Chris Jericho Recalls Telling Announcers In WWE Not To Call Him Y2J Anymore

Chris Jericho says that when he was moving out of his Y2J character, he spoke with the announcers and told him not to use the nickname anymore. Jericho has always been known for evolving to different characters throughout his career and following his run as Y2J that defined the early years of his WWE run, he changed things up to an entirely new look.

Jericho reflected on the importance of changing your look to match your character evolution in his appearance on TMZ Inside the Ring. You can see the highlights below:

On Changing From Y2J:

“If you go back to Y2J and then suddenly when I became — we’re talking about the Shawn Michaels era, 2008 when I’ve got short hair. I’ve gone from long tights to short tights, the countdown is gone. And I said to the commentators, ‘You are not allowed to call me Y2J anymore. Never say that word again.’

“Because you have to make people understand this is a new guy. This is a new version. When Kiss took off their makeup in 1982, you knew that. ‘What happened to Kiss? They’re the makeup guys!’ Not anymore. This is a new thing. So, you have to subtly let people know that this is a new era, a new force to be reckoned with, a new style, you know? And the more drastic you can do that, the better. If it’s shaving your head, that’s fine.”

On His Character Evolution:

“Sometimes you have to do something drastic to let people know it’s a new guy. And I’ve always done that. And whether it’s a catchphrase or a look, or a style of music, or the Tron behind me, or the wardrobe I’m wearing in the ring, you got to keep it different and make each era specific. So that people know, ‘Okay, this is a new guy.’ Now, the Jericho era, people will know that, or they’ll see a picture and know, ‘Okay, that’s the Jericho era.’ And that’s always what I wanted to do.”

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