The Ross Report w/Chris Jericho
Release Date: September 27, 2017
Recap By: Dylan Bowker; Recovering Smark
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Top Stories:
-The release of Jim’s book/ audio book Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling
-Jericho’s upcoming cruise will feature a three day ROH tournament where the winner gets a future world title shot
-Jericho’s feelings that Lesnar can sometimes put on uninspired performances (described the No Mercy match with Strowman as one of those outings)
-The overlap Jericho sees between journalism (his college major) and the long form interviewing format of his podcast
-Steve Austin getting both Jericho and Ross into the podcasting game
-Chris’ belief that Kenny Omega has underrated psychology
-Hulk Hogan shaking Chris Jericho’s hand in WCW backstage being one of his cooler career moments
Recap:
(0:12) Smart WiFi ad
(0:42) Ross Report show intro begins playing and Jim gets into this week’s episode. Jim mentions the platforms his podcast can be heard on but quickly begins teeing up his guest Chris Jericho.
(2:53) Jim goes into his segment “What’s on JR’s Mind?” Jim’s book came out on October 3rd and he mentioned the process with that. Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling took a few years and had a couple writers come through but it is finally here. Jim mentions all of the various ways listeners and readers can go about buying his book/audio book.
Jim then began recapping Lesnar going over on Strowman. JR takes issue with the criticism many had for Brock beating Braun with a lone F5. Ross felt that reinforced it being a finishing move and discussed the modern day landscape of wrestlers kicking out of multiple finishes.
Cena vs. Reigns, the tag title match, and the women’s title scramble all drew praise from JR. Jim segued to selling his upcoming live show where Jeremy Borash is MCing.
(15:53) Smart WiFi ad
(16:08) Attack Each Day ad
(16:47) Slobberknocker Audio is now taken over by the talk with Chris Jericho and JR. The Rock and Wrestling Rager is the name of Chris’s upcoming cruise and Jim wants to discuss this. Chris mentions getting the idea from going on the KISS Kruise. He mentions how it took multiple meetings over a couple years to make the cruise concept come to fruition. There will be a Ring of Honor tournament taking place on the cruise with the winner getting an ROH title shot at a later date. There will be three shows over three days.
Jericho mentioned how there will also be live podcasts going on for his cruise. JR and Chris riff on being podcast hosts. They both mention how Steve Austin got them into the podcast world and both had no idea what podcasting really was before they began their shows. They both addressed the misconceptions they had in that regard. Chris and Jim then touched on how they took advantage of the increased demand for wrestling podcasts.
Jim asks about how Jericho maintains his pace with all the endeavors he has on the go. Chris mentioned how he travels with a recorder and gets podcasts in the can, sometimes to air right away and other times to keep for a later date. Chris mentioned going to journalism school and articulated how podcasts satisfied that same sort of intrigue. The research aspects, espousing on ideas, and discussing profound things long form are overlapping qualities between podcasting and journalism.
Jim then brought up Chris’s digital video show “But I’m Chris Jericho.” Chris mentioned his real life experiences auditioning for one line roles among 40 other actors that looked like him. CBC bought the show and a second season came out of it with a possible third down the line. The two began to relate over how people in creative fields should appreciate the small victories along the way. Too often, goal oriented people are just looking towards that next goal and don’t actually process what they just accomplished. This organically lead to Jericho and Ross talking about how neither is compelled to ever retire.
Chris spoke highly of DDP Yoga and what it did for his body. Going through the program helped Chris bypass having to get back surgery. DDP Yoga sessions are going to be part of Jericho’s cruise that was talked about earlier. The goal is to get the cruise going for 2018.
(50:09) JR goes into a read for a True Car ad
(51:21) ad for Raven’s podcast….The Raven Effect
(52:20) The episode returns to the conversation between JR and Jericho. Chris mentions how many comedians, wrestlers, and musicians have been reaching out to get a spot on the cruise. The buzz and word of mouth surrounding the event has been encouraging for Jericho. Chrisjerichocruise.com is the website to hit up for additional information.
Jericho touches on how he’s the first in wrestling to put on an event like this and he hearkened back to some advice from Brian Pillman. Brian told him to be successful in the wrestling business, you had to do something that’s never been done before. Jericho has applied this concept to many endeavors outside of wrestling too.
Chris has noticed a cool dynamic on these sort of cruise ships where people just end up partying. There’s no asking for autographs or fawning over celebrities after that first day. Jericho noticed it then became just a communal party environment where everyone was on more of a friendly level.
