Jericho welcomes Conrad Thompson to the show.

On today’s show Thompson takes us through Jericho’s career in WCW, allowing Jericho the opportunity to rebut claims made by Eric Bischoff on the most recent episode of his podcast, “83 Weeks”.

Jericho informs that he had been trying to make contact with someone in WCW for a long time but his calls were always ignored. Finally, he was introduced to Bischoff by Chris Benoit and Bischoff immediately offered Jericho a spot in WCW. Jericho was blown away by the abruptness of this offer, but was excited nonetheless.

Jericho referred to Bischoff as “ATM Eric” in his book, but Bischoff took great offence to that name during his podcast. Jericho explains that he only used that nickname because Bischoff was so generous to him. When they began their negotiations Jericho asked for $100,000 and he felt very nervous about asking for that much money. Bischoff countered by offering $130,000 and an additional $30,000 to move to Atlanta, and Jericho couldn’t believe it.

Bischoff explained during his podcast that he offered Jericho the extra money because that was closer to what other cruiserweights such as Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were making, and he didn’t want there to be any issues down the line if Jericho found out he was making less than those guys. Jericho counters by saying that he wouldn’t have been insulted to find out he was making less money than those guys because they’d been there for a long time and had proven themselves.

Jericho talks about his initial booking in WCW. He points out that he came in as a good looking, straight-laced babyface, and there was a huge shift happening in the business at the time. Guys like Steve Austin were getting cheered, as was the NWO, and white-meat babyfaces like him didn’t stand a chance of getting cheered. He always questioned the way he was introduced in WCW.

Jericho recalls some of the issues he had with Scott Hall during this time. He points out that Hall was messed up  on drugs and alcohol quite frequently at this time, and there was a lot of bullying going on. He remembers one night when Hall told him that nobody was paying to see him wrestle, adding that he should only be working 5-10 minute matches. Jericho didn’t like this, and even to this day he’s not real close with Hall.

Jericho talks about WCW’s Cruiserweight division. In his book Jericho referred to cruiserweight as a ‘dirty word’ and Bischoff didn’t really think that was fair. Jericho clarifies this by pointing out that most people look back at WCW’s cruiserweight division with high regard now, but during that time being a cruiserweight meant you’d never be working main events. Certain performers such as Jim Neidhart & Booker T even resented working with cruiserweights at this time.

Jericho informs that he’s really glad that he went to WCW, but there’s no denying that working there stripped him of some of his love for the business. He says that he learned a lot there and the good things outweigh the bad, but the environment was toxic at times and he wasn’t a huge fan of Bischoff at this time.

Jericho speaks about his partnership with Ralphus. He notes that this inspiration for Ralphus came from Goldberg’s security that often accompanied him to the entrance ramp. Ralphus was actually a truck driver who Jericho recruited and he eventually got over with WCW fans, ultimately earning $500 a night for his services alongside Jericho.

Talking about his program with Goldberg, Jericho notes that when WCW officials made it clear that they didn’t want to promote a match between them for a PPV he knew he was basically done there. He informs that he had no issue getting squashed by Goldberg, in fact he wanted to get speared right out of his boots, but he wanted to do it on a PPV and make people pay to see it.

Jericho speaks about his meeting with Vince McMahon at McMahon’s house in New York. Jericho wore a tight shirt that day to make him look more jacked, adding that he may have done a cycle of “gas” at this time in order to sharpen his physique because he knew McMahon preferred bigger performers. McMahon never once asked Jericho to come work for WWE during that meeting, simply telling Jericho to call him when his contract was about to be up.

Years later Jericho asked McMahon why that meeting took place at McMahon’s house, and McMahon told him that he wanted to see if he’d be able to trust Jericho. If word got out that Jericho was at McMahon’s house while under contract to WCW, McMahon would have known that Jericho told people. Jericho didn’t tell anyone about the meeting, and McMahon knew he’d be able to trust him.

Jericho thinks WCW’s demise came about as a result of the company’s inability to infuse younger talents into the main event scene with older performers. It was almost as if all the younger talents who could have made a difference were locked into a certain role there, and they couldn’t break through the ceiling to get to the next level.

That sums up this week’s episode of Talk is Jericho. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!