Chris Jericho Recalls Meeting Roddy Piper the First Time, Talks Piper’s Legacy

Chris Jericho recently recalled his first meeting with Roddy Piper and the impact the WWE Hall of Famer left on the business. Jericho spoke about Piper on The Adam Corolla Show, and you can see the highlights below (per Wrestling Inc):

On Piper’s legacy: “He’s still kind of a gold standard for, kind of, what you want to be in the business because he had such a great character… If you’re a great character in wrestling, it really lends itself to movies and TV and film, because that’s the basis of what wrestling is.”

On Piper’s charisma: “He was the type of guy that could sell tickets by the promos… The personality and charisma and all those sort of things is what really matters in wrestling; Roddy was one of the best at it.”

On first meeting Piper in Mexico: “I was wrestling in Mexico and he happened to be down there shooting a movie [Immortal Combat]. I remember him just like standing in the corner with his eyes closed, just getting ready for this scene, and emerging and becoming this guy.”

On Piper getting Jericho a fight scene with Sonny Chiba in the film: “He was probably — I don’t know 60 at the time, and he would throw these kicks that came right across my jaw, like I barely felt them, right? You know, you do two or three takes and you’ve got to reset the cameras. And by take nine and ten, this guy’s f**king kicking me in the face… So yeah, that was Roddy’s big rib in booking me in a fight scene with Sonny Chiba, to get kicked in the face multiple times.”