Chris Jericho’s run in WCW put him on the map in the US pro wrestling scene, but irrespective of how hard he tried, the ceiling was way too low for him to develop into a significant star. Jericho would eventually go to WWE, where he’d cement himself as considered one of the largest names within the industry.
Nevertheless, in hindsight, Eric Bischoff recalls that he never believed Jericho could be taken seriously by Vince McMahon. “I attempted to maintain Chris, and I used to be upset when Chris left, but I used to be also – a part of me was like: ‘why would he go there?'” Bischoff recalled during an episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast. “I mean, I get it, on the time it was still WWE, and (…) nevertheless competitive we were, or we weren’t in that specific moment, I used to be just of the assumption that Vince would never give a man Chris Jericho’s size, the type of push that Chris got; that surprised me.”
Bischoff then explained how WWE had a habit of focusing solely on larger-than-life characters, and that every one the blokes who got pushes were built greater and presented greater than Jericho.
“So, when Chris Jericho made the jump, it was like: ‘Why? Why would you not take your possibilities here?'” he added. “Now, Chris probably had a special perspective, and I’m not saying he was flawed. He was probably right, probably more aware than I used to be. (…) I just didn’t think that Vince would give Chris the extent of push that Chris got, based on Chris’ size and Vince’s taste for larger-than-life characters.”
In accordance with JBL in an interview years ago, the locker room was especially completely happy in regards to the WCW talent like Jericho coming into WWE, especially since they’d go on to develop into massive within the promotion.
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