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CHRIS JERICHO DISCUSSES HIS WWE EXIT, THE ORIGINAL PLANS FOR SUMMERSLAM AND MORE

Chris Jericho was interviewed by The Austin Chronicle this week to promote last night's TV Taping and Sunday's Summerslam as well as the release of the latest Fozzy CD "Sin and Bones."

In discussing his impending departure, Jericho commented, "These [younger] guys needs guys to work with. Once again, that's sounding egotistical, but after 22 years of being in this business, there's nobody in this company who's been in the business longer – except for Undertaker. I've been wrestling longer than Kane, I've been wrestling longer than Triple H. I didn't request to work with Ziggler. At first, I thought it was Sheamus, than I was supposed to work with Daniel Bryan, and then they just told me, OK, you're working with Ziggler. I said, 'Great.' I will work with anybody, and I will do the absolute best I can to help that. I've been through this before.

This will be the third time that I've left, and this may make people mad, but I've never been just a wrestler. I'm an entertainer. I do a lot of different things in that realm. I don't put myself in a box when it comes. So when I get a chance to work with a guy like Ziggler, I know what I can do with him. I know how good he is. He just needs somebody to help him. And when I'm putting together matches or doing promos with these guys, things that I just see as basics, they still haven't figured out yet. That's not a bad thing. That's just the experience difference, and that's why I can help, and I think that's why I can come and go from the WWE for years to come.

I'm in the best shape of my life. I feel great. I'm enjoying this run, and if I didn't have a tour and a record coming out, I would stay. It's not like I can't wait to leave – in fact, it's the complete opposite. I'm a little sad to leave, in one way, but super-excited by the reason why I'm leaving.

I like the idea of passing the torch along and passing the experience along. That's the way I was trained. I grew up in Japan, and that's how they do it. Old guys teach the young guys, and that's the way it is. The business is more important than any single individual, and I've always felt that way. Haven't always been treated that way, but I've always felt that way."

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