"He says, 'Everyone knows what ****er means there. You can't show that in England. They'll edit it out.'" A wrestling legend shares how Ozzy Osbourne was "the voice of reason" when he appeared on WWE RAW

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne host WWE Raw 2009 — (Image credit: Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images)

Chris Jericho has shared some stories about his favourite times hanging out with Ozzy Osbourne. Speaking to Kerrang! Radio, the wrestling icon and Fozzy frontman was asked if he'd ever met the former Black Sabbath vocalist and all-round metal icon after releasing a cover of Ozzy's debut solo hit Crazy Train last year. Jericho confirms their paths crossed a number of times, including a memorable appearance on WWE's RAW in 2009.

"I do this thing where I talk that Ozzy's gone soft and I lost respect for him and all these different things, 'It used to be The Ultimate Sin, but now you can't even stand up straight,' or whatever the hell I said," Jericho explains.

"At the end, Vince wanted Ozzy to call me a wanker. And Ozzy's like, 'I can't call him a wanker.' Vince is like, 'Well, no one's gonna know [what] that [means].' And he's, like, 'But your show airs in England and everyone knows what wanker means there. You can't show that in England. They'll edit it out.' And Vince was like, 'Oh, wow. You're right.' When did you ever think Ozzy would be the voice of reason on when not to swear on TV?"

Elsewhere in the Kerrang! Radio interview, Jericho talks about a memorable run-in with Sharon Osbourne at an Ozzfest while he was hanging out with long-term Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde.

"Zakk and I drank a lot of beer at the time, and we decided to play baseball in the parking lot where the buses were parked," Jericho recalls.

"Why not, right? So he had a bat and a glove. So I'm pitching to him, and he's swinging, and I pitched this really bad throw and he's laughing, 'Ah, you terrible. You can't even throw a ball.' And I was, like, 'All right, fuck this. I'm gonna show him what I can do.' So there's people gathering, watching. So I throw this ball like straight down the middle. It's like [baseball pitcher] Nolan Ryan, and Zakk connects with it, and it goes all the way out into the parking lot, over the fence of where the buses were into the actual general parking lot."

"As he's running the non-existent bases, we hear this, 'What the fuck are you doing?'" Jericho continues. "We turn, and it's Sharon, and she's power walking towards us. She might have even been wearing a pantsuit. That's what I just remember. I was fucking terrified! This is Sharon: 'What the fuck are you doing?' She's screaming at us. She's, like, 'If that ball hit somebody on the head, we could get sued and lose this entire festival.' She's, like, 'What were you thinking, Zakk?' And then she looks at me and goes, 'And who the fuck are you?' 'I'm nobody.' She says, 'You're right. You're nobody. Get outta my face.'"

There's an extra twist in the tale, however. Jericho says he shared that story with both Sharon and Ozzy when the latter appeared on RAW.

"Ozzy thought that was hilarious - 'Who the fuck are you, man? Who the fuck are you?'" Jericho says with a chuckle. "Sharon pinches me on the ass on the way out. I don't know why. And Ozzy's like, 'All right, man. See you later. Who the fuck are you?' [That was] Just a couple of brushes with him."

Speaking to Hammer in 2017, Jericho explained how Ozzy's solo debut Blizzard Of Ozz had changed his life when he was a kid.

"When I went to junior high school I noticed that all the pretty girls I was attracted to weren’t wearing Beatles shirts, but they were wearing Ozzy, Priest and Scorpions shirts," he explained. "So I thought if I was ever going to get a chance to talk to these girls then I should find out what’s going on with these other bands. I went to a used comic book shop and bought Blizzard Of Ozz on cassette and that’s when I realised how cool Ozzy and heavy metal was."

Watch the full interview with Kerrang! radio below. Fozzy are currently on tour in the UK.

Chris Jericho on Ozzy Osbourne: “When Did Ozzy Become the Voice of Reason?” - YouTube

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Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn't fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.

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