Chris Jericho Reveals Who Came Up With The List of Jericho

Nov 11, 2016 - by Steve Gerweck

During an appearance on The LAW (Live Audio Wrestling), Chris Jericho talked about the “List of Jericho” and revealed who came up with the concept.

“I think when I turned heel and it seems like such a long time ago, it might almost seem that I’m not telling the truth but go back and watch when I turned on AJ Styles and I talked about giving him the Gift of Jericho, drink it in man, that got huge boos. Big, big boos. The scarf, when I started wearing the scarf before I turned heel, people were hating it, that’s so stupid, what is he doing? He looks ridiculous. The stupid idiot, when I said stupid idiot, that used to get major heat but what happens is those things become so entertaining that people start embracing it to where now stupid idiot is a term of endearment. The gift of Jericho, drink it in man, gets a huge response.

“So what happened was the gift of Jericho and I wish I could take credit for saying I came up with it but Jimmy Jacobs, who has become a writer in WWE, his name is Chris Scobille but his wrestler name is Jimmy Jacobs, no stranger to anybody who is a fan of Ring of Honor or any of those big independent companies. He said I’ve got this idea of the List of Jericho and you put a couple names on it. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea and we did it. Of course you do it once and it was kind of funny, that’s pretty funny, let’s do it again.

So we do it again the next week, it gets a little bit of a buzz and then I go to the props truck and say can you make me big, thick list in case I want to use it to hit somebody over the head with and engrave something on. Then, they just put a red piece of paper on it that said the List of Jericho. Meanwhile, this thing is growing. Then, the one week where I said you just made the list and people cheered, it’s like holy (expletive) this is not what we expected. Then, the week we were in there with New Day and I put all three of them on the list, I said the secret is when I put you on the list, you have to sell it like it’s a horrible thing and Woods was great. If people are laughing at it, then it doesn’t get over but because it’s a serious thing, to be on the list is horrible then suddenly we have this whole new world of stuff to deal with.

“I was talking to Vince the other day and I said the list is more over than half the roster and he said yeah, I wish the list could work. The entity of this thing that doesn’t even exist and is now a character on the show. The best gimmicks and best things that work always happen organically. You can’t shove something down people’s throats. It just happens and it becomes a thing. The only thing I can compare this to is the angle I had with Shawn Michaels back in 2008.

That was supposed to be just a one night thing that turned into a 7 month angle, culminating in a battle for the world heavyweight championship. That was not supposed to happen, that was never the plan. It was nothing more than a drop of the bucket sort of thing and that’s kind of what this whole character has been, especially the list. Now, the other day when I came out with the list, it’s like people are going nuts for it. Just a quick story, I was in Edmonton and Calgary the other day. I was in Edmonton, still a heel so I’ve got to be a heel, I don’t want to be a cool heel and I don’t want to embrace it because then I’m a baby face so I’m still doing what I can to stay a heel and I’m doing good. I’m threatening to fight Wayne Gretzky, I’m doing all this stuff in Edmonton, I go are you going to boo me, you know what happens when you boo me, you just made the list and suddenly, people just pop huge.

So what do I do? The next night in Calgary, I start insulting the Harts, I’m going to beat up every Hart family member, girls, guys, kids included. Big boos. You know what happens when you boo me? People are starting to build. Oh, you thought you were going to be on the list? No, I’m sorry, you’re not worthy of being on the list. The fine people of Edmonton last night, they belong on the list. Calgary, no chance and that got boos so now not being on the list is the new being on the list and I did that last night on Raw for the first time where I refused to put Roman on the list and I refused to put anyone in Hartford on the list. That made me a heel for the night so you just never really know what’s going to get over but you have to take advantage of it when it does.”


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