Late one night, four wrestlers from three countries relaxed in a sauna in Japan. While basking in the heat, they sang cheesy '80s rock tunes: "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Don't You Forget About Me," "I'll Melt for You." Everybody's favorites.
"And, yeah, it was some really bad singing," said Chris Jericho, the Canadian representative on this locker room choir, "but it's something that doesn't happen too often, something I'll never forget." Also taking part in the sauna serenade: Texan Chavo Guerrero, Jr., and Robby Brookside and Doc Dean of England. The location: Japan, during the New Japan Pro Wrestling Super Junior Tournament which ended earlier this month.
"Everyone thinks the Japanese are so straightforward, so conservative. I know different. I saw different on this trip," Jericho said. "OK, they weren't singing with us, and probably would have thought we were crazy if they did, but ... "
Jericho, Guerrero, Brookside and Dean competed in the Best of the Super Juniors round-robin tournament. Jericho went 4-2, including a win over eventual champion El Samurai, his only loss in the tourney.
"I thought I did real well," Jericho said of his wrestling -- not his singing. "This was my 29th tour to Japan, and probably my best."
"It's always been a dream of mine to go (to New Japan Pro Wrestling) and finish strong in the tournament," Jericho said. "Going up against some of the best international stars, like Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, Shinjiro Otani, El Samurai and Koji Kannemoto was a real good test for my abilities. And I held up real well. I think I showed that, yes, I belong with those stars.
"It's a real good experience builder for coming back to WCW."
Jericho spent 3 1/2 weeks in Japan, with matches in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
"Whenever I go there, my style is always more vicious than it is here. I think I'm going to keep that style here in the U.S.," Jericho said. "Every time I come back (to the USA), I always stay a little more vicious for a while, but this time I'm going to try to keep it going for a little longer because I feel more comfortable in that style. It's more my nature."
Jericho, 26, teamed with Japanese stars Liger and Otani, among others, and, in the future, hopes to team with some of the Japanese stars in WCW. Jericho said,"I'd really like to team with Ultimo Dragon. We click together real well. I know his style, he knows mine. We'd be a pretty good team."
Coincidentally, Dragon and Jericho faced each other this past Monday Nitro. Prior to the contest, Dragon's former manager, Sonny Onoo, approached Jericho with a contract and an envelope of cash. But Jericho turned him away. Onoo's approach to business and a close loss to the Dragon that Monday, has done nothing to change Jericho's high regard of Japan.
"Every time I come back from Japan, I miss it. And when I'm over there, I miss WCW," Jericho said. "In Japan, there isn't really a 'good guy' or a 'bad guy.' It's more like the fans just cheer for their favorites, who they like the most, who they respect the most. That's probably what I like the most about Japan: you go there and wrestle your style. There aren't lines, about who/what you can cross, or any comformities to follow. You can just be yourself."
