Sparks from the Anvil

Next on Obama's Agenda: Redistribution of Physical Beauty?!

I make no secrets about watching WWE (more so in 2000-2003, than now); nor about my being a fan of Chris Jericho. He's the reason I got hooked in the first place. He portrayed himself very charismatically in 2000-2002, understands the nature of the business, delivers good matches and knows how to connect to the audience on the mic.
These days, Chris Irvine (his real last name) portrays himself as a heel (bad guy). If he seems arrogant and pompous in interviews, much of it is "kayfabe" and an act (he is, after all, an entertainer, where the character and the person behind the character sometimes has the line blurred).

I don't know what Chris Jericho's politics are (I posted his interview in 2007 during a WWE Christmas tour in Iraq; also, a post in 2008), but many WWE wrestlers do seem to lean either conservative Republican voters or libertarian.

Here he is in a TMZ bit. I found it a bit entertaining. Might be scripted (from the way he walks up to the camera); but I wouldn't be surprised if the line was spontaneous as well as his own. If you've seen him in other interviews, he's naturally funny and articulate.

At 1:30, he's asked if Obama has better abs than he has:

Labels: Barack Obama, Chris Jericho, Entertainment, socialism, WWE

Who Supports the Troops?

The WWE, for one.

My favorite wrestler, Chris Jericho, poses with U.S. soldiers.

Classic Jericho on the mic, trash-talking (Part II, with the Rock).

From the Miami Herald:

World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon and 19 superstars and Divas just returned from bringing holiday cheer to U.S. troops stationed in Iraq on its fifth Tribute to the Troops tour.
Hosted by Armed Forces Entertainment, the tour, Dec. 4-8, marked the fifth holiday Tribute to the Troops event WWE has produced since 2003. The tour and live event will be chronicled in a two-hour holiday special -- WWE Tribute to the Troops -- at 9 p.m. EST/PST Monday, Dec. 24 on the USA Network.

The WWE Tribute to the Troops tour marks the largest celebrity production to visit troops in Iraq, with WWE superstars visiting 20 bases throughout the country in three days.

JBL (John "Bradshaw" Layfield, for you FOX News buffs) passing out t-shirts

-- While in Iraq for the Tribute to the Troops taping, several WWE superstars found themselves in grave danger. A helicopter carrying Dean Malenko, Mickie James, Carlito, Chris Jericho, JBL, and Ron Simmons was damaged while landing, stranding the superstars for five hours in a war zone in Tarmiyah, Iraq. They were in the middle of fires, smoke bombs, dead animals, and razor wire everywhere while hanging out with soldiers in an unsecure location. -Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter