Ex-WWE star on how "smoking cigarettes" affected infamous Chris Jericho match

Chris Jericho was one of the biggest names in WWE for nearly two decades. Throughout his career, Jericho has faced some of the top stars inside and outside the company. This includes former WWE referee Nick Patrick.

Jericho was part of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for a few years before he made the switch to WWE. New World Order (nWo) was brought to life in 1996, and Nick Patrick joined them as their official referee.

Patrick would allow nWo members to cheat and count fast to allow them to score victories over their opponents. This led to a match between Chris Jericho and Patrick at World War 3 pay-per-view on November 24, 1996, in Norfolk, Virginia.

The former WWE Superstar had one arm tied behind his back for the contest. However, he still managed to score a win over the referee. The contest turned out to be a great experience for Patrick.

Speaking on INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet, Patrick opened up about his experience competing against Chris Jericho. The ex-WWE star claimed that he had a "blast."

"Oh man, that was a blast. They came to me and asked me if I wanted to do the match and I said yeah. I got to know Chris and went to a concert with him. And we talked and he constructed the whole thing, man, and I knew from very early on that he was going to be a big star. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time and giving him a chance. But he come up with all of that man. The only thing I come up with was him slamming me off the top at the end to set up a kick and the rest was him. And it was so fun." he said.

Nick Patrick added that he was out of shape as he had been smoking a lot. However, he managed to last 13 minutes in the ring with Y2J, who had one arm tied behind his back.

"I wasn’t in shape either man. I tried to start working out a little bit, back then I smoked cigarettes, I’m an idiot, right? But I smoked cigarettes and stuff back then man and I had man I had to go out there I got going 13 minutes live with a kid like Jericho, we will have one hand tied behind his back, you gotta go a little bit." he added, "And I was taking the hip tosses and stuff, you know, but I always bail out of the ring and regroup, catch my wind. And he was gracious man, he let me get some heat on him. And it lets me do a couple of things to him to set him up to beat me up in the end. And it got a great reaction, man. And it's funny."

Check out the video below:

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Chris Jericho could end a WWE Hall of Famer’s career soon

It’s no surprise that Chris Jericho is still wrestling and giving his best performances at the age of 52. He is currently part of AEW, where he is set to have a rivalry with WWE Hall of Famer Sting.

The two men could have an epic rivalry as they know the business inside out. Fans are expecting to see Sting hang up his boots soon, and he could do just that following his feud against Jericho.

It would be fitting to have a legend like Sting call it a day after a couple of matches against the former AEW Champion. The Hall of Famer recently sent out a tweet stating that he wished he had more time with Chris Jericho:

It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in the rivalry. Fans can expect to see something big go down between the two legends soon.

Do you think Chris Jericho is among the greatest WWE Superstars of all time? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.