During a recent episode of “Grilling JR”, Jim Ross spoke on why Vince McMahon needing to be convinced that Chris Jericho was a main event wrestler. Here’s what he had to say:
Vince always thought, he was not as sold on Chris as I was. There’s a big part of my book, Under The Black Hat, that we talk about signing Jericho and write about it and the recruiting of it and negotiating with Vince. I had to negotiate with Vince, basically, to get Chris on the radar, because of his fucking height. That was it.
What would you dislike? What would be your bad box checkmarks for Chris Jericho? He can’t work? No, he’s a real good worker. Oh he can’t talk, can he? No, he’s a real good talker. Is he injury free? No, he hasn’t been injured, he’s about as durable as anybody we’ve ever hired. So what is it? His blue eyes? Fact he’s from Winnipeg?
In Vince’s eyes he’s short. That’s why Jericho wore lifts in his shoes in those early days in WWE, so he could get another inch or two.
He wasn’t hard to get along with, he worked his ass off, he was talented, he was highly skilled, great skillset. He was not the ideal height to be in the main event of WrestleMania, in Vince’s view.
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Credit: Grilling JR. H/T 411Mania.com