On the road to WrestleMania, pro wrestler, singer, podcaster, TV personality, and yoga enthusiast (seriously) Chris Jericho has been making the rounds to talk about his new DVD, The Road is Jericho.
You’re on the road a lot, either with your band Fozzy or with World Wrestling Entertainment. How to you stay in shape with all of the travel?
When I’m on stage with Fozzy that’s 80 or 90 minutes of cardio. I sweat more doing that than I do when I’m wrestling. At home, I go to the gym and do CrossFit-style workouts. But on the road, yoga has been a godsend for me. I have a laptop and I pop in a DDP Yoga DVD — which is former pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page’s yoga method — and I can do it anywhere. When I weighed 230 pounds, I was getting fat. Losing the weight and doing yoga has put me in the best shape of my career. And I look bigger, too.
What got you into yoga?
It was out of necessity. I had a herniated disk in my back and I was in the worst pain in my life. I couldn’t bend over; it even hurt to sneeze. After I started to doing yoga it cleared up. Then I lost 15 pounds and … felt better, so why would I not continue doing that?
Did you choose which matches you’d discuss The Road is Jericho, or did WWE producers choose them for you?
They put together a list of matches, and then I gave some suggestions. And with this DVD we wanted to do something different [than 2012’s Breaking the Code: Behind the Walls of Chris Jericho] … and that involved me jumping in a car and driving around talking about backstage anecdotes and other fun facts people might not know about my matches.
In the DVD trailer you talk about how you and Triple H didn’t hit it off. What was the problem?
I’m not sure, but it could have been about the rivalry between WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and WWE, and someone coming in with a brass attitude. It’s hard to understand now, but in 1999 the war between WCW and WWE was real — our side wanted to beat their side. And while I had always dreamed of working for WWE, a lot of guys thought I was some interloper or castoff from WCW, and that WWE was picking up the scraps. That wasn’t true; leaving WCW was my choice. And when I arrived I had no friends or allies in the company, so I was just being myself and trying to add another color to the palette, and I ruffled some feathers.
As busy as you are, you make it a point to stay engaged with your fan base via social media. How important is social media from a promotional standpoint? Social media is definitely an important promotional tool, but it’s also just a cool way to connect with fans. When I put myself in the shoes of a fan and think about what it would have been like if someone like Paul Stanley had social media back in 1998 — man, that would have been the greatest thing ever.
But in your profession you also have to walk the line and not reveal too much, right?
Pro wrestling is one side of the coin of what I do. I’m a character in that world. It’s like Jerry Seinfeld being a character on Seinfeld. And while on social media and my podcast Talk is Jericho I’m free to be myself and I let fans see behind the scenes or behind the curtain, I don’t divulge too much because that’s part of show business. A story is supposed to unfold without being given away. I don’t want to know a plot twist or how movie ends before I see it. Plus, I enjoy being a master of puppets, and just as a magician can talk candidly about being a magician, he never gives away his tricks.
