Ambrose booking = Jericho's booking in '99-00?

[LBGetBack]

Jericho joined WWF in the summer of '99 and was instantly very over with the fans. However it didn't take long for him to be booked fairly weakly. He was in crappy angles with Chyna, lost matches to one of the Headbangers, Stevie Richards, and Viscera. Despite this, he stayed very popular with the fans. In the Spring of 2000, he shockingly pinned HHH for the championship.....and then had it stripped that same night.

See Ambrose's run since last summer. He lost every feud he was in, lost a lot of matches, and has received very poor booking but has stayed very popular. Now in the Spring of 2015, he shockingly pins Rollins for the title.....and promptly has it taken away.

Some definite similarities. They did better with Jericho going forward. Hopefully, they do better with Ambrose going forward.

 

[AustinHartLesnarHBKTaz80]

Yup. Just the way i predicted the Rollins/Ambrose match would end----a false title win by Ambrose only to have it stripped from him immediately after.

A la Y2J/Triple H from a Raw in May 2000.

You couldnt have Ambrose lose this one, after such a successful build up for his character. Leading up to this match.

you have to falsely give him the reward/title, gauge the crowd reaction to prepare for it to actually possibly happen at a later date, but also keep Rollins momentum and credibility as champion.

Ambrose keeps his momentum, and Rollins continues his reign as champ. Feud continues.

Problem is: i totally bought Y2J as the champ in May 2000.

Dean Ambrose, on the other hand, i DON'T buy.

Rollins is the guy right now. He should run roughshod over everybody

 

[yourdamnluck]

Ambrose has a lot of advantages over jerico. First and the biggest is his built. He's taller than jerico and almost as good on mic and in ring. Second is that there aren't as many guys contending for the top spot as there were in 99-00.
Cena jobbed out, orton has been exhausted, Rusev & barret have injury problems(throw in bryan and zig zag), Reigns has been thoroughly rejected by the crowd, sheamus is boring and others are in the making. That leaves Ambrose and rollins and they are 'destined to do this forever'.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

That's the first thing I thought of when Ambrose won the title, they're going to waive this off like Y2J in 2000. It was still real to me then (I was 15 damn it) and I had never been so mad at pro-wrestling in years. I had to talk myself down last night, "Midget, you're being a mark."

The thing I thought was stupid about the whole thing is that they didn't reverse the decision and the Ref called for a DQ. If I was a Ref, I'd keep the decision where the jackass who pulled me into harms way loses his title. Triple H, Kane, or Stephanie should have announced the call that Rollins was actually disqualified.

Rant over, yes, I saw exactly what you mean, big similarities with Ambrose being announced as champion, graphics and all. I thought for a second we were getting a major landscape change, but alas. If Ambrose continues to mirror Jericho, we may never see him have a run as champ while his character is babyface. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[wrestler36]

I think Ambrose evolved faster. I forget where it was, maybe Jericho's own book, but he was purposely demoted based on his ring work of all things. I think he worked slower paced matches and the WWF guys were dogging him for it (ironically, the most traveled and well rounded wrestler was being demoted for not wrestling 'WWF' style). Ambrose lost a lot of matches, but a lot of it was more character based (going crazy and getting disqualified). Just a few months as a singles guy, Ambrose is main eventing HIAC with Rollins.

 

[kadroan]

I never thought about this comparison but I can see it. I just think just like Jericho, it isn't Ambrose's time to win the title.

Ambrose just a fill in contender until Brock comes back. I guess when Brock comes back, I wouldn't be surprised if he's chasing a mid card title again. Just sucks they need him to main event again, this time for MITB so he won't be able to win the MITB Briefcase this year which would have helped him out greatly.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Remember that Y2J's issues were down to two issues, Triple H not really wanting to lose "the spot" he was just getting at the time (remember he only became World Champ around the same time Jericho debuted) and that as he mentions in his book, Y2J was having real issues with Vince and adapting to the WWE style.

He details it that around the time he won that aborted title that was when he'd "won" them over and his push began in earnest relatively soon afterwards.

Ambrose doesn't really have those issues, but the general point about booking in 1999/2000 is pretty valid. WWE had several guys it wanted to get over in that period to the title in a shortish space of time...Triple H, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle being the notable 3... You could easily put Rollins in the spot Triple H was then, he now has it so doesn't NEED to hold it forever, just long enough so it doesn't seem a fluke. Ambrose is very much like Foley or Jericho is the guy that the fans want to see get it, but he's not the priority.

Regins is their "top" priority to get there first, by hook or crook.

Ambrose will get it, they could have easily done the Foley route and give him a 3 week run, but ultimately it would have been hollow as it didn't have Mick's years of fighting it or Tony S. to help make it mythic. Jericho's fakeout win did more for him than a short reign would and they're hoping the same for Ambrose.

What all did on the night was show "anyone can win, on any given night" it makes the title valuable. When Ambrose gets it, it'll be bigger for him not getting it now or being "screwed" out of it, especially if Reigns is the heel by then and "sells out" like Seth did to get it...

 

[LBGetBack]

Remember that Y2J's issues were down to two issues, Triple H not really wanting to lose "the spot" he was just getting at the time (remember he only became World Champ around the same time Jericho debuted) and that as he mentions in his book, Y2J was having real issues with Vince and adapting to the WWE style.

He details it that around the time he won that aborted title that was when he'd "won" them over and his push began in earnest relatively soon afterwards.

Yes, that was part of it and I know Jericho said that in his book. But what he's also said(in a politically correct way) was that DX didn't like him and were dicks to him at first, and a lot of guys had something against him because he was "one of the WCW guys", as he had been on the other side of the war.

Yes, Jericho may have had some early struggles that were his own fault.....but he also had some with locker room power holding him down because they flat out didn't like him. For any of his "struggles" he was still a better worker than a lot of guys who were pushed hard in '99, and he was very over with the fans regardless. But he definitely really hit his stride in mid 2000 against HHH and he continued that momentum big time. He was killing it in 2000 and 2001.

I hope to see Ambrose do the same. As much as I like him and as popular as he is, and for all the great things he's done(he's one of the best guys in the company IMO, just like Jericho was in 99-00)....I don't think he has fully hit his stride as a solo character or ring worker. His offense could use some improving(and IMO that leaning off the ropes clothesline should be used far less), and his character has been too goofy at times. If he can step it up a bit and he gets some solid booking and a push, he'll really take off IMO.

 

[TheICChampion]

Yup. Just the way i predicted the Rollins/Ambrose match would end----a false title win by Ambrose only to have it stripped from him immediately after.

A la Y2J/Triple H from a Raw in May 2000.

You couldnt have Ambrose lose this one, after such a successful build up for his character. Leading up to this match.

you have to falsely give him the reward/title, gauge the crowd reaction to prepare for it to actually possibly happen at a later date

Oh, great. I just hope they don't do like they did with Jericho, having him and his fans wait a year and a half for him to win the title.