigger and presented bigger than Jericho.
“So, when Chris Jericho made the jump, it was like: ‘Why? Why would you not take your chances here?'” he added. “Now, Chris probably had a different perspective, and I’m not saying he was wrong. He was probably right, probably more aware than I was. (…) I just didn’t think that Vince would give Chris the level of push that Chris got, based on Chris’ size and Vince’s taste for larger-than-life characters.”
According to JBL in an interview years ago, the locker room was especially happy about the WCW talent like Jericho coming into WWE, especially since they’d go on to become massive in the promotion.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “83 Weeks” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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