Chris Jericho has been sued over a t-shirt, licensed as a magician in Nevada, and almost arrested filming in front of the White House.
JERICHO, as he’s now known, spoke with David Shoemaker on The Masked Man Show ahead of AEW Double Or Nothing and pulled out the weirder corners of his career.
The Living Legend Lawsuit
Larry Zbyszko, best known for his run as the original “Living Legend” in AWA, once sued Jericho over a t-shirt design.
“You have to watch calling me a Living Legend, because Larry Zbyszko sued me once for making a t-shirt in WWE that said Living Legend Chris Jericho. There was a short period of time when I called myself that, and I had to go to an arbitration thing. Some of the evidence that was presented was from Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I had explained to the lawyer, like, Pro Wrestling Illustrated is all made up. 15 years later, I’m the living legend again.”
Jericho did not detail how the arbitration was resolved.
The Nevada Magician’s License
The fireball spot in Jericho’s arsenal is not just stagecraft. In Nevada, it requires actual paperwork.
“That was something that nobody had seen for years in pro wrestling. We were in Vegas and I had to get a magician’s license for real to throw a fireball, because that’s the rules that the commission has, which I still renew every year and carry with me at all times. So yes, I am a licensed magician in Nevada.”
The White House Scare
Jericho also recalled a Washington DC shoot that nearly ended in cuffs. The bit cast him as a “conspiracy victim,” but nobody on the crew had a plan when they got to the location.
“We went to Washington DC and I was a conspiracy victim, and when we showed up, I thought the camera guys were going to know what they wanted us to do and the camera guys thought that I would know. So neither one of us had any idea. We just walked around DC and the White House, and we were filming me in front of the White House doing this speech, and we almost got arrested because you can’t film the White House with cameras.”
Jericho is back in the ring this Sunday at AEW Double Or Nothing, leading the Stadium Stampede team of Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Jack Perry, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin against Ricochet’s group at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.