Who qualifies as a legend? Not Chris Jericho, if you ask him.
He recently spoke to TV Insider about his upcoming television show The Legend of...With Chris Jericho. When asked if he considers himself a legend, he balked at the idea, saying that you'd have to really have a high opinion of yourself to call yourself a legend in anything. He just considers himself just a guy who likes to dabble in many things:
I think I would be a pretty big a**hole to call myself a legend. Some people say that I have some sort of legendary status. And if someone says that, thank you very much. I’m more than happy to accept that. It’s hard for you to call yourself a legend. Although I did call myself the living legend in WWE. So, if you look back in 2004, my character definitely thought he was a legend.
Me, I’m just a guy who likes to do a lot of different things. I don’t put boundaries on myself. When I was a kid, I wanted to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band and a wrestler. I’ve done both those things at very high levels. That has enabled me to do other stuff like write books, do podcasts, YouTube shows. I have a great fanbase that follows me into whatever I do because they know I put a thousand percent into every project I’m a part of. And I turn down a lot of stuff too.
When asked about what he considers a legend to be, he says that while the phrase is used a little too much lately, but he considers a legend someone who if larger than life:
The word "legend" is used so easy nowadays, like "awesome" and "genius"—"Oh, he’s a genius"; "Oh, he’s awesome." If you go to Australia, everyone calls you a legend. They go, “Can you get me a beer? Great, you’re a legend, mate.” You open the door for someone, you’re a legend. To me, a real legend is someone who has a story and a history that everybody knows about. Butch Cassidy is a legend because I think there are a lot of people who aren’t even sure he is real, but he is real. Someone who has a real history and story behind him that’s almost larger than life in many ways.
Although in real life Jericho doesn't consider himself a legend, he did at one point call himself a living legend in the early 2000s on WWE programing. That caused some ire as the phrase has also been used by the likes of Larry Zybysko and Bruno Sammartino.
