Chris Jericho Returns.... Again
- Thread starter The Brain
- Start date
THTRobtaylor
Once & Future Wrestlezone Columnist
I'd take a toke... but the problem is you're hogging it for yourself in you're own little bubble there chief...
You're putting all your stock in Lesnar when the exact same point applies that you are failing to make... if someone doesn't know the NCAA's, UFC or WWE... they don't know who the F*** Brock is period...
There is no movie he has been in, even THE F***ING MIZ has been in more outside projects, that people may have heard of cos Brock doesn't do that.
He takes between $5m and $10m a year and goes off to be a F***ing farmer and lug bales of hay around for 90% of it.
Where are the TV appearances? The Movie roles? There are none and Brock won't even talk on WWE TV, he has Heyman... so could you imagine him on his own in a TV show or chat show... career killer.
WWE wouldn't let Brock do anything outside for fear of him being found out, that he is the proverbial "two plank thickness" and any illusion of toughness is gone.
When signed to WWE he phones in an appearance every now and then in between the odd match he puts on... He got his ass kicked by a man twice his age in Curt Hennig too so he's not exactly a "star" in the way you seem to think he is. The only real "claim" to fame is ending the streak, A WWE given accolade and a very checkered UFC career where he lost as many times as he won.
The point is that joe public is more likely to have seen Jericho's season of Dancing with The Stars, or his cameo in MacGruber or a festival appearance by Fozzy than any of Lesnar's UFC fights. He's not a mainstream star but Jericho has built a brand and a name away from wrestling same as others like DDP have. Brock hasn't cos he "just wants to stay home"... Stars don't stay home unless they are nutjobs... they go out and play the "star game".
who cares how many times he returns? He does the rigjht thing, puts over younger talent to build them up. Perfect guy to bring back fro SHIRT runs to elevate guys, same as RVD.
Just wish they could keep these returns as surprises instaed of being leaked on spoiler sites.
Just wish they could keep these returns as surprises instaed of being leaked on spoiler sites.
UFOcalling
Master of the Scorpion Death Lock
I wonder if the original plan for BattleGround/SummerSlam was Jericho vs. Bryan for the title? There weren't a lot of prospects for Bryan to feud with, after he finished up with Kane. Jericho vs. Bryan would have been a great title feud; when Jericho is playing a heel there's almost nobody better than him (Punk, maybe). Then again, Jericho's name might not have even come up for a return until after they knew Bryan would be out for a while. Obviously without Bryan or Punk around, they needed another main event/upper mid-card babyface to round things out. Cena can't feud with everyone at the same time (besides, not everyone can be in the title scene), and Reigns is too new to do much more than what they currently have him doing. Jericho's return fills a big gap in WWE's booking right now, even though he probably won't move the needle much.
Since Bryan is out, I think that a feud with The Wyatts is a great program for Jericho. The Wyatts have been getting more & more of a babyface reaction lately (especially Bray), so putting Bray in a feud against a veteran fan-favorite is a great idea for a Summer mid-card program. This feud could help The Wyatts' heel-heat, although I'm sure they'll be cheered by a percentage of the audience no matter who they're feuding with. I'd imagine we'll see Jericho fight Bray at BattleGround, but it will probably spill over to SummerSlam as well. Maybe the BattleGround match will be a "normal" match, but their match at SummerSlam will most likely have some sort of gimmick. For instance it could be hell in a cell, or a straight-up hardcore match with weapons...but they'll call it "The Bayou Brawl", or a "Swamp Scrimmage" (LOL!!) or something dumb like that.
To be honest, I'm kind of surprised they haven't come up with a signature match for Bray yet. Undertaker has the Casket Match, Kane has the Inferno Match, Dudleys/Hardys/Edge & Christian had TLC (Dudleys - Table, Hardys - Ladders, E&C - Chairs), etc. Maybe they're working on an idea for The Wyatts to have their own signature match, but haven't come up with a good idea yet. Like I mentioned already, they'll probably just have a no-DQ match (weapons, etc) but call it something like a "Bayou Brawl". They've already put Bray in an Inferno Match, but that was against Kane (Kane's match-type). There was a cage match Bray had against Bryan, and another against Cena. Then again, maybe Bray will never have his very own match type. It could just be that Bray will be linked to a cage match, kind of like how Mankind/Cactus Jack/Foley was linked to Hell in a Cell, even though HiaC was never "officially" considered Foley's signature match (even though I always think of Foley when HiaC comes up). I suppose any hardcore environment would be considered Foley's domain, unless you count "The Boiler Room Brawl"...but HiaC still comes to my mind before the Boiler Room does.
Getting back on track, I don't know what they'll do with Jericho after SummerSlam (if he sticks around at all). It would be great to see Jericho feud with Sandow, so Sandow could get the rub of working with Jericho...but I imagine we won't be seeing Sandow doing anything noteworthy for the rest of 2014 (or maybe never again). Feuding with Tyson Kidd would be another program I'd like to see (they have The Hart Dungeon connection), and that might be a good way to get Kidd back on the WWE's radar. Like I already mentioned, it would have been great to see a heel Jericho vying for Bryan's title, those matches would have been great. It also would have helped to establish Bryan's title-run, and could have had a hand in making Bryan look like more of an "A+ Player".
