Post by Head Booker on Jun 22, 2010 12:47:24 GMT -6
Fanhouse interviews Jericho
Chris Jericho has always said that he is much more than just a WWE superstar. He's your party host and the most entertaining person to be on your TV screen.
Now, he's getting another chance to prove that as he hosts the new game show Downfall which debuts Tuesday at 9PM ET on ABC. It's just the latest evolution for him in entertainment to go along with his successful wrestling career, being the lead singer of the rock band Fozzy and writing his first autobiography which was a New York Times bestseller.
On Monday, FanHouse spoke with Jericho about Downfall, what's next for him in the world of entertainment, how much longer he would like to wrestle, the WWE moving to PG rated content and more.
Brian Fritz: Tell me about the show Downfall and your role as the host.
Chris Jericho: Yeah, I'm hosting the show for ABC called 'Downfall'. It's produced by Free Mantle Media which is the people who do American Idol and America's Got Talent so it's a pretty big time show. The premise of it is we shot it on the top of a skyscraper in downtown LA 100 feet from the ground on the roof. There's this giant conveyer belt and you put all your prizes and money on the belt which starts moving. If you answer the questions in the category you pick correctly in time, all the stuff that is on the belt is yours. The longer you take, the more stuff topples off the edge and lands on the street below. If the money goes over the edge, then you go over the edge as well. The contestants are hooked up to a harness, like a zip line. If they don't answer the questions in time, they go over the edge. If things get too panicky and too crazy, you can hit a panic button which resets the game. If you do that, you have to put something on the belt like a personal item that you brought from home. People brought like golf clubs or their china set that their grandma gave them. Or you can actually put your supporter on the belt which would be like your friend, your family, whoever you brought with you to help you out. They can help you answer questions but if things go wrong, they go over the edge as well. It's quite a dramatic, suspenseful kind of a show. There's a lot of human element behind it which is what attracted me. Obviously, the smash up derby part is cool too but it's the game itself that's actually the fun part.
Did you watch a lot of game shows growing up?
Yeah, I was a big fan of game shows. I love The Price is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Match Game and then recently I was a real big fan of Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. That's why when this opportunity came up, it's kind of a natural progression from what I do in the WWE anyways as fan as the party host. You're leading the flow, the ebb and tide of the show and making sure people have a good time, make sure people are involved and that's what I do. You've got to be a little standup comedian, a little bit psychiatrist and best friend to these people on the top of this building. When you're up there, talking about it is fine and dandy but when you're actually up there looking down it's very, very intimidating. It's stressful to have to answer these questions when you know that these things you really want are about to fall over the edge. It's quite exciting of a show and it's very exciting for me to be involved with it.
Are there any previous game show hosts that you have looked up to or pattered yourself after?
Game show hosts are almost like being talk show hosts. It's really the same concept. I always loved Richard Dawson, I thought he was cool. You know, Monty Hall, Gene Rayburn and those types of guys but to me Johnny Carson was the man. My overall goal in showbiz so to speak would be to have my own talk show. I don't think there's ever been anyone as good at it as Johnny Carson as far as just listening to the crowd and listening to the guests, not trying to get his own jokes in but trying almost to be the straight man for everyone else. That's kind of what it is for the game show. Nowadays, people are flying themselves in from all over the country to audition to be a contestant. People are really looking for cash nowadays. There are some real livewires and great personalities just as contestants alone. You've got to be able to cultivate that and work with that because that's what makes the show work too. People that are playing for the money, you really want to see them win. The more you get into who they are, the more you get into the show.
Plus, Richard Dawson was best known for trying to stick his tongue down everyone's throat.
Well, that's just the best! I just want to kiss every chick ... fat, skinny, hot, ugly. It doesn't matter. I'll even throw in the guys too. It's the new millennium, what the hell!
How exactly did this deal come about? I know you have an agent which is something in wrestling that a lot of guys don't have or take advantage of.
