Chris Jericho: World-Travelled Stars Better Prepared For WWE

Returning to WWE action at the Royal Rumble in January, Chris Jericho surprised many during his first in-ring appearance since the August 20 edition of Raw. Losing a "Career vs. Money In The Bank Briefcase" match to Dolph Ziggler, Jericho would leave to concentrate on touring with his rock band, Fozzy. Staying in the 30-man Rumble for over 45 minutes came as another shock, even to Jericho.

"Whenever Fozzy plays, we put on a very intense show. A lot of energy, a lot of you know, jumping and running", Jericho told WWE.com. "But when you get into the ring it's a different story. And it's funny, because when I heard I was in the Rumble for 47 minutes and 53 seconds, I was like, 'Wow, is it really that long?' Y'know?"

"Mr. McMahon even asked me after. He said, 'you did a great job, but not working in awhile, I mean how did you stay in ring shape?' And I was like, 'I don't know.' And then even on Raw, my first single match was like 18 minutes against CM Punk. Same thing. I guess just when you've been doing it long enough it just gets ingrained into your body and it's just more instinct than anything."

Learning a variety of styles in companies such as ECW, WCW and wrestling in such far-flung cultures as Japan and Mexico before finally reaching WWE in 1999, Jericho also stresses the importance of that knowledge, feeling some newer names on the WWE roster are already benefitting from such experience.

"It's good to know that the new prospects that are coming in have some experience and been around a little bit. And obviously The Shield, I was really impressed by them right off the bat. They were just three guys that were given a shot and really took the ball and ran with it. Cesaro, I've been a fan of his even before he came here. They've worked around the world and it benefited them when they debuted."