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As someone from the UK with limited funds I would've loved to have gone on the cruise but couldn't justify it this year. So when some of the matches were announced like Alpha Club Vs Bullet Club I was gutted and secretly hoped there'd be some sort of streaming deal. And thankfully our wishes were answered! I asked Jericho if this was secretly the plan all along!
One of the other things announced fairly recently about the cruise was that there will be a show of one of the nights of wrestling on FITE TV. Did that come about because of public demand from people who wouldn't be able to make it or was that always part of the plan.
Jericho: "You know, it wasn't always part of the plan. It's not just one of the nights of wrestling, it's kind of the biggest main event that we can put together which is the Alpha Club Vs The Bullet Club. I think when that match was announced, which is Chris Jericho and the Young Bucks Vs Kenny Omega, Cody and Marty Scurll, that it sent the rest of the world into a buzz because it's a match that everybody wants to see.
My initial thoughts were that I don't want it streamed because I just wanted it to be part of the cruise. I want people to know that when the cruise comes out you can't see it anywhere else, you need to be on the ship. But once we started inching closer to selling out I realised that there were so many people who wanted to check it out and see the match so I started putting together the deal with FITE TV. Once again, nothing's ever easy, it took a while to get it but once we got it, now it gives people an option to see this match that you're not going to see anywhere else or might never see again!
A boat is a fairly weird place to have a wrestling event take place, would you say it's the weirdest place you've wrestled or are there any weirder places you've wrestled?
Jericho: "Weird? Not necessarily, unorthodox, different, first time ever and that's once again why it took a while to get it rolling because it's never been done before. We actually had to have a team of engineers to come aboard the boat and do whatever they have to do to make sure the ring doesn't slide off into the ocean. There's no template to match against and I like that, I like the fact that I'm the first time ever. I'm the pioneer of putting on this cruise.
I think I've had weirder places. A parking lot in the dark where the lights were the headlights from a car, that sort of thing. But as far as this, this is the first time I've ever wrestled not on land, shall we say. So unless somebody's going to Mars this is probably the only place that hasn't been conquered by wrestling and here we are!
That's amazing, I was going to ask if you were worried about choppy waters or sea sickness and how that will affect the wrestling, but if you've got engineers checking it all out you've probably got it covered?
Jericho: Well you can't have an engineer not make the water choppy, you know that's part of being on a cruise! I know during Kiss cruise I never felt it once, we did three shows on that cruise and not once did I ever feel unbalanced back and forth. I guess it's all part of the ship and the way it's built
We do have a backup plan if it's raining or it's really bad on the top deck, we have another set-up inside as well. So the show and the matches will be taking place no matter what. I think, once again, it's an adventure, let's see what happens because there's never been a boat ever that's had matches at sea, in the middle of the ocean. So you don't know what to expect because nobody knows what to expect. It's never been done before!
Next: Chris Jericho talks about not being at SmackDown 1000 or Crown Jewel, his appearance on the Raw 25th episode and New Japan Pro Wrestling!