Actually, I've had an agent for years and then I got a new agency, a pretty good one, when I did the Larry King bit on his show where I was a real (expletive) to him and didn't break character the whole time and he was completely sure that I was being serious. Obviously I wasn't. The agency saw that and said well, this guy's a pretty good actor. I signed with them about a year ago and there have been a couple of things that have popped up. You know, a lot of it you just don't have time to do the stuff you'd like to do with the full time schedule of the WWE. It wasn't something that was handed to me. It was an audition but an invited audition. They wanted to see me specifically. But afterwards I found out about 150 people auditioned for it and there were 20-some people that were put on tape for producers to see. It was quite a length audition process and for whatever reason I was the one they wanted for the show which was great.
Are there any entertainment opportunities you have your eye of things you would like to do in the future?
Well, I'm pretty much doing it. Fozzy obviously is a huge passion for me and the band is really drawing and this new record (Chasing the Grail) has done well. We've got shows coming up in France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia so there's a lot of opportunities with the band which we've worked hard at. For ten years, the band has been around and really turned the corner as a legitimate, kickass rock and roll band with great songs. I've just finishing up the second draft of my second book which is going to be great. Reading through it, it's almost as good as the first one if not better which is hard to believe but so many ridiculous things have happened to me in my life. It's kind of fun to put them down on a page and read it and go 'holy smokes, this is pretty nuts'. I'd like to do more acting as well. I really enjoyed the stuff I did with MacGruber. It was a quick part but it was a good one and there's a lot of opportunities for that as well that are waiting in the wings. I've never been short of opportunities. I've never been short of work. It's good. Like I've said, working in the WWE is show business boot camp. You've got to take advantage of all these great opportunities when they come to you.
With all of these other opportunities, has it been difficult to work with WWE scheduling-wise considering that's already a busy schedule?
Yeah but the cool thing about Downfall is that it was a pretty quick turnover. We filmed six shows in three nights last week. It's long shoots from 9p.m. to 5a.m because it has to be at night to be on the rooftop and have the LA skyline behind you. The work ethic that I have that's been cultivated over the years it's probably second-to-none and that's one of the things that really endeared The Rock to Hollywood when he first started is the fact that he had a great work ethic. You have that when you come out of the wrestling business. You get the job done and that's all there is to it. If 'Downfall' does well and they decide to do more episodes, it's a perfect way for me to kind of branch out and be seen by a whole new audience and not have to spend six months in New Zealand doing Lord of the Rings part four.
Since there are things breaking out for you in entertainment, have you put any kind of timetable on how much longer you would like to keep wrestling on a regular basis?
Yeah, the same timetable I've always had. When I'm finished with it and I feel I can't be at the absolute best any more I'll finish up. The stuff I've done over the last couple of years -- the last two-and-a-half years – to me has been the best stuff of my career. And that means a lot to me because when I came back, I didn't want to come back and be a nostalgia act. I wanted to do something completely different and make an impact and I've done that more than I had ever in my career. Even last night, working with Evan Bourne it was the best match I've had in months. I was like 'stole the show, hadn't stolen the show in a few months' but I haven't really been given the opportunity to working with The Miz against the Harts, those types of things. I think at WrestleMania Edge and I came close to stealing the show. I wasn't completely happy with the match but it was still good. But last night was one of those matches, like, for me, because I can only judge by how I feel and last night was one of those 'give it up for Jericho', that was a Jericho match. That's a classic for me. So it's good to know that those are still there. When you do those and have some great promos... You know, I always have, storylines are always important to me. I always laugh when I start a storyline because they're always very intricate and drawn out. You do something for one or two weeks and people make assumptions. Jericho is on a losing streak or Jericho is this or Jericho is that. That just makes me laugh because you should know by now with Jericho that things are never what they seem and you should sit back and shut the (expletive) up and let me do my job and just enjoy it and not analyze it until it's all said and done. The same thing I did with (Rey) Mysterio or Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin or these old-timers or the Mickey Rourke thing, there's always more to it than meets the eye and you never really know exactly the whole story until it's over. It's kind of like Pulp Fiction – Jericho is the Pulp Fiction of wrestling.
Why do you think things have been so good for you since you came back from your hiatus? Is it because you had an opportunity to clear your mind and heal up?
