Chris Jericho responds to ‘please retire’ chants: I have zero intentions of that
During a recent interview with The Daily Star, Chris Jericho addressed fans chanting “Please retire” at him.
Jericho also commented on fans believing he has “go away heat,” how his segments do in the ratings, and leaning into the criticism he receives as part of his Learning Tree character.
Jericho said:
“Three years ago those same people that are chanting please retire were saying Jericho’s the greatest of his generation. Kenny (Omega) vs. Jericho at the Tokyo Dome was the match that changed the course of history and everyone was talking about it and how great it (was). So, I think the biggest thing is just that I’ve been around for so long, working on top, never getting hurt, so I’m always here. It’s not like I force myself onto the shows because my ego is so big I can’t handle not being on it.”
“I work for my boss who puts me on TV because it draws ratings. There’s a whole thing, Jericho has go-away heat, like that’s not true. Look at the ratings every week. I mean, not every week, but I’d say 80 percent of the time my segment goes up. It’s one of the biggest gainers on the show. There’s a lot of people that just refuse to believe anything else.”
“The facts are I’m still one of the most valuable characters on the show for many different reasons and if I told Tony Khan I wanted to take six months off, he’d say, ‘Are you kidding me? There’s no way.'”
Later in the conversation, Jericho was asked how he feels about his career being near the end.
“Sting at 64 retired and everybody’s different. To me, when the please retire chants were going I was laughing because it’s like I have zero intentions of that. I mean, I’ve got a six-pack and I can do a moonsault and I know exactly what I’m doing in the ring. I know how to write storylines, I like the company I work for, I like my boss, I like the guys and girls in the company. Why would I want to retire? What’s the point? Just because somebody told me to? F**k off.”
“You retire when you know it’s time, when you know it’s right and it’s not the right time right now, it’s not. I say it all the time, I know as long as I know I can still have the best match of the night, not every night, but I can still do it, I’m gonna stay. As long as I can still continue to have good ideas and feel motivated and passionate, I’m gonna stay.”
“I still look like Chris Jericho and act like Chris Jericho and work like Chris Jericho so until that moment where I feel like okay, this needs to stop, I’ve got no intentions of it. Like I said, there’s no timeline on it. It could be this week, it could be five years from now, I don’t know.”
Jericho has a busy week upcoming in the UK. He’s scheduled to wrestle Tommy Billington on today’s Dynamite in Cardiff. Fozzy will play a live concert at the O2 Academy Islington on Friday and then he’ll defend the FTW Championship against Hook at AEW All In on Sunday at Wembley.
Jericho’s full interview with The Daily Star is available below: