Wrestling his way to the top

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This article was published 07/02/2021 (2064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Chris Jericho, an early love and passion for professional wrestling was sparked in the 1970s from the simple act of spending Saturdays hanging out and watching TV at his grandma’s Winnipeg home.

“We’d go to my grandmothers on the weekend, and on Saturday afternoon back then there was the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, and then AWA Wrestling, and then after that was Hockey Night in Canada,” Jericho said.

“We used to go to watch all three, and my grandma was super into wrestling, and she loved the good guys, and hated the bad guys.”

Jericho, who was born Christopher Irvine, the son of former NHL hockey player Ted Irvine, sat down for a video chat with the Free Press from his Florida home recently to talk about his time growing up in Winnipeg, his long road to wrestling superstardom, and what keeps him busy these days.

While so many Canadian kids watched hockey on Saturday nights dreaming of being the next great NHL hockey player, Jericho said from a young age he was drawn to wrestling and drawn to the over-the-top characters and performances.

“I loved Jessie ‘The Body’ Ventura even though he was a bad guy, but I would never tell grandma,” Jericho said with a laugh. “But I just loved this loudmouth flamboyant guy with a jewel in his chin, and that’s when I remember really starting to get into wrestling.”

As he grew older that love for wrestling never waned, and only grew larger when wrestling shows would come to town and take over the old Winnipeg Arena.

“Sure, I liked watching the Jets, but it was a team, and I wasn’t really into cheering for a team, but with wrestling I liked the personalities. These guys were super flamboyant, they were rock stars, and that’s what I wanted to do.”

And while many grow up dreaming of fame and fortune, few actually reach those heights, but Jericho said he never doubted that he would become a professional wrestler, because there was nothing else he wanted to do and “there was no backup plan.”

“For me it was just the will. I call it the iron will to do it.”

When he was just 19 Jericho packed his bags and headed to Calgary to start making his dreams come true, as a new student at the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling.

But it was not long until tragedy struck back home, and his wrestling road could have been derailed.

Around the time Jericho was preparing for his first ever competitive wrestling match, which was set to take place in Ponoka, Alta., he suddenly got word that his mom, Loretta, had been in a horrible accident back in Winnipeg that left her as a quadriplegic.

He said he considered walking away from wrestling right then and there so he could stay in Winnipeg and support his mom, but she told him what he needed to do was continue to pursue his dreams.

“She didn’t want me to stop chasing my dream and she said, ‘you’re not going to stop living your life to be here with me.’ I realized after that I really had no backup plan. Now I am making this sacrifice and there is no turning back now, so I’d better do this at the highest level.”

And over the next three decades Jericho not only made his dreams come true but transformed himself into a worldwide icon and wrestling legend that some have argued may be the greatest of all time.

A quick look at Jericho’s accomplishments would make it hard for any wrestling fan to argue he is not one of the best to ever enter the ring.

Over his career he has racked up a staggering list of world championships including six in his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, plus multiple championships in wrestling organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and All Elite Wrestling, where he currently wrestles after leaving the WWE in 2018.

And now, at the age of 50 with a resumé like his, Jericho couldn’t be blamed if he decided to sit back, kick up his feet, and spend a little time resting on his laurels, but for Jericho slowing down has never been an option.

“I’ve never been a person who sat back, and you can tell by all the things that I have done, I’ve never been OK to just say ‘I’ve done all these things, so I’m good.’”

While still wrestling every week in Jacksonville, Fla., for the AEW, Jericho’s other career endeavours include being the frontman of a successful metal band, a New York Times bestselling author, and the host of the Talk is Jericho podcast, one of the most listened to podcasts in the world.

He says when he started the podcast, he quickly realized he had to go beyond wrestling if he was going to keep it fun and interesting for his audience, and for himself.

“Talking about wrestling all the time would drive me crazy, I’ve got too many other interests,” he said. “I wanted it to be a representation of who I am and what I’m into. I’m interested in music, the paranormal, comedy, movies, pop culture, I’ve had everything on the show from surfers to porn stars.

“Anyone that I find interesting to me, I’ll put them on the show.”

And along with childhood dreams of wrestling, Jericho also dreamed of being a rock star, and he managed to pull that off as well as the lead singer of Fozzy, a metal band that formed in 1999 and has had a number of hits on rock radio and had a busy touring schedule before the pandemic hit.

When asked what his most important accomplishment professionally is, Jericho said one of the things he is most proud of is making it all the way from a small Prairie city to the pinnacle of fame, fortune and success in the wrestling and entertainment world.

“I’m not saying this to be arrogant, but I think, with all due respect to Neil Young and Burton Cummings, I might be the most famous person to ever come out of Winnipeg, because I can show up anywhere in the world and people will recognize me.

“And I say that because I take great pride in that because it’s really hard to make it from Winnipeg because it’s isolated and an island on its own.

“Winnipeg is its own little planet and to make it out of there is hard to do, and to make it to the next level you really have to commit to it.”

And that commitment is what took Jericho all the way from watching wrestling at his grandma’s house to becoming a pro wrestling legend, and he says he is grateful for the life he has been able to live.

“I’m blessed because I was able to take this seemingly unattainable dream and make it into a career. I’m able to travel the world and do what I love to do, and I’m able to make people happy doing it.