CHRIS JERICHO TALKS ABOUT CM PUNK, PG-13 ERA

Former WWE Champion Chris Jericho spoke with Betweentheropes.com this week. Below are highlights :

On whether or not if feels like 12 years since he made his WWE debut on Raw:

“It doesn’t really seem like it was 12 years unless I think really hard about all the stuff that’s taken place since then. But I can remember writing that promo that I did like it was yesterday in the apartment I was in on the floor, just kind of writing down ideas and writing out the whole promo because back in that time there was no writers or creative as they call it. It was basically you were just on your own. You might have a couple of ideas to throw around but most of it was just coming from your own brain and just saying it the way you wanted to say it. There was no rehearsals or anything like that. You would just go out there and do it. So that’s the biggest change between the WWE in 2011 and the WWE of 1999.”


On the current PG-13 programming in WWE:

“I don’t care about PG-13 or Attitude Era. If you’re a great performer, you can make it work no matter what it is. And I never really cared because I might have gone 5% into the Attitude Era or 5% into the overly PG era but I pretty much just did my thing and made it work with whatever was given to me by the boss of the company. That’s a copout if people say ‘well, I don’t like it because it’s PG-13 or I can’t work within the PG-13 system’. That’s BS. It doesn’t matter. If you’re a good guitar player, you can play Van Halen or Georg Jensen jazz. It’s just an excuse.”

On simplistic storylines and playing into the current one with CM Punk:

“That’s what it’s always been about man. It’s always been about that and the best guys can do that no matter what rules or guidelines are given to them. That’s why the Punk thing worked so good because it was something different. It was Punk vs. the status quo of the WWE. It wasn’t so much the insider topics. I’m sure guys like you and me thought that was funny but your average person doesn’t have a clue about stuff like that. They just know that Punk is doing something he’s not supposed to be doing and saying something he’s never said before. That’s also why I don’t think the thing (Kevin) Nash worked out so well this week because they went too inside.”

GOLDBERG TO RETURN AT RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE II?

 As noted before, Bill Goldberg recently shot a promotional video for an October show in the African Congo, billed as the “Rumble in the Jungle II” after the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle 1″ between boxers George Foreman and Muhammad Ali decades ago.

Goldberg said he would come out of retirement to wrestle on the show. In the promo, Goldberg talks about the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo backing the wrestling show. Rick Bassman is reportedly booking talents for the show and he went to Africa last month with Luke Gallows and Nathan Jones to promote it.

Several other big names are being promoted for the show including Kurt Angle, MVP, Matt Hardy, Batista, Shawn Daivari, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair and Shelton Benjamin. At least one of those names knew nothing about the show when contacted and another said his manager was contacted but turned it down.

STORY ON TRIPLE H AND JODY KRISTOFFERSON

As noted before, wrestler Jody Kristofferson received a WWE tryout at the August 9th show in Sacramento, California. After Brodus Clay pinned Kristofferson, Triple H walked past him and said, “Nice bump, kid.” Kristofferson replied with a thanks and that was it.

Another wrestler working for an extra, as one of Cody Rhodes’ bag guys, approached Triple H and said, “You worked with that kid’s dad in a movie.” A puzzled Triple H was then informed that Jody was the son of actor and musician Kris Kristofferson.

Triple H then went up to Kristofferson and asked him why he didn’t tell him who his father was, and invited him to the SummerSlam pay-per-view.

INJURY UPDATE FOR REY MYSTERIO

During a commercial break during the Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio WWE Title match on Monday’s RAW, Rey was limping around the ring while Del Rio worked the crowd. Fans in attendance note that Rey’s knee was clearly hurting. Rey was trying to move his knee around and talked with a WWE crew member at ringside. To fans in attendance, it looked as if Rey was seeing if he could continue. They came back from commercial and WWE ended up doing the injury angle with Rey after Del Rio won the match.

After RAW, while John Cena and CM Punk were ending the show with Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez, Mysterio was getting looked at by WWE trainers at ringside. Trainers looked at Rey for over 5 minutes as Cena and Punk closed the show, according to a fan in attendance. Rey was finally helped to the back by a WWE trainer and a referee.

BACKSTAGE NEWS ON JIM ROSS

 It was pointed out after Monday’s RAW that Jim Ross seemed like a “third-wheel” on commentary during the show. Ross being kept off SummerSlam, not speaking much on RAW and having his hat stomped by Dolph Ziggler was noted by a few people backstage.

JBL SAYS WRESTLING IS NOT DEAD

 Former WWE Champion JBL did an interesting new blog on his Facebook page where he looks at UFC and WWE wanting their own cable TV network. Here is an excerpt from his blog:


“PPV will change also dramatically over the next decade. PPV sold over the Internet is in its infancy, but with Internet enabled TVs growing-that will change.


Now imagine this. WWE or UFC does a PPV and they really now do sell it worldwide. Every Internet receiver in the world can buy it-no longer do they have to rely on a local Internet company in China or India-they own their own channel and sell it direct. This involves an education process, but one I think is taking place and will happen over the next 7-10 years.


PPV numbers will go up by a multiple of what they are now and all revenue is kept by the content owner. WWE could sell the PPV for $4.99 in Africa or China where they don’t have a cable partner and you can’t charge as much-but open it up to millions that way. Or, if you sell it for the current amount-you keep all the money.


Costs are a onetime issue. They remain the same-so all the extra income is pure bottom line profit.


See a change coming? I do.


A smaller group like TNA that has still marketable recognizable worldwide stars can do this as well and wouldn’t need cable deals all over the world to make it work. The Internet gives them a worldwide cable deal that they own. To me, this should be their model now.


I believe UFC will be the biggest sport in the world due to the fact that they can draw stars from virtually every continent and use them in front of their worldwide audience. When it comes time for a company with a billion people worldwide watching weekly to sell PPVs-what is five million buys. Futuristic? Yes. Will it happen? I believe it will.


So is wrestling dead? Not by a long shot, in fact it’s best days could easily be ahead-it’s just the way it is distributed will change…for the better.


Makes a Wrestling god want to come back….OK, maybe not, but will be fun to watch. “

WWE RAW AUGUST 15 PHOTOS: ALBERTO DEL RIO VS REY MYSTERIO PART II