On a recent edition of the “Talk is Jericho” podcast, AEW and ROH producer Chris Hero (formerly WWE’s Kassius Ohno) discussed the possibility of a full-time return to the ring.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Chris Hero on a potential full-time return to the ring: “Personally, I’m going to keep having matches for West Coast Pro and see how that goes. I’m going to get myself in better shape and getting in gear, and see how my body feels about taking on a busier schedule and the landscape of AEW, all the great wrestlers and personalities. Also, people I have history with. I was talking to Tony Schiavone about this the other day. I just met Tony recently and have been spending a lot of time with him. He would have no reason to really know me or know what I’ve done. Every now and again he’ll hear something, ‘Okay, okay.’ If you look at a guy like Claudio, he’s someone I spent a lot of time with early in his career. Orange Cassidy was one of my students. Malakai Black was one of my students. Somebody like Brody King. I remember wrestling PWG, rolling outside the ring, and Brody King is sitting front row. He’s someone I’ve known for a long time. There are guys I know from Japan, from NXT, and people I have never had the chance to step in the ring with.”
On trying to figure out if he is up for the challenge: “There is a lot that is interesting to me, but am I up for the challenge? I have to make sure that I’m not doing it just to have these matches and say that I’m having them to get them done. What can I bring to the table that is different than others? It’s such a dream match era in wrestling, ‘this is a dream match.’ What can I contribute beyond that? I don’t want it to be, ‘I wrestled Chris Hero. Boom.’ I want it to be a butterfly effect where I can impact people’s careers and the way they have matches and do things that six months down the road, there is something slightly different about them because I was a chemical that interacted with them and sent them on a different path.”
On needing to be in the right state of mind and body:
“These young guys, they’re inspiring. You see them and are like, ‘Holy ****.’ How am I going to keep up with that? What can I do? How do I hold my own? Also, what kind of effects is wrestling me going to have on them? That kind of stuff excites me, but at the same time, I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself because I want to be in the right state of mind, the right state of body, before I get back at it full-time.”