Exclusive: Chris Jericho on the Jericho Cruise,  AEW, The List, why he didn't go back to WWE and Undertaker

Jericho means business for the cruise

If I'm not wrong, you're pulling quadruple duty on the cruise - as the Master of Ceremonies, performing with Fozzy, hosting Talk Is Jericho and even wrestling on board. Do you just...not like resting?

Yeah! I think last time, I did 15 appearances on the ship between my podcasts, I did announcements, I wrestled, I did talking shows, Q&As, one-man shows. So much was on my back because I know I won't be any trouble or cause any problems, so I wanted to base it as much around the Chris Jericho brand as possible so people know what to expect.

It's my cruise. Every day, I get a report into how many cabins have sold and what people want to see - it's always Chris Jericho, followed by AEW, followed by Fozzy. I'm involved in all three of those, and that's why I'm able to bring in whoever I want - whether it be one of the greatest of all time in Ric Flair or my friend as the head bartender.

It's my cruise, it'll sell out anyway - so I want people to be able to come here and hang out with people that they'd normally never get to, and make it a special occasion.

No wet noodle high fives on the Ship of Jericho, please..... #jerichocruise pic.twitter.com/i8GzrO31Hc

— Chris Jericho Cruise (@jericho_cruise) April 3, 2019

I made sure I saw everyone's show on the ship - whether it was five minutes or 45, so that everyone knew they were picked for a reason, and hand-picked by me. If you don't believe it, Jericho's there watching.

People see me here, there, over there. I'm not hiding in my ivory tower counting my money because they're all shows I want to see, from doing a podcast with Ric Flair, to Jake The Snake's one-man show, to Kick Axe - my favourite band from high school who haven't played the States for years, but they played with Judas Priest and Scorpions in the '80s. I want people to see them and I want to see them. There are a lot of things on it because I find it interesting. If I find it interesting, my audience tend to find it interesting too!

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It shows just how much passion and versatility you have, which is something that you've shown repeatedly over the years - which brings me on to your reinvention. I saw your recent Queen-inspired tattoo, based on the News of the World artwork. Will you be adding more faces of Jericho to it? What type of Chris Jericho we'll see going forward?

I think the idea is that I don't know how many other personas there'll be because I never know what I'll do. What feels right to me as far as constantly evolving, changing.

I think that's one of the reasons why I'm still where I'm at today, at the top of the industry, because people never know what to expect, you never get the same thing twice.

When it comes to The List, I know it was a huge success but I'll never do it again. Whether I ever work with WWE or not. It's probably one of the reasons I didn't go back there because The List was a product of its time. In 2016-17, it was so organic. If I was still doing that no, it would be very cliche and a little bit boring.

It's one of those things. You do it, you live it, people get so excited about it, and then you've got to move on if you don't feel it as much anymore.

I'm not ashamed to say David Bowie is a big influence on me because he always kept his appearance and his character, and his music very contemporary, changing and evolving it. I always liked that. If you look at a David Bowie album, he never looks the same and that's how this business should be if you want any type of longevity at all. I've been in the business almost 30 years.

If I did the same thing over and over, it would just be nostalgia and I'm not interested in doing that at all.

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NEXT: How much longer will Chris Jericho wrestle for?

COMING UP: Would AEW take any WWE Superstars?