Jimmy Jacobs Reveals Inspiration For The List Of Jericho

Chris Jericho is the Madonna of pro-wrestling, with the multi-time world champion having successfully reinvented himself multiple times throughout his career.

During his last run in WWE, Jericho became the scarf wearing owner and operator of The List of Jericho, with Jericho adding people to his list for seemingly the most minor of offences. The act got over hugely with fans, and former WWE producer Jimmy Jacobs has revealed the origins of the gimmick aren’t based on Jericho’s list of holds from WCW, but based on former ECW World Champion Steve Corino:

"We were in Memphis and Jericho was going to come out and air his grievances against Mick Foley,” said Jacobs on McGuire on Wrestling. “I thought, ‘He should have a list of grievances, like a physical list.’ I thought about, in real life, Steve Corino has the Corino S*** List. The people who, in his life and in his career, they make his list and they are dead to him. I thought, ‘What if Jericho has the same sort of thing, except he’s super petty and puts all sorts of people on it for all different reasons.’ Once I came up with that, I knew it was a good idea because I started having more ideas on top of it. That’s when you know you have a good idea, when you’re in a creative room and someone pitches something and a bunch of people start piling on, you know you have something with some legs.

“I came up with what I thought was good, I pitched it to Chris, and he was like, ‘So, you’re talking about doing this for more than just tonight?’ ‘Yeah, this could be your thing. You’ve been doing the gift of Jericho, drinking it in. This can be like the List of Jericho.’ He got it right away and added on to it and added the big clipboard and the way he would deliver the click of the pen. He really brought it to life. It was a fun time getting a thing that hit the bullseye. For a while, that would get the biggest reactions on Raw, when Chris Jericho would put your name on the list. That’s what you build to.”

The run included an alliance with WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and the infamous Festival of Friendship.

H/T: Fightful