Chris Jericho has worked for some of the biggest names in wrestling over the last three decades, and one lesson has stuck with him through every stop: don’t tell your boss “no.”
Speaking with TMZ’s Inside the Ring, Jericho explained that outright rejecting an idea is one of the quickest ways to frustrate a promoter. Instead, he believes wrestlers should offer alternatives and work together to improve whatever has been pitched.
“To get longevity in this business, you learn that you don’t say no to your boss. You say, ‘Well, how about we try it this way?’, give an alternative answer. Nothing will infuriate your boss more than just saying no. I mean, I work for somebody that’s paying me money, a lot of money, to do what he wants. Vince used to say, ‘I just book the s***, you make it good.’ Sometimes it’s not easy, but that’s the boss.”
Jericho said that philosophy has followed him throughout his career, regardless of who was in charge. Whether it was Vince McMahon, Tony Khan or another promoter, he believes the performer’s responsibility is to make the boss happy while collaborating to create the best version of an idea.
“Whoever was the boss, it’s my job to make him happy with the work that I’m doing. There’s no boss that’s easy to say no to, but every good boss you collaborate with. That’s the secret of being a good general and it’s the secret to being a good boss. Tony’s great to collaborate with, Vince was great to collaborate with. I didn’t really have the opportunity to collaborate with Bischoff much because I was too far down the food chain and by the time that I felt that I was worthy of that, I was pretty much out the door. So yeah, you work together to create the best possible match you can.”
To illustrate his point, Jericho shared a story from AEW involving Samoa Joe. He admitted that neither of them initially liked an idea Tony Khan presented, but instead of rejecting it outright, they figured out how to make it work.
“I remember I was working with Samoa Joe once in AEW. Tony wanted something and neither one of us felt it. We basically said, ‘Maybe we should think about it or whatever.’ Tony, you could tell, he was very—not disappointed, but he very much wanted us to do this. The moment he left the room, Joe and I looked at each other like, ‘Alright, how are we going to make it work?’ We had a conversation, we had to reshuffle the deck and move this there and get rid of this and add this, then went back and told Tony and he’s like, ‘That’s so great, thank you so much.’ He’s happy and we’re going to make it great. It’s completely different from what we originally wanted to do, but he’s the f****** boss. He’s the one who tells us what he wants and if you don’t like it, you go make eight billion dollars and start your own wrestling company. That’s what a pro does, that’s what you do. It’s not always the way you want it, but I’m not the boss.”
For Jericho, that’s simply part of being a professional. You don’t have to love every creative idea that’s pitched, but if you’re working for someone else’s company, he believes the goal should be finding a way to make that vision succeed rather than shutting it down.
Is collaborating with management the best way to handle creative disagreements, or should wrestlers push back more often when they don’t believe in an idea? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
