Chris Jericho On Gaining Vince McMahon’s Respect, If The PG-Era Is Too Restrictive, Being A True Heel

In this new interview, Chris Jericho talks about when he began speaking out on creative in WWE, whether the PG-Era is too restrictive for talent, if he prefers working as a heel or babyface, and more.

On when he finally decided to speak up against WWE creative and how to approach Vince McMahon in doing so:

“I’d say probably 2008 is when I could really start figuring out what I wanted to do and having a lot of say in my storylines because before that, you really just do what you’re told and if you don’t like it, you can f–k off and that’s basically it. And anybody that tells you differently is not telling you the truth because it really is, until you earn the respect of Vince McMahon, you don’t have any leverage.” Jericho continued, “it’s not so much standing up and being a rebel and saying, ‘this is what I’m going to do’, it’s more like, ‘okay, well, how can I make this as good as possible?’ And then, once you do that long enough, making everything good, then you earn respect. And then you can start kind of interjecting and saying, ‘well, here [are] my ideas. Here’s what I want to do.'”

On disagreeing with Batista and Mick Foley about WWE’s “PG-Era” being “too restrictive” on today’s talent:

“If you’re a good performer, you make it good no matter what the rules are. I don’t have to go out there and say, ‘son of a b—h’ and get color and dump outhouses full of s–t on Vince McMahon to get over. I don’t have to do that. And I think [Batista and Mick Foley] might feel that way, but I think they’re both great performers and they can make it work as well. Once again, your job as a performer is to take what you’re given and make it work and sometimes there are certain restrictions that you have and sometimes those restrictions aren’t there, but it really doesn’t matter. You still have to make it work. That’s your job.”

On what makes a true heel in the wrestling business:

“Being a heel, a true heel, you’ve really got to commit to it and a lot of guys don’t now. To be a real, true heel, is a hard thing and you really have to be into it. If you want to be a real heel, merchandise? What’s that? Magazines? Why would I ever want to be in a magazine or on a website feature as a heel? No interviews allowed. Nothing allowed because if I’m a real heel, I don’t want to talk to anybody.”

Jericho also talked about his band, Fozzy’s upcoming album and winning the Undisputed WWF Championship.