"Let me get bigger and beat the crap out of everybody" - Chris Jericho sheds light on his weight issues in recent years

AEW star Chris Jericho has opened up about the issues regarding his weight, which he gained following his departure from WWE in 2018, and didn't properly lose until early 2022.

Jericho drew a lot of attention to himself at the beginning of the year when he appeared to have shed a significant amount of weight. This followed his stint in hospital at the end of 2021 due to non-COVID related issues.

"The Wizard" had noticeably piled on the pounds since his WWE departure, which made the former AEW World Champion the subject of ridicule at one point with a lot of people he had gotten fat.

Now that he has slimmed down, Chris Jericho has opened up about this topic on his podcast, "Talk is Jericho". He explained why he got so big, and stated that it began as a way to stand out from the crowd in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

"I gained weight after I worked with Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome. I was going through a Bruiser Brody phase and I thought, 'I'm not tall like Brody, but I can be bigger than all these Japanese guys because the way things are now, I'm a taller guy.' Japanese appreciate the bulkier physiques. 'Let me get bigger and beat the crap out of everybody,' which is what I did and it worked out to where I had three Tokyo Dome main events, I just never lost the weight. The pandemic comes and you don't realize it." (H/T Fightful).

While he did have reasoning for his weight gain, he did eventually admit that he was overweight, but not in bad enough shape to wrestle.

"Was I too big? Absolutely. Overweight? I guess. Ever out of shape cardio-wise? No, I was never blowing up." (H/T Fightful).

Chris Jericho not only transformed his physique, but also his character

The former AEW World Champion has gone by many names in his career. Lionheart, Y2J and The Painmaker where all the names he used before AEW, while he's been known as Le Champion, The Influencer and now, The Wizard.

After slimming down and witnessing The Inner Circle fall apart right before his eyes, Chris Jericho formed the Jericho Appreciation Society, while also claiming he was a wizard who could shoot fireballs at people.

Joining him in the society were long-time friends Jake Hager, 2.0's Jeff Parker and Matt Lee, who now by the names "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker and "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard, and Daniel Garcia. They have since been joined by Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti.

Jericho has lived up to his name by shooting fireballs at the likes of Shota Umino and long-time rival Eddie Kingston, who still wants to taste his blood despite the fact they were both in a match recently that is literally called "Blood and Guts."

What will Jericho evolve into next? Only time will tell!