Chris Jericho Had Chance in WWF 1996, Believes He Would Have Had “The Goon” Gimmick

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– During the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, Chris Jericho revealed that he was offered a spot in WWE in 1996 but turned it down. Here are highlights:

On Jim Cornette trying to hire him as enhancement talent: “The first ever opportunity I got in the WWE was [when] Jim Cornette called me to tell me, ‘we’re going to do this thing where we have five enhancement guys. Now, they’re not jobbers because they all have gimmicks, but we want you to be one of these guys. They’re not going to win any matches, but at least they’ll have gimmicks and they’ll have TV time and an entrance.’ And I’m like, ‘well, it [has] been six years. I don’t really need to do that. I’m just going to keep doing my thing.’”

On thinking he would be the Goon: “I just know, that I bet you I was earmarked to be the Goon, who was a hockey player/wrestler who wore hockey equipment to the ring and had wrestling boots that looked like skate blades, like they were shaved down to look like thin skate blades. I guarantee that could have been me, guys.”

On CM Punk going to the UFC: “I think it’s great. I love it. I love the fact that he’s going to do something that he wants to do and that he’s taking a chance on doing something different.” Jericho continued, “my opinion is that if he’s going to be going into this, you know he is going to be giving 10,000% and he’s going to be good at it or die trying, so I wouldn’t want to be the guy to face him in his first fight, I’ll tell you that. I bought Brock [Lesnar]’s first [UFC pay-per-view] and then I bought his last one. Those were the two that I bought because you’re cheering for your friends. [Punk’s UFC debut] will be the third. I will buy it. Actually, I tried to buy the Batista one, but I couldn’t find it. But I watched it as soon as I could. If my friends are doing it, I want to see them do good. That goes for anything: acting, movies, musicians, whatever. You’ve got to support your friends.”

On his relationship with Triple H: “I probably just as actively tried to sabotage him with the locker room. We’re good friends now and it was great to [talk to him on Talk Is Jericho] because we’re like, ‘we used to hate each other in like 2002, 2001, 2000’ and we were sitting there going like ‘why? Why did we hate each other so much? Like what was the point of that?’ It’s just the way things were. You’re young, you want to be the top of the top, and when you get a chance to do an interview with him [now] like that, I mean, we’re all older now. If it was still going on, it would be a different story, but I think it was a two-way sabotaging and that’s okay because that’s what happens when you’re younger.”

On winning a Slammy in 2014 for jumping off a cage: “I won a Slammy for it, which I didn’t even know about because I wasn’t watching the Slammys. Vince [McMahon] texted me. He was like, ‘you just won a Slammy. I had Fandango make the acceptance [speech] for you. I couldn’t help myself. Hahahahaha!’ And I was like, ‘you f–king dick!’ and he was like ‘hahahahaha!’.”

Transcript Credit wrestlinginc.com

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs