Face Or Heel: Chris Jericho

[Y 2 Jake]

It's a new thing I'm trying out that wont catch one. But I pick a certain wrestler and we discuss weather he made a better heel or face. Give reasons. First up:

Chris Jericho

I'll go with heel all the way. Well WCW and early WWF career heel. As a face his promos generally bored me. Sure he was charismatic. In a John Cena kind of way. Could cut a decent promo. But couldn't cut anything even remotley memorable. But as a heel he was awesome. WWE finally got it right with his heel persona just as he was leaving in his feud with Cena. But I thought he was just absolutley amazing in WCW. To go from a bland babyface to comedy heel so easily was great. His piss taking of Goldberg was better than anything WWF could ever do. His feud with Dean Malenko made him look better. And that's saying something when your with a great technical wrestler like Malenko. And Ralphus is possibly the most underated manager/bodyguard of all time.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Jake, great thread idea. But no poll?

Anyway, I say heel as well. I became a MAJOR Jericho mark when he was in WCW as The Lionheart, and especially when he started throwing temper tantrums. Ralphus was the single greatest manager of the time, and his interviews were second only to The Rock. I still remember fans trying to touch Jericho, and Ralphus stepping in with "The Finger Wag of Death!"

I felt the Goldberg chase really put Chris on the map, and in turn (because it never materialized, for whatever reason) killed Goldberg's credibility. When Chris debuted in WWE, I actually threw a party at my house. Loser, party of one, table is now ready...

The point is, Chris Jericho is the ultimate antagonist. He is great either way, but like fellow blonde-Canadian Edge, the heel angle allows him to really show what he is capable of. If it were the 90's or even the 80's, I could see Chris really meshing with a manager like Bobby Heenan.

Take it from a fellow blonde Canadian!

 

[Lee]

I'm going to agree with you there on Jericho being better as a heel, his promos where he could bounce of people like the rock were just amazing and I will remember him more for his heel promos than his face ones [and the only ones I remember of them are ones with him and Benoit as tag champs].

Though I do feel if he ever came back he would be remembered as a face, as that generally is the case [ie HHH, HBK etc.]

 

[drmagic326]

To me, Jericho is better as a heel. He cuts better promos and he also gets heat from the crowd. not cheap heat either.I remember his feud with Dean Malenko in WCW..Man of 1004 holds..lol

 

[Uncle Sam]

Jericho was a good face but, to me anyway, he never did much to earn himself the crowd's admiration, it just came. He was much better as the cowardly yet cocky and arrogant heel, especially with his fued with Triple H over the Undisputed Title. Although it wasn' really that much of a fued. I also enjoyed his work against Cena.

 

[RVDgurl]

I am a huge fan of Jericho and I think he plays both roels equally as well. I love him in the heel role, but he was one of the first to play the contorversial babyface. Even as a face, his promos were delivered in a heel fashion. Today just about every face cuts a promo that way, but back in the 90's it was cutting edge.

 

[A.J.]

I always thought that Jericho did a great job at both. Though at times you could say that he was meh when he was a face as all he did was get the crowd going and make fun of his opponents and that was that. But with the heel he did so much as to make you hate him and he attacked his opponents great with some of his best stuff i thought especially back in his WCW days.

Now I really think his best face work came when he was slowly moving into his heel persona and after he was done being a major heel. There he used a heel way but with the face value that worked really well.

So in long i thought he did both well

 

[SOULSLASHER]

Y2J my man I met him 3 times if he ever heads to TNA he can be a heel and go up against STING and ABYSS ,Christian and more he fits the heel persona he is cocky arrogant and sarcastic and fits it well as a face he is not t hat good he doesn t get huge pops and is not well admired as a crowd pleaser
best match was when he fought HBK but I still think Jericho should ve won it at WM !

 

[Big Fella]

y2j to me was a better face.

I found him so annoying as a heel I would literally change the channel.

Some of his heel stuff was memorable, but he never made me want to hate him, and thats how heels make the cash. They need to be hated enough to where people want to pay to see them beat.

Jericho just made me want to walk away.