That was some of it. I studied acting intricately and really learned the nuisances of method acting which is as pretentious as it sounds. I play a character every week on Raw or Smackdown. It's nothing new for me to be acting. But to actually learn what an actor does and how to make it work was invaluable as far as playing this new character that I created. When I saw the movie No Country For Old Men I just knew that was a perfect character for the WWE and I've kind of taken that and worked on it. You've got to constantly reinvent yourself. It's the only way to stay relevant and I think that's the reason why. I found this character and was lucky enough to have that one thing with Shawn (Michaels) where I was the guest ref and nobody had a finish and Shawn came up with the idea that maybe he hurts his knee and I came up with the people are hypocrites for liking you, they're saying you're the favorite when you're cheating. We just caught the tail of a rocket on that. I think the combination of that eight month long thing with Shawn and the fact that I was able to really drop into this character and make people believe that I really was this real crazy (expletive). It really all connected at once to make a very memorable angle and make this character somebody that people still hate after two-and-a-half years which is pretty rare in this business. It's hard to be a villain and stay a villain. When the best villains of all-time end up turning babyface whether it be Darth Vader or Terminator of Hannibal Lecter because it's so damn entertaining. When you get that entertainment value involved, people start wanting to cheer for you because they like you. There's a fine line to be able to stay hated and I take great pride in the fact that I've been able to do that.
Even in the case of Evan Bourne last night and working in the Nassau Coliseum where the people are cheering mostly for Jericho, that more of where we are. The fans up in that area are really (expletive) fans that like the bad guys but halfway through, lo and behold, they started chanting 'let's go Jericho, let's go Bourne' and that to me was cool because they're just getting this guy going and that's one of my jobs at this point. That's one of the things that I like. I could be the world champion, sure, that's fine. But to me – don't get me wrong, I'm not minimizing it – the most important thing is to start making new stars and pass the torch and pass the knowledge and pass the rub whatever that may be to some of these guys because I'm not going to be here forever. And my style of wrestling is not going to be here forever. I mean, the guys that came in the way I did, the hybrid Japanese-Calgary-Mexican guys are pretty much gone. There's a few of us left but not many. I wish to God there would have been a guy like that to work with me in WCW. Someone who wanted to make some stars. I could lose 100 nights in a row, I could lose to you, and it wouldn't make a frickin' difference. I could win the world title the next night and everyone would buy into it because I'm at that level where I'm bulletproof. We have to take advantage of that and use it for the good of the company and the good of some of these guys that are coming up that I feel have some of that mojo that can really do something in the business.
Is your contract coming up? I know you've been back with the company for almost three years now.
Yeah, it's coming up fairly soon, it's coming up very soon. It's one of those things we've been talking about for a while to get it rolling again. Like I said, to me, I'll leave the business when I'm ready to and I'm not ready yet. I still want to continue to work. I still have some things that I can offer. I still think I'm among the best in what I do, if not the best just because of the fact I have 20 years of experience which is a rare thing nowadays. You can't teach experience. You can teach someone to do a promo kind of, you can teach someone to do a move but you can't teach someone experience.
What's your thoughts about the Bryan Danielson situation because that's really blown up of him getting released?
I think he got caught in a crossfire. I think he was the scapegoat for somebody getting angry at the choke thing. Obviously, that's been a hot button topic for years. I don't think he did it maliciously. I don't think Vince (McMahon) fired him maliciously. I think it was one of those things where hands were tied and somebody got angry from somewhere and they had to make a knee jerk decision to do that. I think it hurts the NXT group because it's great right now when you have seven animals ganging up on one guy. That's a great visual but when it comes down, at some point they're going to have to wrestle. At some point, somebody's going to have to wrestle. And Wade Barrett is good but Danielson was the gem and could go out there and have five star matches with anybody. And they don't have that right now. That's the one thing I think is a little bit of a weak link in the NXT chain is the fact that they don't have that. So losing Bryan is going to be, it's going to be a blow. Hopefully, they'll bring him back at some point because he's a great guy and a great talent. I worked with him for about six minutes on the first NXT but it was a great match and I would love to work with him more and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way,
With the company now being PG rated, was there ever any kind of adjustment period for you that you felt? That goes into this whole thing with Danielson.
