Chris Jericho: I Wouldn't Be A Wrestler Without Owen Hart

If it wasn’t for Owen Hart, Chris Jericho would not be a professional wrestler.

The wrestling legend is a big fan of the younger Hart brother. Both men are on the smaller side, and come from sporting families from Canada. There are many similarities between the two, which explains Jericho’s reverence to the former WWE Superstar.

Chris Jericho recently spoke with Jan Murphy for the Calgary Sun, where they discussed the impact Owen Hart had on him. He revealed that he wanted to honor AEW when they started AEW, not wanting his legacy to be erased.

The former AEW Champion claimed he wouldn’t be in the wrestling business without Owen Hart. He is glad the company can honor the Canadian great, 25-years after his death.

“When we started AEW, it was one of the missions that Tony Khan and I had was to get Owen involved in wrestling again.” Chris Jericho said. “I’ve really always felt over the years that people have just focused on Owen’s past. The last 10 minutes of his life have kind of erased his amazing legacy of being one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all times, and not to mention being a huge influence on me.”

“I wouldn’t be in the business if it wasn’t for Owen. I really wanted people to think about him in a positive light. Rather than this cloud of negativity. I wanted to do the same within pro wrestling, where people think of Owen Hart in wrestling, they can think about him in AEW. We have an Owen Hart action figure, Owen Hart’s in the video game and you can actually do things with this guy who was one of the greatest ever and basically wasn’t even (mentioned in) the business for many, many years. That never sat well with me.”

Chris Jericho Was Inspired By Owen Hart To Become A Wrestler

Chris Jericho continued to discuss Owen Hart’s impact. He revealed that seeing a man Owen’s size flying around the ring showed Jericho that he too could be a professional wrestler.

The fact he came from Calgary, which was a svelte 14-hour drive from his home in Winnipeg, made the idea of being a wrestler all too real for a young Chris Jericho.

“I grew up a big wrestling fan.” Chris Jericho said. “I loved Hulk Hogan. I really loved Ricky Steamboat. Randy Savage, The Rockers, those types of guys, but those guys were like living on another planet for me. They were wrestling in Madison Square Garden, or they’re wrestling in Texas, or they’re wrestling in Oregon or California. I had been to those places, but only with my parents and I had no idea how to get there, whereas Stampede Wrestling was 14 hours west from Winnipeg.”

“I knew I could get there. Owen was a new kid on the scene, he was so acrobatic and so explosive and not the biggest of guys, not six-foot-eight or six-foot-five and 240 pounds of muscle. I knew I could go to Calgary. I knew I could learn to wrestle there and I knew I was as big as Owen was. Or I could be at least because of my stature was similar to his. And that was it. That was it, it was like ‘I can be like that guy.’ I know where Calgary is and this is what I want to do.”