Although Chris Hero hasn't wrestled a match since March 2020, the independent wrestling legend is making sure that everyone knows he's not quite satisfied with the in-ring portion of his career just yet.
Since being released by WWE for a second time in 2020, Hero has mostly kept quiet in regards to his future, outside of working as a producer at the ROH Best In The World pay-per-view in 2021. In a new interview with Andrew Thompson, Hero talked about his current involvement with the business.
"I feel like last year, I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m just waiting for the right thing to hop back in’ and here we are a year later, I’m still waiting for that right thing. I feel like — I’ve said this a little bit on my Twitch, ChrisHeroTwitch if you mess around with that. I do these killer watchalongs. I’ve really been enjoying it but I’m really candid there with my — I call it my ‘territory’, that’s all my people… Okay, I love wrestling and there’s so much good stuff going on, but it’s almost too much good stuff going on that it’s just a lot of noise and I don’t wanna interject myself right in the middle of a whole noisy situation and that’s not that I don’t believe in myself or have faith that whatever I do is gonna kick ass, I know it will. But I want to set myself up for success and the example that I’ve used a lot in personal conversations is like Mania weekend last year. How many graphics did you see for matches that are just like unreal, a dream match, like holy sh*t, like whatever, right? And how many of those matches did you watch in full? How many of them have you seen GIFS of? And how many of ‘em did you even forget happened? And these are very talented wrestlers from all over the world so, I am just being very thoughtful about what I do. I’ve got a couple things in mind. Not to get into it, I also have some personal stuff going on familywise that has made it difficult to concentrate. But, we’re going in the right direction. I’m excited. I’ve got these interviews that I do, I got some appearances, I do a little bit of producing. I help out with a couple shows here and there. I’m in discussions with a couple groups about also helping out. I love looking at wrestling from the other side and building relationships with people. I’ve got some step-children, some step-nephews and nieces on the independents that I watch and kind of [give advice to], because the time that I spent with Ring of Honor, I think I built relationships with a lot of good people and I just want them to succeed man and you can tell when you talk to people, how much they love it and you know they’re gonna make it. You just don’t know what it is, so I’m just kind of along for the ride and if I can toss ‘em a bone here and there and they’re like — ten years down the road, they’re like, yeah man, he really helped me. I’m like, yeah, that’s good for me, you know?"
Furthermore, Hero noted that while he's content with what he's accomplished throughout his 24 year career, he's not quite satisfied just yet.
"Yeah, absolutely [I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished]. It is mind-blowing to go back and just — because what are we?… September will be my 24th year. I realize I’ve been inactive for two years. I’m still gonna count those two years. If Terry Funk can count, you know [Hero laughed]. No, I am just overwhelmed with a lot of the things that I’ve been able to do, places I’ve been able to travel, the time that I’ve spent, the people I’ve been in cars with, the blood, sweat and tears I’ve shared with some people. It’s really cool. I will say that I am content, but I’m not satisfied. I got plenty more to do and I think I have something. My body of work speaks for itself but I think I have something in here that can really change things and I’m gonna keep working toward it man."
Last year, Chris Jericho noted that Hero was a candidate to be one of the 'Labours Of Jericho' as a part of his storyline with MJF. Click here to learn more.
Special thanks to Andrew Thompson for the quotes. To see his full interview with Hero, click the video linked at the top of the article.