I've been a Jerichoholic since around 1997 (his WCW Cruiserweight days), when he was saying "Monday Night Jericho" (as opposed to "Raw is Jericho"). I was excited when Jericho came to Raw in '99 (with the millennium clock), and I also loved "the end of the world" promos (culminating in "save us Y2J"). It's too bad we didn't get another big buildup for Jericho's most recent return, but his surprise appearance was great. When it was announced that a "former WWE Champion" was in the limo on Raw, my feeling was that is was most likely to be Miz. When Miz came out, I was a little disappointed (but not surprised). Jericho interrupting Miz was awesome, though - and The Wyatts attacking Jericho was even better. I'm hoping Jericho stays past SummerSlam (and a bit further into 2015), & ideally until after Wrestlemania 31...but I'm not holding my breath. Jericho has a lot of other projects to keep him busy (touring with Fozzy, his podcast, etc), and wrestling hasn't seemed like it's been too high on his "to-do list".
Since Bryan is out, I think that a feud with The Wyatts is a great program for Jericho. The Wyatts have been getting more & more of a babyface reaction lately (especially Bray), so putting Bray in a feud against a veteran fan-favorite is a great idea for a Summer mid-card program. This feud could help The Wyatts' heel-heat, although I'm sure they'll be cheered by a percentage of the audience no matter who they're feuding with. I'd imagine we'll see Jericho fight Bray at BattleGround, but it will probably spill over to SummerSlam as well. Maybe the BattleGround match will be a "normal" match, but their match at SummerSlam will most likely have some sort of gimmick. For instance it could be hell in a cell, or a straight-up hardcore match with weapons...but they'll call it "The Bayou Brawl", or a "Swamp Scrimmage" (LOL!!) or something dumb like that.
To be honest, I'm kind of surprised they haven't come up with a signature match for Bray yet. Undertaker has the Casket Match, Kane has the Inferno Match, Dudleys/Hardys/Edge & Christian had TLC (Dudleys - Table, Hardys - Ladders, E&C - Chairs), etc. Maybe they're working on an idea for The Wyatts to have their own signature match, but haven't come up with a good idea yet. Like I mentioned already, they'll probably just have a no-DQ match (weapons, etc) but call it something like a "Bayou Brawl". They've already put Bray in an Inferno Match, but that was against Kane (Kane's match-type). There was a cage match Bray had against Bryan, and another against Cena. Then again, maybe Bray will never have his very own match type. It could just be that Bray will be linked to a cage match, kind of like how Mankind/Cactus Jack/Foley was linked to Hell in a Cell, even though HiaC was never "officially" considered Foley's signature match (even though I always think of Foley when HiaC comes up). I suppose any hardcore environment would be considered Foley's domain, unless you count "The Boiler Room Brawl"...but HiaC still comes to my mind before the Boiler Room does.
Getting back on track, I don't know what they'll do with Jericho after SummerSlam (if he sticks around at all). It would be great to see Jericho feud with Sandow, so Sandow could get the rub of working with Jericho...but I imagine we won't be seeing Sandow doing anything noteworthy for the rest of 2014 (or maybe never again). Feuding with Tyson Kidd would be another program I'd like to see (they have The Hart Dungeon connection), and that might be a good way to get Kidd back on the WWE's radar. Like I already mentioned, it would have been great to see a heel Jericho vying for Bryan's title, those matches would have been great. It also would have helped to establish Bryan's title-run, and could have had a hand in making Bryan look like more of an "A+ Player".
I've been a Jerichoholic since around 1997 (his WCW Cruiserweight days), when he was saying "Monday Night Jericho" (as opposed to "Raw is Jericho"). I was excited when Jericho came to Raw in '99 (with the millennium clock), and I also loved "the end of the world" promos (culminating in "save us Y2J"). It's too bad we didn't get another big buildup for Jericho's most recent return, but his surprise appearance was great. When it was announced that a "former WWE Champion" was in the limo on Raw, my feeling was that is was most likely to be Miz. When Miz came out, I was a little disappointed (but not surprised). Jericho interrupting Miz was awesome, though - and The Wyatts attacking Jericho was even better. I'm hoping Jericho stays past SummerSlam (and a bit further into 2015), & ideally until after Wrestlemania 31...but I'm not holding my breath. Jericho has a lot of other projects to keep him busy (touring with Fozzy, his podcast, etc), and wrestling hasn't seemed like it's been too high on his "to-do list".
Because why go play your trade in a lower division he comes back to wwe because he has respect for vince mcmahon he has always said he would only wrestle for vince,
Aquaman6686
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I'd say far more people know who Chris Jericho is than Brock Lesnar. UFC's popularity is VASTLY overrated. If I go to any of the local places (like sports bars) that show UFC and WWE events, they're usually ghost towns during the UFC shows, but packed during WWE events. UFC isn't the mainstream mega-popular event you're making it out to be.
Location may be a big part of that.
Where I live they don't even show WWE at bars or Hooters. They always show UFC pay per views and they always do good business.
On the topic of Jericho's return I'm not bothered by it. I'm hoping for some really good back and forth mic work. I couldn't care less if Jericho puts Bray over or not. I couldn't care less if Bray gets a rub off Jericho.
As long as it's entertaining I'm not concerning myself with the result.
If Jericho never comes back after his feud with Bray I wouldn't care one bit. Wrestlers have to retire at some point and Jericho definitely has done enough in his career that he could retire today and still be considered a Hall of Fame worthy wrestler.