Chris Jericho Reveals The Original Plans For Him At Wrestlemania 19

Chris Jericho was interviewed by Inside The Ropes. During the interview, he spoke in-depth about his match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 19, as It turns out that Jericho vs Michaels was not the original plans for that event.

“[Shawn Michaels] is better than 75% of the roster…in my opinion, the best ever. It’s not [Ric] Flair, it’s not Bret [Hart], it’s Shawn Michaels for me, what I like. So even though he was coming back [at the time], he was great. And he has one match with Triple H, but this was his first WrestleMania back and it might have been the first program since the Triple H program, and it was never supposed to be.

It was just a one-shot thing where I was doing a Highlight Reel and I was calling Michaels old, and that sort of thing. I was just demeaning Shawn on the Highlight Reel, he superkicked me in the face and that was supposed to be the end of it. We walked to the back and I remember Vince sitting there, smiling, and just looking at Shawn, and Shawn goes, ‘It’s money.’ And Vince goes, ‘You’re damn right it’s money!’ And that was where that whole angle started – it was supposed to me and Edge that year, originally.

This was the exact opposite of WrestleMania X8: it was a great story, a great buildup, it was not the main event on last but it stole the show at WrestleMania, it was a main event. And it was one of the best matches in WrestleMania history.

Like I said, there’s how many WrestleManias now? 35? 34? So there’s been 35 show-stealers in WrestleMania history and our match is one of them, and I’ll take that every time.”

(Pro Wrestling & MMA World)