Bruce Prichard On Chris Jericho Reinventing Himself In 2007, Carlito Not Reaching Full Potential

On a recent episode of Something To Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed Armageddon 2007. Bruce talked about Chris Jericho’s ability to reinvent himself and Carlito seeking his release, but talking him into staying. Some highlights are below.

On Chris Jericho’s new presentation in 2007: “Well, hats off to Chris because he continually would reinvent himself and whether it was a haircut or different ring gear or change it all up Chris was always real good at doing that. He knew that to stay relevant you had to change it up from time to time and I think that’s what has made him relevant all these years.”

On knowing when to write Ric Flair off: “The reason he was coming back was to retire. I never knew that Ric was going to do a lending business. Is he going to have people lend him money? No, seriously I had never heard that. I don’t think Ric wanted to retire, but at the same time Ric was looking at how many more years can I do this. Given the option of doing a big retirement thing and utilize you as a spokesperson for WWE and go out and do appearances and still continue to be Ric Flair. It seemed like the idea appealed to him at the time but obviously it didn’t. That was the pitch that was the reason to bring him back and to tell that story as time went on.”

On Carlito giving his notice: “Well, we didn’t want to lose Carlito. I think that he was a great talent and under utilized. But, I also feel a part of Carlito was under performing. I think there was a lot left in that tank that we never got. I remember watching Carly Colon in Puerto Rico that Curt Henning came and I was in Puerto Rico doing other business and I saw Curt Hennig one night and he told me ‘Man, you’ve got to see this Carly Colon.’ We were there the next night and their tape was on TV that night and we watched the show and he was just fabulous. I don’t know if we ever got that guy. Maybe because he came in as a heel and was trying to be cool and to do that whole thing. I think he was trying to get a bit of a Razor Ramon vibe or what have you. But, I don’t think we ever got that Carly Colon fire from the islands that we originally saw. I was still hoping to get that out of him and try to get to a point to see that and have him reach the potential that he felt he should get to and we felt he should get to… I don’t think Carly was having fun at this time.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.