Steve Carrier on April 22, 2023
Chris Jericho recently shared a fascinating story about his experience creating wrestling cruises during an episode Talk is Jericho. Jericho initially had the idea to have NXT talent on board his cruise but felt uncertain about pulling talent from the indie scene without the proper connections.
Therefore, Jericho approached Triple H in Philadelphia to pitch the idea of having NXT on the cruise but the initial reception was met with skepticism. Jericho believed that wrestling on a cruise ship was no different than performing at a rock concert on the water but others were not as convinced.
After prolonged discussions with NXT, Jericho was informed that they were not interested in the idea, leaving him to feel disappointed and frustrated. He was further perplexed when he found out that the decision not to participate was due to Vince McMahon’s dislike of cruises. McMahon had heard about a previous incident where people got food poisoning on a cruise and was convinced that every cruise was a potential health risk.
“The first thing that I did was, my first idea was I’m gonna have NXT come aboard. Because I was like, ‘I’m not a promoter. I don’t know where to pull guys from Indies.’ If I can work with a company and then they can send whoever they want. I don’t have to worry about that part of it. They can book the matches. They can have whatever they wanna do. So I approached Hunter [Triple H] in Philadelphia. I remember I had a meeting with him about having NXT on my cruise. Now people thought I was nuts at first. They always think I’m nuts when I have these ideas like ‘How are you gonna have wrestling in the middle of the ocean?’ I’m like, ‘Well dude I just played a f*cking rock show in the middle the ocean. It’s the same thing.’ Sometimes it’s a little bit [wobbly] but most of the time it’s pretty smooth. It’s not dangerous.”
“So I talked with NXT for a while and then in classic WWF fashion, they finally called me in a group call with about seven people on it, and [took] 45 minutes to tell me that they weren’t interested. I was like you could have just said ‘Hey guys, we’re not interested. Bye.’ 45 minutes. The reason I found out was that, this is so classic, Vince [McMahon] doesn’t like cruises. Because he had just seen the news, where I guess there was a cruise where a bunch of people got food poisoning. Something happened where like whatever. It’s not gonna happen on this cruise. I guarantee that. He was convinced that every cruise, people die of food poisoning, he was like, ‘Yeah, he’s worried that there might be problems with the ship.’ I am like, ‘What? He’s scared it’s gonna hit an f*cking iceberg? We’re going to Mexico, it’s fine.’
Undeterred, Jericho persisted with his vision and reached out to Cody, who connected him with Hunter Delirious, who then put him in touch with Joe Koff of Ring of Honor. Within 10 minutes, Jericho had the Ring of Honor deal signed, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“So anyways NXT passed and as soon as that 45 minute waste of time call was done, I picked up the phone and called Cody who connected me with Hunter Delirious who connected me with Joe Koff of Ring of Honor. We had the Ring of Honor deal done in about 10 minutes. That quick.”
What do you think about Vince McMahon’s aversion to cruises and how it affected Chris Jericho’s plans for NXT talent to perform on his wrestling cruise? Leave a comment.
April 22, 2023 4:58 pm
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