Yeah, Not me. I was never really the big swearing guy. I had a couple of things - ass clown, shut the hell up and stuff like that. If you're creative and you're smart and intelligent, there's a million more where that came from. No choking – fine. No chopping – fine. It takes two or three matches to get used to it but that's it. And no choking, that's no blatant choking with a wire or tie. I mean, it's still wrestling. That's one of the reasons why I'm still on top. I've been able to adapt to the changes anywhere I've gone. And PG, I think, is a great idea. To me, the Attitude Era was stupid. Hot Lesbian Action and Meat with a (expletive) (expletive) in his pants because he has a (expletive) and Mark Henry getting a (expletive) from a guy and necrophilia. That's not entertaining by anybody's standards. That's just stupid and I never liked that stuff. For me, for them to go family oriented, I'm all for it. It's family oriented but in this day and age where you can still go out there and have kick ass matches. It's still edgy, there's still great characters. I've got no problem with it. I like it much better than the Attitude Era because I thought the Attitude Era was just childish, dropping (expletive) on each another and stuff. C'mon, that's not funny if you're five years old.
Are you surprised that Batista walked away? Also, over the weekend TMZ caught him and he said he was going to try MMA.
Whatever. Dave is one of those guys where he got everything he wanted out of the business and maybe he wants to go find himself the way I did a couple of years ago. Will he come back? I'm sure he will. If he wants to do MMA, why not? He's a big guy and he actually does train. I've seen him throw hands pretty good so hopefully he goes in and beats some dudes up and then when he comes back he can make more money here. Yeah, I think it's great. Anytime somebody goes out of the wrestling business and does something on their own in another world, it's just better for all of us. Better for the company, better for me, better for Vince, better for Dave. Good for him.
When it comes to Downfall, have they given you any kind of timetable such as we're going to let all six episodes air and then we'll decide what's going to happen going forward?
Dude, this is a whole new world for me. I don't really know much about network television so I'm hoping for the best and I hope it's a huge hit and does the biggest rating of all time and when that rating comes in they go, 'we want 12 more!' or do they wait six weeks and take six months afterwards. I not sure man. I try to just go with the flow and I'm hoping for the best. Like I said, I'd love to do more episodes. I think it's a great show. That's all you can do. You work as hard as you can. You make it a great show. Everybody had a great effort. If it doesn't do good, it's not because it wasn't a good show. But I think if anything has a chance to be a hit, this show does. It's got a great timeslot. They're really backing it. There's great people behind it and plus I'm in it. What more do you need?
Chris Jericho has always said that he is much more than just a WWE superstar. He's your party host and the most entertaining person to be on your TV screen.
Now, he's getting another chance to prove that as he hosts the new game show Downfall which debuts Tuesday at 9PM ET on ABC. It's just the latest evolution for him in entertainment to go along with his successful wrestling career, being the lead singer of the rock band Fozzy and writing his first autobiography which was a New York Times bestseller.
On Monday, FanHouse spoke with Jericho about Downfall, what's next for him in the world of entertainment, how much longer he would like to wrestle, the WWE moving to PG rated content and more.
Brian Fritz: Tell me about the show Downfall and your role as the host.
Chris Jericho: Yeah, I'm hosting the show for ABC called 'Downfall'. It's produced by Free Mantle Media which is the people who do American Idol and America's Got Talent so it's a pretty big time show. The premise of it is we shot it on the top of a skyscraper in downtown LA 100 feet from the ground on the roof. There's this giant conveyer belt and you put all your prizes and money on the belt which starts moving. If you answer the questions in the category you pick correctly in time, all the stuff that is on the belt is yours. The longer you take, the more stuff topples off the edge and lands on the street below. If the money goes over the edge, then you go over the edge as well. The contestants are hooked up to a harness, like a zip line. If they don't answer the questions in time, they go over the edge. If things get too panicky and too crazy, you can hit a panic button which resets the game. If you do that, you have to put something on the belt like a personal item that you brought from home. People brought like golf clubs or their china set that their grandma gave them. Or you can actually put your supporter on the belt which would be like your friend, your family, whoever you brought with you to help you out. They can help you answer questions but if things go wrong, they go over the edge as well. It's quite a dramatic, suspenseful kind of a show. There's a lot of human element behind it which is what attracted me. Obviously, the smash up derby part is cool too but it's the game itself that's actually the fun part.
Did you watch a lot of game shows growing up?
