Undisputed_ How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps - Chris Jericho [164]
He replied, “The business fucking misses you, the fans fucking miss you, the locker room fucking misses you, I fucking miss you … I think you should come back.”
I told him that the time off had been good but I was ready to return.
He responded quickly, “I can’t wait to help you get into shape for your return!”
A few days later Chris sent me another text that said, “Hey Chris, it’s been awhile, I just wanted to say hi. Call me when you can.” I asked him when I should call since he was always so difficult to get on the phone and he replied, “Haha. You know me too well! Daniel goes to bed at eight, so call me any time after that.”
I called him every night at 8:30 for a week and of course he didn’t answer. I tried a few more times until he finally called me back on a Friday afternoon. I was playing with Ash so I didn’t answer. He left a stoic message saying, “Hey Chris, just looking to talk with you. Hope all is well. Call me back. Bye.”
In retrospect, I really wonder what it was he wanted to talk about.
That night I watched the Brian Pillman DVD that the WWE had just released. Chris knew Pillman quite well, and when it was done I texted him, “Hey man, I just watched Pillman’s DVD, it’s amazing how many of us have died young. It’s so sad. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.” He didn’t respond.
On Saturday I was booked to do an autograph signing on an indie show in Evansville, Indiana. When I landed I returned Chris’s call and there was no answer. Coincidentally, a few hours later I got the news that local Calgary wrestler Biff Wellington had passed away. Chris knew Biff quite well from Stampede Wrestling when they were both starting out, and I thought he needed to hear the news. I sent Chris another text: “I don’t know if you heard but Biff Wellington passed away today.” He didn’t reply yet again.
On Sunday I had another signing at a small indie show in a roller skating rink in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and I was embarrassed to be there. I felt even worse when I saw Bobby Eaton, one of the great workers in the ’80s who was now wrestling for small shows like this one. It was an honest living and there was nothing wrong with it, but the difference was he had no other options and I did. I was ready to return to the WWE, and signing pictures in a skating rink was not where I needed to be.
Still, it was good to see Bobby and we had a great conversation. Halfway through I asked him if he had spoken to Benoit lately and he said he hadn’t for a while. When Eaton went to the ring for his match I thought about texting Chris to tell him I’d just seen Bobby but I didn’t, too self-conscious to let him know what I was doing.
Chris wouldn’t have cared, but I felt he would’ve been disappointed in me for lowering my standards so much. Even though I hadn’t seen him for so long he still had that kind of influence over me. I didn’t want him to feel that I had let him down.
After the signing, I got back to my hotel and went online to read about the day’s events. I was surprised to see that Chris had no-showed that night’s Vengeance PPV in Houston. It was very unlike him to no-show an event, especially a PPV. I thought maybe he was having some kind of family problems and didn’t want to bother him, so I decided against sending him another text.
I flew home on Monday and went to the gym with Ash, leaving him in the play area as I worked out. Right before I started training, I got a message from Brian Gerwirtz asking me to call him. “I have some funny news for you, something you’d be interested in hearing. Get back to me when you can.”
I finished my workout an hour later, and after loading Ash into the back of my Expedition, I called Brian back. When he answered, the tone of his voice had changed drastically. The jauntiness he had displayed in his message only an hour earlier had disappeared and been replaced with panic.
I was overwhelmed by an awful sense of dread.
“Hey man, I got your voicemail,