Stories of Vince McMahon making last-minute changes to WWE plans that may have even been in place for quite some time are infamous, so when Chris Jericho had an idea for what he now calls one of his all-time favorite "WWE Raw" moments, it's reasonable to believe that he may have been leery of a last minute pivot from the then-Chairman and CEO. 2017's "Festival of Friendship" ended Jericho's run as "best friends" with Kevin Owensand did so in grand fashion as Owens turned on Jericho and beat him down in a show of chaotic violence.
While the segment included just about everything Jericho imagined from the start, McMahon would insist on a sculpture being in the ring, for whatever reason, and Jericho wasn't about to let that get in the way. "There was a statue cause Vince insisted there had to be a sculpture in the ring," Jericho told "Busted Open Radio." "That was his only thing. 'There has to be a sculpture in the ring.'" Undeterred and, in recalling the moment, almost sounding relieved that this was all McMahon wanted, Jericho added, "'Ok,' so we put a sculpture in the ring."
For it all to stay as true to the original vision as it did turned out great for Jericho and Owens and the segment is still remembered fondly to this day. Jericho even threw in a callback to a Michelangelo-style painting from the bit in a segment with Don Callis on "AEW Dynamite" years later. Of course, in wrestling, not much ever ends perfectly, and though McMahon initially said the feud would end as the main event at WrestleMania 33, with Jericho winning the world title from Owens, instead, it went on second thanks to a trademark pivot."[WrestleMania] was gonna be the night where I won the title as a babyface [but] Vince changed his mind to doing Brock [Lesnar] versus Goldberg instead," Jericho explained. "What are you gonna do, right? 'It's his ice cream stand,' as Pat [Patterson] used to say. So, I was a little bit disappointed cause it would've been cool but the story was still amazing."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
