Chris Jericho did an interview with Sports Illustrated to talk about a wide range of topics. Here are some of the highlights:
For those of us who have been watching you throughout the course of your career, we have a pretty solid understanding of Chris Jericho. What are you looking to accomplish with the Mimosa Mayhem match this Saturday at All Out?
It’s going to be a new experience. Don’t forget, I created the Money in the Bank match. I created the Ambrose Asylum match to an extent, and that wasn’t as popular, but when you talk about the Money in the Bank, they’ve done that every single year since 2005, when Brian Gewirtz and I came up with that. And here we are with the Mimosa Mayhem match, and people may think that’s funny or they may think it’s stupid. But if it turns out great, who’s to say Orange can’t use it until the end of his career the same way Kane used an Inferno match? Obviously, it’s much more of a match that Orange would use in the future than I would, but who gives a s—? Either way, it’s a great idea that’s going to culminate this story. It wouldn’t work for Jericho vs. Kenny. It’s not that type of match. This is built around him dousing me in orange juice, and us returning the favor with champagne. For us, this is the next best step. It creates a whole new set of rules and false finishes and high spots, too.
I’ve read people’s comments. I have heard it is going to be stupid or that this is dumb. You should probably watch it first before deciding. I am not going to be involved in something I don’t believe will work. It’s going to be an exciting, unique, fun match, and people are going to enjoy it. This is the first time ever we’ll see it this Saturday, and it makes complete sense with the journey and the story we’ve told over the last 14 weeks.
You mentioned Tyson, whose schedule changed when his exhibition fight was moved from September to November. But he’s not the only professional fighter that would make a good opponent for you. Although you have never had a pay-per-view match together, you still share plenty of history with Brock Lesnar, who is now a free agent. Is Lesnar a perfect fit to insert in your next story, and is he the right fit for AEW?
I don’t know if Brock fits the whole AEW idea or attitude. That’s a Tony Khan decision and a Brock decision. Do I think Brock does this every few years just to up his price with Vince? Of course he does. He’s a genius when it comes to that. But hey, if he showed up in AEW, I’d be happy to go up against him and do the match we were supposed to do in April of 2018 in WWE that Vince then changed. We’ve never had a match on TV or pay-per-view, ever. If it came about, I’d be happy to go up and smack him in his fat face.
