In an episode of his podcast 83 Weeks, WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff discussed various topics, including Chris Jericho’s future and whether he will return to WWE.
Bischoff said, “Here’s why I find it interesting. Well, there’s a couple of reasons, one being that Chris has a unique ability to completely reinvent himself. Chris has been off TV for quite a while, right? I haven’t seen or heard of him being on camera. Chris was looking a little pudgy the last time I saw him on camera. Pudgy won’t fly in WWE, not like that.”
On his theory:
“Chris has so much pride and competition in him. He’s a competitive person. My theory for weeks — I haven’t brought it up to you necessarily, because there’s no reason to. But for weeks, maybe longer, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I know what Chris is going to do.’ He’s off TV because he’s going to come back looking shredded. Now, I didn’t think about him getting shredded and going to WWE because I wasn’t paying attention to when his contract is out. Now I’m still feeling the same way. There’s a reason he’s off TV. There’s a very good reason. So now you throw the WWE possibility, and here’s the part where I’m entertained. If I’m Chris, and I’m getting shredded. And Tony’s excited about getting me back, and my contract’s coming up in four or five months? I’m going to make sure that contract is as fat as I can make it. So what better way than to create a market for yourself, or a potential market for yourself, with a couple of little comments or liking a tweet? All that does is stir the pot on the internet. Tony lives on the internet. That’s his heroin. He loves the internet, he makes decisions based on the internet. Chris is smart enough to do [it.] It’s true, and Chris knows it’s true. So if I’m Chris, ‘Well come on, daddy, because somebody’s going to pay me.’ I love it.”
On wanting a WWE retirement farewell:
“I feel strongly — and look, I’m not close to [Jericho]. I mean, we’re friends, but we don’t chat. We don’t — you know, if we see each other in a restaurant, we’ll probably sit down and have a meal or something like that, and have a great conversation. But it’s not like we stay in touch. I hope he goes to WWE. I hope he ends his career in WWE. And this is not intended disrespect to AEW, but it is what AEW is. And the audience is what it is, or isn’t what it isn’t. If any performer is going to go out, why would you not want to go out on the biggest stage of them all? Who wants to win a trophy in triple-A ball when you could win a World Series ring? And that’s really the difference between the two companies. One is triple-A ball. One is the New York Yankees. Why would you want to end your career in triple-A ball?”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
