Chris Jericho had one of the most successful WWE careers, exploding in popularity after he initially jumped fromWCW in 1999. However, according to the veteran himself, he initially wanted to go to WWE before WCW, but speculates that he might have ended up with a career-stalling gimmick had he gone through with his initial plans.
During an appearance at Horror, Rock & Wrestle Fest 2025earlier this month, Jericho recalled an initial pitch from Jim Cornette for a character that he believes was NHL inspired character "The Goon," portrayed by "Wild" Bill Irwin. "So, he was like, 'Should I put you down with an asterisk?' And I was like 'No, put me down with a 'no,' like, I'm not interested,'" he recalled. "This was when they had The Goon, if you remember this, and they had SalvatoreSincerely, and they had The Pug, they had TL Hopper who was a plumber and The Goon, I'm convinced was supposed to be me."
"At the same time, I also got a call from WCW, from Kevin Sullivan, who asked me if I wanted to come in for a tryout," Jericho added. He then wrestled against Bam Bam Bigelow in New Japan, who put him over, catching Eric Bischoff's attention, and had a meeting with him not too long after. The veteran then recalled that the jump from Japan to WCW allowed him to double his pay and was lined up to be the promotion's next big thing. "He goes 'Yeah, you remind me of... you're gonna be our version of Shawn Michaels," Jericho claimed.
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