Yeah, I was a big fan of game shows. I love The Price is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Match Game and then recently I was a real big fan of Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. That's why when this opportunity came up, it's kind of a natural progression from what I do in the WWE anyways as fan as the party host. You're leading the flow, the ebb and tide of the show and making sure people have a good time, make sure people are involved and that's what I do. You've got to be a little standup comedian, a little bit psychiatrist and best friend to these people on the top of this building. When you're up there, talking about it is fine and dandy but when you're actually up there looking down it's very, very intimidating. It's stressful to have to answer these questions when you know that these things you really want are about to fall over the edge. It's quite exciting of a show and it's very exciting for me to be involved with it.
Are there any previous game show hosts that you have looked up to or pattered yourself after?
Game show hosts are almost like being talk show hosts. It's really the same concept. I always loved Richard Dawson, I thought he was cool. You know, Monty Hall, Gene Rayburn and those types of guys but to me Johnny Carson was the man. My overall goal in showbiz so to speak would be to have my own talk show. I don't think there's ever been anyone as good at it as Johnny Carson as far as just listening to the crowd and listening to the guests, not trying to get his own jokes in but trying almost to be the straight man for everyone else. That's kind of what it is for the game show. Nowadays, people are flying themselves in from all over the country to audition to be a contestant. People are really looking for cash nowadays. There are some real livewires and great personalities just as contestants alone. You've got to be able to cultivate that and work with that because that's what makes the show work too. People that are playing for the money, you really want to see them win. The more you get into who they are, the more you get into the show.
Plus, Richard Dawson was best known for trying to stick his tongue down everyone's throat.
Well, that's just the best! I just want to kiss every chick ... fat, skinny, hot, ugly. It doesn't matter. I'll even throw in the guys too. It's the new millennium, what the hell!
How exactly did this deal come about? I know you have an agent which is something in wrestling that a lot of guys don't have or take advantage of.
Actually, I've had an agent for years and then I got a new agency, a pretty good one, when I did the Larry King bit on his show where I was a real (expletive) to him and didn't break character the whole time and he was completely sure that I was being serious. Obviously I wasn't. The agency saw that and said well, this guy's a pretty good actor. I signed with them about a year ago and there have been a couple of things that have popped up. You know, a lot of it you just don't have time to do the stuff you'd like to do with the full time schedule of the WWE. It wasn't something that was handed to me. It was an audition but an invited audition. They wanted to see me specifically. But afterwards I found out about 150 people auditioned for it and there were 20-some people that were put on tape for producers to see. It was quite a length audition process and for whatever reason I was the one they wanted for the show which was great.
Are there any entertainment opportunities you have your eye of things you would like to do in the future?
Well, I'm pretty much doing it. Fozzy obviously is a huge passion for me and the band is really drawing and this new record (Chasing the Grail) has done well. We've got shows coming up in France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia so there's a lot of opportunities with the band which we've worked hard at. For ten years, the band has been around and really turned the corner as a legitimate, kickass rock and roll band with great songs. I've just finishing up the second draft of my second book which is going to be great. Reading through it, it's almost as good as the first one if not better which is hard to believe but so many ridiculous things have happened to me in my life. It's kind of fun to put them down on a page and read it and go 'holy smokes, this is pretty nuts'. I'd like to do more acting as well. I really enjoyed the stuff I did with MacGruber. It was a quick part but it was a good one and there's a lot of opportunities for that as well that are waiting in the wings. I've never been short of opportunities. I've never been short of work. It's good. Like I've said, working in the WWE is show business boot camp. You've got to take advantage of all these great opportunities when they come to you.
With all of these other opportunities, has it been difficult to work with WWE scheduling-wise considering that's already a busy schedule?
Yeah but the cool thing about Downfall is that it was a pretty quick turnover. We filmed six shows in three nights last week. It's long shoots from 9p.m. to 5a.m because it has to be at night to be on the rooftop and have the LA skyline behind you. The work ethic that I have that's been cultivated over the years it's probably second-to-none and that's one of the things that really endeared The Rock to Hollywood when he first started is the fact that he had a great work ethic. You have that when you come out of the wrestling business. You get the job done and that's all there is to it. If 'Downfall' does well and they decide to do more episodes, it's a perfect way for me to kind of branch out and be seen by a whole new audience and not have to spend six months in New Zealand doing Lord of the Rings part four.
Since there are things breaking out for you in entertainment, have you put any kind of timetable on how much longer you would like to keep wrestling on a regular basis?
Yeah, the same timetable I've always had. When I'm finished with it and I feel I can't be at the absolute best any more I'll finish up. The stuff I've done over the last couple of years -- the last two-and-a-half years – to me has been the best stuff of my career. And that means a lot to me because when I came back, I didn't want to come back and be a nostalgia act. I wanted to do something completely different and make an impact and I've done that more than I had ever in my career. Even last night, working with Evan Bourne it was the best match I've had in months. I was like 'stole the show, hadn't stolen the show in a few months' but I haven't really been given the opportunity to working with The Miz against the Harts, those types of things. I think at WrestleMania Edge and I came close to stealing the show. I wasn't completely happy with the match but it was still good. But last night was one of those matches, like, for me, because I can only judge by how I feel and last night was one of those 'give it up for Jericho', that was a Jericho match. That's a classic for me. So it's good to know that those are still there. When you do those and have some great promos... You know, I always have, storylines are always important to me. I always laugh when I start a storyline because they're always very intricate and drawn out. You do something for one or two weeks and people make assumptions. Jericho is on a losing streak or Jericho is this or Jericho is that. That just makes me laugh because you should know by now with Jericho that things are never what they seem and you should sit back and shut the (expletive) up and let me do my job and just enjoy it and not analyze it until it's all said and done. The same thing I did with (Rey) Mysterio or Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin or these old-timers or the Mickey Rourke thing, there's always more to it than meets the eye and you never really know exactly the whole story until it's over. It's kind of like Pulp Fiction – Jericho is the Pulp Fiction of wrestling.
Why do you think things have been so good for you since you came back from your hiatus? Is it because you had an opportunity to clear your mind and heal up?
That was some of it. I studied acting intricately and really learned the nuisances of method acting which is as pretentious as it sounds. I play a character every week on Raw or Smackdown. It's nothing new for me to be acting. But to actually learn what an actor does and how to make it work was invaluable as far as playing this new character that I created. When I saw the movie No Country For Old Men I just knew that was a perfect character for the WWE and I've kind of taken that and worked on it. You've got to constantly reinvent yourself. It's the only way to stay relevant and I think that's the reason why. I found this character and was lucky enough to have that one thing with Shawn (Michaels) where I was the guest ref and nobody had a finish and Shawn came up with the idea that maybe he hurts his knee and I came up with the people are hypocrites for liking you, they're saying you're the favorite when you're cheating. We just caught the tail of a rocket on that. I think the combination of that eight month long thing with Shawn and the fact that I was able to really drop into this character and make people believe that I really was this real crazy (expletive). It really all connected at once to make a very memorable angle and make this character somebody that people still hate after two-and-a-half years which is pretty rare in this business. It's hard to be a villain and stay a villain. When the best villains of all-time end up turning babyface whether it be Darth Vader or Terminator of Hannibal Lecter because it's so damn entertaining. When you get that entertainment value involved, people start wanting to cheer for you because they like you. There's a fine line to be able to stay hated and I take great pride in the fact that I've been able to do that.
Even in the case of Evan Bourne last night and working in the Nassau Coliseum where the people are cheering mostly for Jericho, that more of where we are. The fans up in that area are really (expletive) fans that like the bad guys but halfway through, lo and behold, they started chanting 'let's go Jericho, let's go Bourne' and that to me was cool because they're just getting this guy going and that's one of my jobs at this point. That's one of the things that I like. I could be the world champion, sure, that's fine. But to me – don't get me wrong, I'm not minimizing it – the most important thing is to start making new stars and pass the torch and pass the knowledge and pass the rub whatever that may be to some of these guys because I'm not going to be here forever. And my style of wrestling is not going to be here forever. I mean, the guys that came in the way I did, the hybrid Japanese-Calgary-Mexican guys are pretty much gone. There's a few of us left but not many. I wish to God there would have been a guy like that to work with me in WCW. Someone who wanted to make some stars. I could lose 100 nights in a row, I could lose to you, and it wouldn't make a frickin' difference. I could win the world title the next night and everyone would buy into it because I'm at that level where I'm bulletproof. We have to take advantage of that and use it for the good of the company and the good of some of these guys that are coming up that I feel have some of that mojo that can really do something in the business.
