Ross Reveals Why Jericho Was Pulled from the WrestleMania 2000 Main Event
On the latest edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed the main event of WrestleMania 2000 and how initial marketing for the show featured Chris Jericho even though he ended up not being in the main event (which ended up being The Rock vs. Triple H vs. The Big Show vs. Mick Foley). JR confirmed the rumors that WWE was concerned about Jericho being in a match with guys so much taller than him, and how it would make him look small, leading to him being replaced by Foley. Highlights are below.
On how in wrestling, plans are constantly changing: “Constant change, the last person you talk to gets the influence, type bullshit. Then talents coming in on the day you’re going to shoot it, and they’re not happy about something, so they go to the old man and they’re going to lobby their case, when they could have done it a week before, and they could have actually contributed to their storyline and actually add elements that they do like to it, so it’s really, really, frustrating.”
On how it was ridiculous that someone thought he didn’t deserve to be in the match: “The Jericho thing, obviously, and it shows you a lack of foresight and vision that somebody thought that Jericho was going to be overbooked to be in that match, he didn’t deserve it, he didn’t have the clout, he didn’t have the star power, whatever. It was ridiculous.”
On how Jericho would have been so much shorter than the other guys in the match: “Here’s the deal. Hate to harp on this shit. Hunter’s 6’3″, 6’4″, Big Show’s 7’0″, Rock’s 6’4″, Foley’s 6’3″ or 6’4″, then you put Jericho at under six feet, in that mix, and from the eye test, then it doesn’t all look right, it’s going to expose Chris for being smaller than he actually is. So stupid.”
On how Jericho overcame being disrespected to become a bigger star: “But look how Jericho overcame that slap in the face, and a show of disrespect, because he’s one of the biggest stars in the world right now, thank God he’s working for us in AEW, but nonetheless, I always thought that that was just a lot of lack of respect for Chris’ ability and what we had in Chris.”
On how it was bad business to feature Jericho on promotional materials and then pull him from the main event: “I thought that was totally unfair and actually it was bad business, Conrad, from the simple thing that all the posters, all the promotional material had Jericho prominently displayed, as you said, as one of the key players. So all of a sudden his name goes from above the title to ‘also featuring’, that type of deal. It was bad.”
