Chris Jericho is one of the greatest heels of WWE. His arrogant on-air persona has fans loving to hate him for what he does on-screen. Along with Owens, he is the only heel in WWE now, who could generate genuine heat and enthrall the audience with his heel antics.
But, the face behind the mask of Chris Jericho is also as interesting as his on-screen persona. He is a multi-talented individual. We all know how much he brags about himself. But, it looks like he has earned right to brag with his numerous achievements.
Here are ten interesting facts about Chris Jericho that you might probably not know.
10). His ring name was inspired from
Jericho’s ring name was inspired from Helloween – a German power metal band’s album named “Walls of Jericho” and strangely enough his finisher is named after the album itself. Jericho’s connection to music doesn’t end here and you will see further proof of this as the list continues
Likewise, his inspiration for his debut entrance was from post office clock. When Jericho saw the numbers counting down to the millennium he thought it would be cool to use it for his entrance and said Vince so. Once Vince gave permission, the idea was incorporated and to this date there hasn’t been a better debut entrance than Y2J’s.
9). Nicknames
When you have to maintain an arrogant persona on-screen, you will eventually earn some very interesting nicknames. And Jericho is not an exception to this. You might actually think you know all of Jericho’s nicknames, but guess what, you’re wrong. Jericho has long list of nicknames that he has earned all through his illustrious career. Below is a list of them, check out.
- "The Highlight of the Night"
- "Cowboy"
- "Lionheart"
- "The Greatest Canadian of all Time"
- "The Man of 1,004 Holds"
- "The Paragon of Virtue"
- "Your Role Model"
- "Y2J"
- "The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla"
- "The Most Charismatic Showman to Enter Your Home via a Television Screen"
- "The Sexy Beast"
- "The (self-proclaimed) Living Legend"
- "The King of His World"
- "The Best In The World At What He Does"
- "The Savior of (the) WWE"
Now, can you honestly say you knew all of these?
8). He is a Hart Dungeon alumini
There has been a lot of wrestlers who were trained in the Hart dungeon. Chris Jericho was one among the many to receive the training from the legendary Hart family. At the early age of 19, Jericho entered the Hart dungeon to get himself trained.
Within two months he debuted at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta under the ringname “Cowboy” Chris Jericho on October 02, 1990. his first opponent was none other than the fellow alumini of Hart Dungeon, Lance Storm. The duo then teamed up together under the ring name “Sudden Impact” and performed for various promotions before Chris Jericho signed a contract with ECW.
7). He has managed wrestlers
Managing wrestlers is not an easy job. It appears Chris Jericho has tried his hand at that too. Chris Jericho has not managed one but two (technically three) wrestlers in his entire managerial career.
Chris Jericho has managed both Wade Barrett and The Usos. Many of us know that Chris Jericho was Wade Barrett’s Storyline mentor in NXT. But, what we don’t know is Chris Jericho has managed Wade Barrett in real too.
The same goes for The Usos. It is hard to believe this because, The Usos have been the fan-favorites for a long time. In my living memory, I have never seen The Usos perform something that we would call a heel maneuver and to think that they were managed by Chris Jericho, one of the great heels of all time, is a mindblower for me.
6). He is a lead singer
Most of them might know that Jericho is the lead singer of the band Fozzy. His albums have reached Bill Board lists too. But, what most people don’t know is that he had an alter-ego named Moongoose McQueen.
And apparently, Moongoose McQueen doesn’t know who Chris Jericho is. Though this was gimmick used by Chris Jericho to make the band popular in its earlier days, creating an alter-ego who doesn’t know the professional wrestler is pure genius.
The most recent music series of the band was released in 2014. Chris Jericho is also a New York Times bestselling author and a prominent TV personality. He has also participated in Dancing with the Stars Season 12 as professional dance Cheryl Burke’s partner.
5). Tattoos
Chris Jericho is also a lover of tattoos. He has five tattoos and three of them are in his left hand. The first is the name of his wife, Jessica, which is tattooed on his ring finger and the second is the letter F as a representation of his band Fozzy, on the back of his hand. The third tattoo is an album artwork of Fozzy's fifth album, Sin and Bones.
Irvine’s fourth tattoo is a Jack-o'-lantern. Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also has a matching tattoo. Jericho has also got a self portrait tattoo on his left bicep.
4). He owns a business
Not many WWE Superstars can say that they own a business. Even though WWE’s paycheck is the fattest paycheck in the wrestling industry, a WWE superstar is only a little better off than others breaking their head in the indie scene. Thanks to his musical success Chris Jericho owns his own company.
Chris Jericho along with former NFL Quarterback TIm Tebow and former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones are co-owners of a sports training facility in Florida called D1 Sports Training and Theraphy.
D1 Sports Training and Theraphy provides custom sports training programs, boot camps and expert coaching on various sports.
3). He has won 30 championships in his career
Chris Jericho is one of the few wrestlers who had had a successful career even before they stepped into a WWE ring. Unlike now, WWE built its own talent in the older days. Chris Jericho has wrestled in Japan, WCW and ECW before coming to WWE.
As a result he has won more than 30 championships in his career. It is a testament to how great a wrestler he is. But strangely, Chris Jericho’s statistics of win-loss record are not that great. In fact, his overall wrestling record will shock a lot of Jericholics.
It is due to the fact that he is the go to guy to put over some new talent in a grand way. As a result, Chris Jericho has put over more guys than any other wrestler with Jericho’s star power could clam to.
2). He has real life beef with Goldberg
Chris Jericho and Goldberg have not been in best of terms since their stint WCW (i.e. late 90s.) It is reported that Goldberg and Chris had nothing but enmity towards each other during those days. Goldberg apparently refused to work with Chris Jericho and Chris spurned any offers in return.
Here what Chris Jericho has to say about that in an interview.
“It was a different world then. Things happen all the time. When everybody is holding on to their position like I got to do this, I got to do that, Goldberg and I saw wrestling from both sides of a different coin. But both of us were very successful. There wasn’t a lot of interest on his end to work with me in WCW. There was a little animosity between us that transferred to the WWE. We had a scuffle it wasn’t what everyone says where Jericho took him down and tied him in a knot. I stood up for myself and held my ground. It was what it was. It was unfortunate for Bill, it was on his first day, so he kind of got labeled right off the bat.”
“If you want to score it, Jericho 1, Goldberg 0. There will never be a rematch, ever. If it ever happens, I’ll run away screaming because I’m not going to say I got lucky, but I’m glad the outcome was the way it was because I thought he was going to tear my head off. Bill [Goldberg] is a good guy, man, I have nothing but love for him, nothing but respect."
1). His Inspirations
Many fans think that Shawn Michaels is and was Chris Jericho’s inspiration. While Shawn Michaels was a inspiration to Chris Jericho in a manner of sorts, it is not Shawn who drew Chris Jericho into the world of Wrestling.
It was Owen Hart who inspired Chris Jericho to wrestle. Owen Hart’s charismatic ability to entertain a crowd and high flying offense influenced Chris to a degree that he took a work as ring-crew member. But the greatest match of Chris Jericho’s career came along when he wrestled with his idol Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 19.
Even till date, Chris Jericho’s favorite opponent to wrestle is Shawn Michaels.
