Pro wrestler Chris Jericho and radio personality “Psycho” Mike Catherwood admit they may not know much about dancing, but they do know a little something about showmanship.
As the two contenders gear up for their debut cha-cha-cha-ing on “Dancing With the Stars,” both agree that they need to bring as much of their well-established over-the-top personas to the dance floor in their bid for the coveted Mirror Ball trophy.
“I'm really focusing on showmanship, because I believe that this contest is show business,” Jericho, who’s had some experience working his ringside WWE fans into a frenzy, tells PopcornBiz. “There are millions of people watching the show and probably millions of people who have no idea who Chris Jericho is. I'm okay with that, because I think we're all kind of starting with a clean slate and everybody is even at this point, no matter what kind of reputation that they bring. So I think that you want to have the most show business flash that you can to make your mark.”
“We owe it to the viewers to give it our all in the showmanship aspect” agrees Catherwood, the “Loveline” host known for bringing his share of outrageousness to the airwaves. “Because who wants to tune in, who wants to support this show if people are going to half-ass it when it comes to really delivering the show? I mean, you're not tuning in to watch us blow your mind with dance moves. You're tuning in to see us giving it our all from a presentation standpoint. So I feel like it's our obligation to really deliver when it comes to being a show-stopper.”
“I think I'm confident enough that I have a real shot to do a semi-decent performance on show,” Jericho says. “It's been a really grueling couple of weeks as far as learning the routines and trying to get them right and now that we're getting so close it's time to get out there and make donuts and get the job done. So I think we're excited for this first day to happen.”
“Everybody involved in the show – not just Chris and I – are pretty new to the world of dance,” says Catherwood. “It's not just all about one-two-three-four and hitting steps. It's about the way that you present yourself and the way that you conduct yourself and your posture and your poise. That's honestly been the hardest part. I think it's easy to underestimate just how much goes into doing the most rudimentary dance moves.”
“I think you just have to be yourself,” says Jericho, who day job frequently involves radical shifts in character and outrageous plot twists. “People are really smart, as far as knowing who's genuine and who's trying to put on something that they're not. Hopefully people will enjoy what I do and enjoy my personality. For me the whole thing has been such a blast all ready and I'm really starting to get addicted to the training and to the dancing and to the show. So I don't want that to get taken away at this point.”
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“It's all about just having a great time and showing people that we're trying our hardest,” says Catherwood. “If you can do that, I do think that people will get behind you.”
