WWE Superstar Chris Jericho recently shared his thoughts about the "Macho Man" Randy Savage being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and Vince McMahon's controversial "brass ring" comments last month on the WWE Network.
The WWE revealed last week on Monday Night RAW in advance of Hall of Fame tickets going on sale that Savage will headline the Class of 2015. The two-time WWE Champion and four-time WCW Heavyweight Champion has been a glaring absence from the Hall over the years.
Jericho told The Sun in the U.K. that Savage's induction was long overdue and makes the WWE's Hall of Fame "legit."
"It is much deserved and now, finally, I feel the WWE Hall of Fame is legit," Jericho told the publication. "Everybody that needs to be in there - and wasn't because of politics or petty bulls--t - is now in there, including [Bruno] Sammartino, Bret Hart, the Ultimate Warrior and now Randy Savage being the last on that list."
Though their tenures in WCW overlapped, Jericho said he didn't ever really get to know Savage prior to his passing in 2011.
"Maybe we had one or two conversations but I never worked with him," Jericho said of Savage. "Never was in the ring with him. Never even stood across the ring with him in a battle royal, as far as I can remember. But he was one of my biggest influences, one of my favorites when I was a kid. The first wrestling T-shirt I bought as a kid was the purple 'Macho Man' shirt and the reason for that was because I didn't like the Ricky Steamboat one. Most of the chicks in my high school thought it meant I was a Village People fan and I had to set them straight. I almost became embarrassed to wear it because I wanted it to say 'Randy Savage' on it."
Jericho also spoke to the U.K.'s The Independent about McMahon's comments on the WWE Network that seemed to lead to a loss of positive morale in the WWE locker room.
McMahon appeared on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast on the WWE Network on Dec. 1 and said the Superstars of this generation aren't hungry enough and need to grab the "brass ring." While there was a lot of negative reaction to what McMahon said, Jericho took a different angle on it.
"Vince is Vince, he has opinions and that's really all that matters," Jericho told the publication. "If he doesn't think that some guys are grabbing the brass ring then some of the guys better do what they can to stand out and step up. I had to do it back in 1999 and 2000. I did it again in 2007 and 2008, and I did it again in 2012. You have to reinvent yourself; if something isn't working you need to change the direction. If you need a boost and a shot in the a-- you've got to make sure that you do that. Nobody is going to take care of you except for yourself, nobody is ever going to come up with the magic plan and say, 'here you go, here's the magic wand.' If something isn't working you have to change it, make it better."
Jericho is currently a part-time Superstar and after having programs with Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton over the summer and going on the company's U.K. tour in November, he took time off to tour with his band Fozzy.
Jericho is back with the WWE through January and February on a special contract where he works non-televised events.
Lastly, "Y2J" said that talents should look to guys like John Cena as a way of reinventing themselves and appealing to what McMahon wants.
"John Cena did it," he said about changing things for the better. "Remember the days when he was just a nameless, faceless guy? He started rapping and suddenly became the biggest name in the business. Nobody did that for John, he did it himself. He came up with these characters and then somebody went, 'wow that's something we can do something with.'
He continued: "That's how the business works, times change every generation, and Vince has been around since the 60s, so he sees things from every decade and he might be thinking of the way guys used to do things. Things have changed, and my only advice is that if you're not at the level you want to be at then look within you and take some chances whether you're given the permission to do it or not."
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