Is your contract coming up? I know you've been back with the company for almost three years now.
Yeah, it's coming up fairly soon, it's coming up very soon. It's one of those things we've been talking about for a while to get it rolling again. Like I said, to me, I'll leave the business when I'm ready to and I'm not ready yet. I still want to continue to work. I still have some things that I can offer. I still think I'm among the best in what I do, if not the best just because of the fact I have 20 years of experience which is a rare thing nowadays. You can't teach experience. You can teach someone to do a promo kind of, you can teach someone to do a move but you can't teach someone experience.
What's your thoughts about the Bryan Danielson situation because that's really blown up of him getting released?
I think he got caught in a crossfire. I think he was the scapegoat for somebody getting angry at the choke thing. Obviously, that's been a hot button topic for years. I don't think he did it maliciously. I don't think Vince (McMahon) fired him maliciously. I think it was one of those things where hands were tied and somebody got angry from somewhere and they had to make a knee jerk decision to do that. I think it hurts the NXT group because it's great right now when you have seven animals ganging up on one guy. That's a great visual but when it comes down, at some point they're going to have to wrestle. At some point, somebody's going to have to wrestle. And Wade Barrett is good but Danielson was the gem and could go out there and have five star matches with anybody. And they don't have that right now. That's the one thing I think is a little bit of a weak link in the NXT chain is the fact that they don't have that. So losing Bryan is going to be, it's going to be a blow. Hopefully, they'll bring him back at some point because he's a great guy and a great talent. I worked with him for about six minutes on the first NXT but it was a great match and I would love to work with him more and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way,
With the company now being PG rated, was there ever any kind of adjustment period for you that you felt? That goes into this whole thing with Danielson.
Yeah, Not me. I was never really the big swearing guy. I had a couple of things - ass clown, shut the hell up and stuff like that. If you're creative and you're smart and intelligent, there's a million more where that came from. No choking – fine. No chopping – fine. It takes two or three matches to get used to it but that's it. And no choking, that's no blatant choking with a wire or tie. I mean, it's still wrestling. That's one of the reasons why I'm still on top. I've been able to adapt to the changes anywhere I've gone. And PG, I think, is a great idea. To me, the Attitude Era was stupid. Hot Lesbian Action and Meat with a (expletive) (expletive) in his pants because he has a (expletive) and Mark Henry getting a (expletive) from a guy and necrophilia. That's not entertaining by anybody's standards. That's just stupid and I never liked that stuff. For me, for them to go family oriented, I'm all for it. It's family oriented but in this day and age where you can still go out there and have kick ass matches. It's still edgy, there's still great characters. I've got no problem with it. I like it much better than the Attitude Era because I thought the Attitude Era was just childish, dropping (expletive) on each another and stuff. C'mon, that's not funny if you're five years old.
Are you surprised that Batista walked away? Also, over the weekend TMZ caught him and he said he was going to try MMA.
Whatever. Dave is one of those guys where he got everything he wanted out of the business and maybe he wants to go find himself the way I did a couple of years ago. Will he come back? I'm sure he will. If he wants to do MMA, why not? He's a big guy and he actually does train. I've seen him throw hands pretty good so hopefully he goes in and beats some dudes up and then when he comes back he can make more money here. Yeah, I think it's great. Anytime somebody goes out of the wrestling business and does something on their own in another world, it's just better for all of us. Better for the company, better for me, better for Vince, better for Dave. Good for him.
When it comes to Downfall, have they given you any kind of timetable such as we're going to let all six episodes air and then we'll decide what's going to happen going forward?
Dude, this is a whole new world for me. I don't really know much about network television so I'm hoping for the best and I hope it's a huge hit and does the biggest rating of all time and when that rating comes in they go, 'we want 12 more!' or do they wait six weeks and take six months afterwards. I not sure man. I try to just go with the flow and I'm hoping for the best. Like I said, I'd love to do more episodes. I think it's a great show. That's all you can do. You work as hard as you can. You make it a great show. Everybody had a great effort. If it doesn't do good, it's not because it wasn't a good show. But I think if anything has a chance to be a hit, this show does. It's got a great timeslot. They're really backing it. There's great people behind it and plus I'm in it. What more do you need?