Jericho mentions his close relationships with Vince McMahon. Chris also jokes that the road agents must not like him because if there’s something Chris isn’t partial to, he’ll immediately go discuss it with Vince. Chris praised Kevin Owens and talked up his last run as being among his top two favorites. Jericho said when the time is right, he would be open to a comeback with WWE.
Jim compares the one many hierarchy of WWE versus the chaotic nature of WCW and all the people in power there. Chris reminisces back to when he was working Goldberg in WCW and wanted to change a squash match into a PPV quality match. Jericho felt it was wrong to be squashed by Goldberg but looking back now, he described his stance at the time as being that of a lunatic.
This was voiced during a meeting with Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, and Bischoff. Though there was some aversion at first, changes were made eventually. This culminated in Hogan shaking Jericho’s hand in the locker room and admitting that Chris was right. Bombay Bicycle Club in Tampa was where JR met Jericho along with Jerry Brisco to see if Chris wanted to jump over from WCW to WWE.
Jim asked Chris about Kenny Omega since both men are born in Winnipeg. Jericho heard about Omega somewhat recently and talked up Kenny’s often underappreciated psychology. Chris is happy about seeing a fellow Winnipeg lad doing it big in the wrestling industry.
JR asked about his thoughts on Roman Reigns and what he brings to the table. Jericho spoke highly of Reigns’ ability and JR theorized that Vince is looking to a Reigns vs Lesnar WrestleMania match. Jericho feels like Lesnar can turn in some uninspired performances and felt the recent Strowman match was an example of that.
Jim asked about who came up with The List and Jericho credited Jimmy Jacobs. Jericho put over Jimmy big time and described the extensive creative relationship Chris has with Jacobs. Jericho then goes into detail about how so many great workers/talents (Ross, Guerrero, Benoit, etc) performed outside WWE for years. This lead into him talking about certain talents like Cody and how beneficial it is for them to be able to leave. Go to other promotions to ply their trade, get new looks as they become better, and the talent could return to their former organization with a renewed vigor.
Jim begins to do some final housekeeping, plugs Jericho’s cruise again, and the two wrap up their talk.
(1:42:32) Jim goes into his closing comments about Podcast One being a great platform for Pro Wrestling podcasts. Jim thanks Chris for taking time from his hectic schedule to appear on the podcast. Jim plus his guest for next week’s podcast, Paul O’Brien.
Review (5.5 out of 10): I felt like the podcast picked up some steam towards the end. I enjoy the concept for Jericho’s cruise but this episode got to the point of almost feeling like a commercial. The Rock and Wrestling Rager talk kind of seemed like a belabored sell but there was plenty of good moments. Always interesting to hear Jericho’s perceptions on certain modern workers and where the industry is going. Y2J is definitely a long time talent who has adapted for decades and continually keeps evolving/endeavoring to know all about that next permutation of the game. The story with Bischoff, Hogan, Jericho, and Goldberg in WCW was a cool story that listeners should go out of their way to catch. Solid enough episode all around.
Timestamps:
(0:12) Smart WiFi ad
(0:42) Ross Report show intro
(2:53) Jim goes into his segment “What’s on JR’s Mind?”
(15:53) Smart WiFi ad
(16:08) Attack Each Day ad
(16:47) Jericho and JR begin to talk
(50:09) JR goes into a read for a True Car ad
(51:21) ad for Raven’s podcast….The Raven Effect
(52:20) The episode returns to the conversation between JR and Jericho.
(1:42:32) Jim goes into his closing comments
About the Author: Along with being a pro wrestling lover, Dylan James Bowker is also a professional broadcaster and a combat sports personality. A passionate, professional music writer for libertymultimedia.com who has played guitar, bass, banjo, and ukulele for the better part of a decade. Pro Wrestling has been a passion from a young age but there was a brief hiatus from it. A promotion he was affiliated with put on a show that devolved into Iron Sheik being taken to the drunk tank. Over the last few years, he’s been back at it with a renewed vigor and is excited to be a part of the Torch family.
For more, check out our archives of The Ross Report.
After reading this I decided to listen to the podcast.
I really noticed Jericho’s opinion of TripleH during this. There were some things said about how he only listens to Vince McMahon and emphasized that over everyone else and described an anicdote about going over someone’s head when Vince wasn’t there.
Then later in the episode Jericho was listing all the great wrestlers of the attitude era, and after listing a ton of names he finally garbled out quickly TripleH and moved on while JR knowingly chuckled.