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By Root 1595 0

of the greatest hits of two performers who’d worked together dozens of times, like Kenny and Dolly. But we also came up with a bunch of new ideas including a top rope power slam and a reversal off of Dragón’s spinning top rope Cancun Tornado Splash. The match was tremendous and became my calling card. When I needed to send a tape of my work to anyone, whether it was ECW, WWF, or WCW, I would just send that match. It was the perfect sample of who Chris Jericho was as a performer and what he could do in the ring, plus it took place in front of a sold-out raucous crowd in a prestigious Japanese arena.

I retained the title and beat one of Japan’s biggest stars at WAR’s biggest show of the year. My credibility and name value were at an all-time high and when the match was over, we received a standing ovation from the 11,000 fans in attendance, one of whom was Mick Foley.

Mick was working in Japan for another company and had come to our show on a night off with Masa the superfan. I met him for the first time afterward and he seemed impressed.

“That was a great match. You guys stole the show.”

Mick offered to help me out if I ever needed anything back in the States and said he’d put a word in for me with Paul E. Dangerously, the boss of Extreme Championship Wrestling—ECW—based out of Philadelphia. I’d been thinking about trying to get work in ECW for a while. The company had built part of its reputation on hard work and great matches and I thought that my hybrid Japanese/Mexican/Calgary style would fit in perfectly. Plus my career templates Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero were already working there. Most importantly, even though I had a great spot and a respected position within WAR, it was time for me to try to break into the big leagues again.

And this time I was ready.

So I mailed Mick a tape of the Ultimo Dragón match trusting that he would personally deliver it to Paul E. as he had promised.

He did and not too long afterward, I got a call.

PART EIGHT PHILADELPHIA

CHAPTER 40

PRETTY BOYS WERE CRUCIFIED

Even though it hadn’t taken long for Paul E. to call me after Mick gave him my tape, I’d been trying to get ahold of the guy for almost a year.

ECW had come into prominence as the premier independent American company and was famous for introducing the hardcore style of wrestling invented in Puerto Rico (and copied by FMW) into the U.S. It was also the first American company to shine the spotlight on wrestlers that were deemed “too small” by the big leagues. Before ECW, nobody ever gave guys like Benoit, Juventud Guerrera, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, or Rey Mysterio Jr. a chance, but Paul E. knew that their combination of technique and high-flying would help break the company to the masses. ECW was providing an outlet for guys with hybrid styles like mine and if I could make an impression there it would help finally break me in the States.

I first called Paul E. in November of 1994. He didn’t call me back so I continued to try every couple of weeks. Usually I only got as far as his answering machine until one time someone actually answered.

“Can I speak to Paul please? It’s Chris Jericho.”

“No, he’s not here. This is his roommate Dave. I’ll have him call you back.”

Strangely, roommate Dave’s voice sounded exactly like the distinctive voice of Paul E. and I’d heard him enough times on TV to know that I’d just spoken with him. I kept calling and a few weeks later he answered again, this time admitting his true identity.

“Hey, Chris, how are you doing?” he said nonchalantly. “I’ve got Jimmy Snuka on the other line. Let me call you right back.” Denied again.

The runaround went on similar to the Ric Flair fiasco but the difference was Paul had never told me to call him. But my friends in ECW had.

Perry Saturn of the Eliminators kept telling me that Paul claimed to be interested in using me. “Paul is the worst at returning calls. But keep calling him, he’ll eventually call you back.” I figured if I bugged him long enough, he’d bring me in just to shut me up.

Finally after six months of unanswered phone