Chris Jericho had one of the most successful WWE careers after first jumping out of WCW in 1999. However, according to the veteran himself, he wanted to go to WWE first, but speculates that he might have gone through the initial plans and earned the gimmick.
When appearing in the horror, Rock & Wrestling Fest 2025 earlier this month, Jericho recalled Jim Cornett’s first pitch for a character he believes is “The Goon,” an NHL-inspired character drawn by “Wild” Bill Irwin. “So he said, ‘You should put you with an asterisk.’ And I was like, “No, I put me in ‘No’, I’m not interested.” “This was when they had goons, you remember this, they had Salvatore wholeheartedly, and they had pugs, they had Tl hoppers, which are hollows, and I’m sure I assume I’m me.”
“At the same time, I received a call from WCW, from Kevin Sullivan. He then wrestled with New Japan’s Bum Bum Bigelow, grabbed Eric Bischoff’s attention and met him for so long. After that, the veteran recalled that the jump from Japan to WCW allowed him to double his salary and lined up to become the next big thing in the promotion. “He insisted, ‘Yeah, you remind me… you’ll be our version of Shawn Michaels,” Jericho insisted.
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