AEW Star Chris Jericho Reveals What’s Cooking on His ‘Fast Foodies’ Episode

Who better to decide “Le Chompion” on Fast Foodies than “Le Champion” Chris Jericho? The AEW star appears as a Season 2 guest judge on Thursday’s episode of the truTV series. 

He join chefs Kristen Kish, Jeremy Ford, and Justin Sutherland in a unique matchup. The pro wrestling legend and Fozzy rocker tasks them to first re-create a favorite fast-food dish and then create a whole new dish out of the same ingredients. 

We sat down with Jericho for a delicious chat about his experience and all things food. 

Tell me about your chosen dish.

Chris Jericho: I wanted to bring something different than pizza or a burger. So I chose to bring Cracker Barrel’s Momma’s Pancake Breakfast—something I was into for a while when we were working in Jacksonville every week. I would go there before the AEW shows. You have the pancakes along with the fried apples, turkey sausage, eggs. They did their magic and artistry with that. It was really interesting to see their interpretations of it and remix of it, which was more of a gourmet style of meal. 

Will you ever look at these pancakes the same?

I think the concept of it was really cool. I’m a big fan of the chefs themselves. When I did Dancing With the Stars, I wanted to learn more about the artistry of dancing. Same thing with Fast Foodies. I learned about what it takes to be a top-notch chef. I think any time you create something out of nothing, it’s similar to a musician, painter, or pro wrestler. You are an artist. 

AEW

I heard there were some big cardboard heads and pancake tossing involved. What can you tell us about that?

When they do the initial test, you choose the winner of the three. The other two then have to do the penance. I had to throw pancakes at their giant Foodie faces. Once they caught the pancake with their [cardboard] mouth, they could start the next test [of creating their own dish out of the pancake ingredients]. I just watched the episode back. They did such a good job making it funny. And of course, it’s with Jericho, so it’s going to be entertaining. 

You’re always on the road, whether it’s wrestling with AEW or touring with Fozzy. How challenging is it to maintain healthy eating?

If you’re going to eat healthily, you don’t go to a fast-food place. Simple as that. If you are going to go to Cracker Barrel or McDonald’s, don’t count calories and how much fat and enjoy it. Just don’t go there every day. That’s the secret to any kind of diet—it’s a balancing act. With AEW or with Fozzy, these are highly intense shows we do. You can’t eat a lot of fast food. With Fozzy, we abolished backstage pizza years ago. There is only so much pizza you can have, especially when you are on stage for 90 minutes. You need something more sustainable. It’s something you learn a lot about as a pro athlete and as someone with a couple of physical jobs. 

Where does the catering in AEW rank?

It’s a million times better than WWE, and I’ll tell you why. WWE’s catering has an amazing dessert contingent. I don’t eat a lot of desserts unless it’s right in front of your face and free. How do you turn that down? It does throw a little monkey wrench. “I’ll just have one cookie. I’ll have one piece of cherry pie.” Then you go out on national TV in three hours with no shirt on. I find AEW catering is more basic, which makes it a lot easier to eat clean. I don’t know if it’s by design or not. I’m not complaining about it. 

It’s your last meal on Earth. What do you want to be served?

I guess it depends on what you are craving at the time. I really enjoy cherry pie. I enjoy a good steak. I enjoy pizza. I enjoy ribs and chicken. I probably would have a buffet of all of that along with a bottle of Grey Goose vodka. I would eat as much as I possibly could. Drink as much as I could within my allotted time before it’s done. 

Who in the music or wrestling business would you classify as a good cook?

Vinnie Paul from Pantera and Hellyeah was a great cook. He would always cook up breakfast at his house at 6am after you had been up all night drinking. We did a summer tour with Hellyeah, and Vinnie would always cook up chicken and barbecue outside his bus. He was a Texas boy. If you were hungry, it was always, “What is Vinnie doing?” He would have a big spread ready to go. He was the best cook in all my years of wrestling or rock ’n’ roll. 

AEW

When you’re home with your family, do you have a go-to dinner?

My wife is a really good cook. Her turkey burgers are great. She makes great spaghetti. My son makes great mahi right now. I’m more of a barbecue guy—I’ll barbecue the turkey burgers up. We used to barbecue steak quite a bit, but I cut steaks out. I think one of the worst things to happen to cooking is Uber Eats—it’s very easy when you have three teenagers in the house. We still eat together, but as far as cooking, sometimes it’s not as much. 

You’re on Fast Foodies. Cody Rhodes is on Go-Big Show. How does it feel to see so many AEW personalities all over TV.

I think any time you get one of us in front of the camera, we’re going to deliver. It’s what we do. We’re very good at it. You can put Chris Jericho on a cooking show or Impractical Jokers or hosting a show about fighting robots, which I’ve done in the past. You just adapt to the situation and make it entertaining. It’s why the networks love having pro wrestling personalities involved. It really is showbiz boot camp. 

Fast Foodies, Thursday, Feb. 3, 10/9c, truTV