AEW's Chris Jericho Recalls Trying To Get Into ECW For A Year

Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho has had one of the most eventful careers in all of wrestling, based solely on how many companies he has wrestled for, whether it's CMLL and AAA in Mexico, NJPW and WAR in Japan, or WWE and AEW in the United States. However, he got his big break in the US thanks to his brief stint in ECW in 1996. 

But, it wasn't easy for him to get into ECW, as he recently revealed on a special live edition of "Talk is Jericho" how hard it was to get in touch with Paul Heyman.

"I remember I was living in Calgary at the time working mostly in Japan and I tried to get into ECW for a year," Jericho said. "I started calling — Mick Foley gave me Paul [Heyman]'s number, and I started calling Paul." 

Jericho recalled that he didn't have much luck trying to speak to Heyman, even though he believed he was talking to the ECW head. 

"I got in touch with him twice," Jericho said. "One time he answered, he says, 'Hello?' I said, 'Is Paul Heyman there, please?' 'No, this is his roommate Dave.' It sounds like f**king Paul Heyman, and the other time, he goes, 'Hello?' 'It's Chris Jericho.' 'Chris Jericho, I'm just on the other line with Jimmy Snuka I'll call you right back.'"

When Jericho told Foley that he finally managed to get a hold of Heyman but he was busy talking to Snuka, Foley asked him, "Did he say he was on the line with Jimmy Snuka?" Jericho told him he was, to which Foley responded with, "Yeah, you got f**ked." Jericho's six months in ECW were beneficial to his career as it caught the attention of WCW, who brought him into the promotion in August 1996, which ultimately led to him joining WWE in 1999.

Please credit "Talk is Jericho" when using quotes from this article and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.