 

[justinsayne]

I'm going to say he plays both equally well, I love his heel promos, and facwe promos, as well as matches, his face on face matches agaisnt the Rock were great, but the feud that really stands out was his feud with Benoit, and it didn't matter what role he was playing he did it great

 

[SOULSLASHER]

Like I said the heel role was way off better cause when I say heel I also mean an inbetweener confusing his fans the best part was when he humiliated Carlitos Cabana and called his set a backyard garage sale lol
I followed his career from Calgary Stampede Wrestling up to WCW and he was super gr8 as a heel when he used to get away with loopholes like for example making Saturn where a dress due to his defeat LOL that was hilarious! he doesn t play his roles equally well and the worst feud was with the CROCK it didn t get anywhere! I think the best feuds was with Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels and the one I hate the most who is an awful champion JOhn Cena!

 

[tom b]

i have to say face...that pop when he beat triple H for the title was insane...i still feel wwe dropped the ball on that one, should have ran with that, if i remember correctly he beats him and then triple h makes hebner restart the match or he kick his ass(backstage power for you, shame bret didn't do the same in '97 to hebner)

 

[TheShiznetNo2]

y2j to me was a better face.

I found him so annoying as a heel I would literally change the channel.

Some of his heel stuff was memorable, but he never made me want to hate him, and thats how heels make the cash. They need to be hated enough to where people want to pay to see them beat.

Jericho just made me want to walk away.

I have to say this is my opinion exact. The Rock at one point made me hate him, HHH made me hate him, RTC, man I hated them. Jericho never made me hate him, just made me wish he would Shut The Hell UP!.....I couldn't resist.

But as a face, I found him to be very funny and good at it.

 

[Attack]

I think Jericho is good as a face or heel. Assuming he'd go to Smackdown if he comes back to WWE, I think'd he'd come back as a face, just because SD! seems to have more heels. Also, usually when wrestlers have "comeback" storylines, the return to the ring as faces.

 

[l0ucifer]

To me, Jericho is better as a heel. He cuts better promos and he also gets heat from the crowd. not cheap heat either.I remember his feud with Dean Malenko in WCW..Man of 1004 holds..lol

Actually got that for you right here =D

http://youtube.com/watch?v=faaDz7p5X3A

Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gredunzel

lmao

 

[hbk&triple h]

Jericho did both equally well. He managed to make you hate him so much but made you laugh and love him as a face.

I admit he did do a lot more to make you hate him rather than like him. His stuff in WCW was classic. One thing that comes to mind is when he was going to wrestle Goldberg but instead he mocked him and beat the crap out of Gillberg. He did so much.

As a face he would always make you laugh. Especially the stuff with the Rock and Stephanie McMahon. He did the simplest of things but yet it was gold.

So I would say he does both equally well.

 

[HartsyThaiFood]

Jericho as a heel had far better promos than a face Jericho.

I felt his face promos got stale. He pandered too much to relying on predictable phrases/dialogue that they just sort of got tiresome.

His heel promos, though, they're solid gold. His first Raw appearance, that promo was priceless. Watching his just get so hot and bothered because he was interrupted and had someone talk shit right back at him. And his reactions to it. Just great stuff.

Really, I'd much rather have a heel Jericho for the promos any day. He plays the part so well.

 

[Jack bruce]

jeicho face all the way i absoutly hated him as heel i always turned off the t.v on him back then i wanted to jump over the rail and knock the pure sh** out of him if i waasnt so young my god i hated him so much that was the only guy i hated and he still holds the record i cant stand him to this day.


all i got to say is hes lucky he can wrestle cause everytime i see him cut a promo with a wrestler looks more like they want t o fight him then act look all through 1999 and see what i mean.

 

[k/king8]

I am a huge fan of Jericho and I think he plays both roels equally as well. I love him in the heel role, but he was one of the first to play the contorversial babyface. Even as a face, his promos were delivered in a heel fashion. Today just about every face cuts a promo that way, but back in the 90's it was cutting edge.

Yeh, I agree with that. Jericho cuts excellent promos as a heel, but as a face i thought he still cuts good promos but in a more heelish way. Either way Jericho cuts a great promo.