Chris Jericho Article

SOURCE: winnipegsun.com

Whether he was wrestling in front of a handful of fans or whether thousands booed or cheered him, Chris Jericho has always been pumped about stepping into a ring in Canada.

With shows in New Brunswick and Ontario this weekend, followed by a live RAW (The Score won't have its usual 15-minute delay) in Toronto on Monday and Smackdown! TV in London on Tuesday, WWE's Canadian superstars are home sweet home.

"The thing about the Canadian fans that's really cool ... if you're from Wisconsin and you're working in California, nobody cares ... but when you're working anywhere between Moncton and Vancouver, you get that, 'Hey, you're Canadian!'

"It's Chris Jericho the Canadian, not Chris Jericho from Winnipeg. It's always a blast to wrestle in Canada.

"I remember wrestling in front of seven people Alberta. A guy had booked the show the same night as the college was having a free beer bash. The seven who showed up must have been too young or on the wagon.

"Whether I'm wrestling in front of seven or 70,000 fans, it's always a huge honour to get into the ring."

Edge (Adam Copeland) is another proud Canadian (from Orangeville) As one of WWE's top heels, he's not sure what kind of reception he'll get.

"Rather than come out and say: 'I hate Canada and Canadians ...' we don't force that on our audiences anymore.

"Everywhere else, the fans hate me, but it's different here. This is home. It's like my home town is the whole country.

"If it goes the same as it's gone in Toronto, I could be cheered. The gauge will be this weekend in Moncton.

"I'll still talk about The Undertaker. But because he's The Undertaker, he's going to have a segment of the audience on his side.

"I look forward to it, whether I'm booed or cheered. I pride myself on being a guy who always gets booed. But up there, it doesn't always happen."

Edge, once a universal fan favourite, likes the role he's developed into -- conniving, sarcastic and a bit arrogant.

"If you'd have asked me four or five years ago, I would have never said I'd be better as a heel," he says. "Even when Christian and I were together as a team, we still had humorous moments, so it was hard to hate us.

"But I tried to take the humour out, I wanted to have no redeeming social qualities. I still had to be entertaining, but I didn't want to be overly entertaining. I'm better, as J.R. would say, as the antagonist. This is a character, but there are elements of me in it. The sarcasm is part of me ramped up. I try to get into the fans' heads. If I was sitting at home watching, I would hate me."