Jericho Discusses Fozzy, ECW Only PPV, HHH & More

He has worked for every major wrestling promotion in the past 10 years and held a championship belt in each of them. He is the first Undisputed WWE champion. He’s the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Roll-ah! And, he’ll be the first to tell you that he is a “HUGE Rock Star!” He is “Y2J” Chris Jericho and if you didn’t figure that out by the introduction, that makes you an Ass Clown! Oh, and he just happens to be the latest guest on The Interactive Interview!

The Fozzy front man and WWE superstar joins James and Daniel to promote the January 18 release of Fozzy’s new album titled All that Remains. James and Daniel, fans of Fozzy, are perfectly happy to promote the CD to the best of their ability, they do not pass up the opportunity to ask Mr. Jericho some questions about the squared circle!

“Y2J” Chris Jericho

— The Interactive Interview then welcome Chris Jericho to the program.

— James mentions discussing Fozzy with a group of fans at a recent Dokken concert he attended and how many people compared Fozzy to Spinal Tap and how few were willing to take the band seriously. Jericho says he thinks the gimmick the band started with, being trapped in Japan in 1980 due to a bad record contract and all the 80’s metal bands that had hits stole those hits from them, both helps and hinders the band. He elaborates by saying it gives them a different history than other bands. But, he feels those who don’t take the band seriously should check out the new album, All that Remains, because it is the bands first complete non-cover album. He feels they hit it out of the park with this effort.

— James then mentions that Fozzy has covered some of his favorite songs, songs he has played on previous editions of The Interactive Interview as a matter of fact. He asks if Jericho feels the covers breathe new life into the classics. Jericho responds by saying he feels it does. Jericho feels they took the original song and made them a little more modern by making them more heavy and giving them a Fozzy spin.

— Jericho then mentions that the band was given a record contract after playing only 2 shows and having been unheard and unseen by the label.

— He feels the band has “grown out” of doing covers a bit and feels those who have misconceptions of what Fozzy is about should check out the new album, “All that Remains”, because he thinks it may well be the rock album of the year.

— James says that his girlfriend, may never have seen a wrestling match in her life yet owns both Fozzy albums released up to this point because she, like James, is a proud 80’s metal head. He then asks Jericho if he feels that is common or if it is mostly wrestling fans that discover the band. Jericho replies by saying he feels having Fozzy fans as opposed to just WWE fans is important because capturing your own audience is how you become successful.

— Chris admits the band has taken all the things that made 80’s metal cool like the hooks and melodies but has added some modern elements to the equation. “Not modern in a bad way,” Jericho elaborates.

— James says he has heard All that Remains and has described it as “Glammy Alternative.” Jericho says it is funny he should say that because he tells people who ask about their sound that they are Pantera meets Journey. There is the heavy style of Pantera mixed with the melodic style of Journey.

— Jericho feels, in many ways, All that Remains is like the bands debut album because it is their first album with all their own material.

— Daniel asks a hypothetical question giving Jericho the opportunity to choose any band he’d love to open for. Jericho says there are a lot of bands he’d love to work with. He mentions Metallica, KISS, and Black Label Society. He feels there are a lot of similarities between Black Label Society and Fozzy and mentions that he is a fan of that band.

— James, in true KISS Army member form, jumps right at the KISS mention and puts over Jericho’s performance on the Spin the Bottle KISS tribute CD. His only question about the album, who is the chick on the cover? Jericho doesn’t know but says if anybody knows, he’d love her phone number. The two then joke about opening a web site to figure out who she is so they can buy her dinner.

The conversation then flows to wrestling as James asks Jericho a brief “word association” on ECW. As Jericho said on the Rise and fall of ECW, “fun.” He elaborates saying it was a place and time that was just different.

— The prospect of an ECW PPV this year then comes up. Jericho says he doesn’t think it is that hot of an idea because people know the WWE is putting it on. Jericho feels doing that could be cool just to see some of the old ECW names but by doing it, it jeopardizes some of ECW’s integrity. Daniel then mentions that Simon Diamond and Sinister Minister both said ECW should “rest in peace.” Jericho agrees with that.

— James says he has never been more entertained by Jericho than his cruiserweight title run in WCW. He mentions the Library of Congress skits and funny interviews. He asks Jericho how much of that was his own creation. Jericho credits himself with much of the stuff he did in WCW. He mentions the Library of Congress saying he showed up in Washington and they pretty much gave him the camera and told him to do whatever, they needed film. “That’s where the whole conspiracy theory angle came from. Looking back on it, that was actually a pretty fun time.”

— The feud with Goldberg in WCW is brought up and James mentions the beating of the midget (little persons for those who demand political correctness) Goldberg at Fall Brawl 1998. The question posed is, why didn’t they ever have a pay off to the feud? Jericho’s response is simple, “politics.” He says people got in Goldberg’s ear and convinced him it wasn’t a good idea. Jericho thought they could’ve drawn money and had a good feud, not revolutionary but good nonetheless. When it never came to pass, he realized it was time to look elsewhere.

— Jericho left WCW because he felt there wasn’t a lot of advancement available in the company which he adds is obvious because they’re out of business. He also says he feels WCW wasn’t the place for younger guys. But, Jericho says he was always a WWF fan and always wanted to work there since he was a kid and he doesn’t regret the jump one bit.

— Daniel asks if he feels the booking of his character towards the end of his Undisputed title run was well booked. “It could’ve been better,” replied Jericho. He says there were a few things he did in that run that he wouldn’t do today but says he considered it and still considers it an honor to have been the first Undisputed champion. “Could it have been better? Yes. Could it have been worse? Yes. You have to take the good with the bad sometimes.”

— “Hulk loved working with me and it was great working with him because he knew I’d do my best to make him look great,” said Jericho when asked about his thoughts on working with Hulk Hogan in 2002. Jericho says it was a lot of fun working with him.

— The Elimination Chamber match is Sunday night. James incorrectly says he believes Jericho is the only one to have been in both previous Chamber matches. Jericho says Triple H has been in all of them as well which makes James laugh and credit Jericho for Stumping the Quizmaster. Maybe Jericho should win a free copy of the Sting movie for that? Anyway, James asks Jericho what the different mind set is getting in that type of imposing structure. Jericho says he is glad he has been it a few times because it helps him understand what can be done in there. He says it’s different and you have to be more careful in matches like that.

— James puts over the new Fozzy album, “All that Remains”, due out January 18. Jericho says to put away all misconceptions about Fozzy and buy this album. If you like it, great. If not, that’s okay too but he hopes people at least give it a chance.

— The show then rolls into some word associations which include Paul Stanley from KISS, Sting the wrestler and musician, Shawn Michaels, a non-answer to Triple H, and Vince McMahon!

— You can buy All that Remains online by shopping at Amazon by clicking this direct link to the product page, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=theinteract04-20&path=ASIN%2FB0006JMLIO%2Fqid%253D1104928938%2Fsr%253D11-1. A single from the album and eventually the full length disc will be available at the band’s official web site, www.FozzyRock.com. This is also where you can catch up on tour dates and more from Fozzy!

— The show rolls into a New Years Revolution commercial.

— James and Daniel then discuss New Years Revolution running down the card and going over all other aspects of professional wrestling in a great recap. They also remind you to tune in next week as they have already recorded a fantastic interview with Koko B. Ware that will knock your socks off, and suggest you check out the past archives for more WWE superstar interviews past, present and future.