Brian Fritz sent this in:
http://betweentheropes.com/274/chris-jericho-remembers-debut-wtih-wwe-current-pg-13-programming/
It’s been just over 12 years since Chris Jericho made his debut in the WWE, dubbing it “Raw is Jericho” and verbally sparring with The Rock. Brian Fritz of BetweenTheRopes.com spoke with Chris as he remembers that debut, how he never got caught up in crazy storylines during the Attitude Era, the current CM Punk angle, if John Cena should turn heel, the latest projects he’s working on, his upcoming Fozzy tour in the UK and more.
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Here are some excepts from the interview:
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.