Meeting Your Heroes: Expectation Vs Reality

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have seen me mention a couple of thousand times that I met one of my heroes.
I ONLY WENT AND MET BLOODY LE CHAMPION Y2J CHRIS JERICHO DIDN’T I!?

Yep, you heard me correctly. There I am, looking very gormless next to Le Champion. CHRIS JERICHO KNOWS THAT I EXIST. I’m just gonna wait by the phone because obviously I should be expecting a marriage proposal any day now…

We’ve all heard the saying “Never meet your heroes” haven’t we? Because if they then turn out to be an utter prick it will forever ruin any kind of admiration or respect you ever held for them. So, me being me, I thought “fuck it” and I went ahead and did it anyway. His band Fozzy were touring the UK, so I went along to the Birmingham show. After it had finished I waited around afterwards to say hi (or something a bit cooler).

Here’s a brief recap of how it went.

First, here’s my inner monologue from when I was giving myself a little “don’t be a twat” pep talk before the encounter:

“Ok Kimberley you can do this. Just be charming and charismatic and everything will be fine. Remember now, and I know this may be difficult for you, but don’t say anything that’ll make you sound like a fucking bellend. Meeting Chris Jericho for the first time will only happen once. Just tell him that you enjoyed the gig. Or that you’re loving the new album. Thank him for inviting you. Or perhaps throw in that you’ve been a fan of his since you were about 11 years old. (But not in a wanky fangirl kind of way). It’ll be fine, he’s just another human. I believe in you, girl. “

IS PROBABLY WHAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID. This is an example of the aforementioned ‘expectation’. Because obviously when you meet someone you admire you’re going to instantly hit it off and they’ll be dazzled by your wit and charm and then you’ll become best friends right?

Well, dear reader. I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise to hear that is not what actually happened.

Here’s what my dickhead brain over here actually did:
“UHH TELL HIM ABOUT THE TRAFFIC.”

Yep. I mean, really? Of all the things I could and should have said to this man, about his wrestling career or his music, or how he’s successful in literally everything he does, I did possibly the most British thing ever and started talking about the fucking traffic on the way to the gig. What’s next? The fucking weather? What I had for lunch that day? For fuck sake. I’m just gonna go and get in the bin and not allow myself to talk to other humans ever again.

I think perhaps the reason they say never meet your heroes isn’t that they might be a dick. No no, it’s because you’ll do or say something to embarrass yourself and you’ll turn out to be the dick.

Luckily for me and my hopes of keeping my childhood crush intact, he could not have been nicer. True, there probably are some heroes you should never meet. But after meeting Chris Jericho I can confirm that if he is one of your heroes, then you absolutely should meet the fuck out of him.

If anyone reading this has any embarrassing stories about people you’ve met, please let me know in the comments below so I can feel better about myself.