His Best Feud So Far: Chris Jericho

[SantinoForChamp]

Chris Jericho has been in WWE for about eight years, when one considers his two-year absence due to early retirement from 2005-2007. In his time in WWE, he has become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion by defeating two of the biggest names in wrestling history in one night, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. He has also been WWE Champion twice in 2008.

Jericho has been Intercontinental Champion nine times, and one half of the Tag Team champions four times, currently holding the titles with Big Show. He is a huge player in the WWE game, if not always in the main event. His feuds with the following wrestlers, while they do not encompass his whole career, have had a big impact on Jericho’s time in WWE, and making for excellent viewing for true wrestling fans.

Chris Jericho vs. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
While these two didn’t feud in the physical sense, they got in each other’s way incessantly while Stephanie was the owner of ECW, also when she was hanging around as HHH’s wife. He insulted her constantly, his favorites being that she was a “Filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding trashbag ho,” and that she had many amorous partners. Some mistook this animosity between them as attraction, but there was nothing but vitriol between Stephanie and Y2J.

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
Jericho had multiple feuds with Shawn Michaels, the first of which occurred in 2003. Jericho wanted to prove he was better than Michaels. They fought at Wrestlemania XIX, and Michaels defeated Jericho. Jericho responded by giving HBK a cheap shot. Later that year, Michaels took exception to how Jericho had treated Stacy Keibler (on separate occasions he hit her with a steel chair and put her in the Walls of Jericho), so he attacked him.

In 2008, Jericho and Michaels had a confusing and lengthy feud that involved back and forth deception and changes of heart. When Jericho turned heel, their feud ramped up. After back and forth beatings and taunting, things came to a brutal point when Jericho (apparently accidentally) punched Michaels’ wife in the mouth when he was aiming for Michaels. The feud ended with Jericho defeating Michaels in a Ladder Match at No Mercy.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat
In 2008-9, Jericho routinely disrespected WWE Hall of Famers. He took a particular disliking to the legendary Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. He said that he was better than all the WWE legends, including Ric Flair, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Rowdy Roddy Piper. They all took exception to that, and with the exception of Flair, the three others took on Jericho at Wrestlemania XXV. Though they put up a good effort, Jericho still bested them.

Jericho wasn’t satisfied with defeating the legends at WM25, however. He continued to blast Steamboat verbally, saying that he was washed-up and pathetic. At Backlash, although the Dragon put up a good fight, Y2J defeated Steamboat, thereby ending their feud. Still, a chance to see a fight between wrestlers from different generations afforded a new and interesting feud for Jericho to have been a part of.

Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio
Chris Jericho’s newer persona as a stony-voiced, stony-faced megalomaniac who knows what is best for everyone really shone when he began feuding with Rey Mysterio. He insisted that Mysterio remove his mask, even though it is a very respected and traditional part of Mysterio’s heritage, because Mysterio, he claimed, was using the mask to hide his real self like a criminal.

Jericho went to much trouble to get Mysterio to rid himself of his mask, going so far as to dress up as a fan, wearing a replica of one of Mysterio’s masks, then jumping out of the audience and attacking Mysterio whilst he was unaware, rendering him unable to wrestle for the night.

Actions like this continued for months, culminating in a final standoff between Jericho and Mysterio at The Bash on June 28, 2009, where Rey Mysterio defeated Jericho for the Intercontinental title and retained his mask. In this case, Jericho proved that he does not always need to win in order to put on a good feud.

and thats only just to name some of my favourites, my ultimate favourite would have to be the feud with HBK, it was pure brilliance especially their WM XIX match, loved it!

So whats your favourite? it doesnt have to be one of these ones its entirely up to you

 

[The Todd]

Whilst I was a huge fan of the Chris Jericho/Chris Benoit feud in 2000/2001, I will go with his latest feud with Shwan Michaels. The only reason I am not picking their first one is I witnessed the second one first hand.

The feud was brilliant from the get go. Chris Jericho was a face, as was Shawn Michaels. They were both saddened by the loss of Ric Flair, then all of a sudden Jericho was upset with what he thought was play acting from Shawn Michaels.

The feud started slowly, which is always good, and eventually reached a crescendo with HBK being smashed face first into the JeritTron. What followed was a series of pretty good matches, including a very good ladder match.

The feud transcended Jericho's talents. It turned him from a man who was struggling to get over as a face again, to one of the top heels in the company. It thrust him into the main event for a short period of time.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

Jericho is an incredible talent in the ring or on the mike. His gimmick with Trish Stratus where they were dating; then he he double crossed her was great...he got so much heat.

I have to say his feud with Shawn Michaels was his best; followed closely by Stephanie/HHH. I'll never forget the Raw episode where he had an old picture of Steph and a new one where she had her implants, "Look, she went from flat to fluffy". He was so over as a face.

I don't know if you consider it a feud or not, but his matches in WCW and ECW with Eddie Guerrero were classics and should be considered.

 

[PBA_Sensation]

Well, my favorite Jericho feud has to go all the way back to WCW. Timeless Jericho back then when he was all about conspiracy theories and taking peoples belongings. The feud that was most notable was his feud with Dean Malenko.

This feud had it all. For a lower mid-card feud, the crowd went nuts for this feud. Jericho ripping on Malenko for being boring, then making fun of his deceased father, ripping on his brother Joe, etc. Malenko has never been the most charimatic guy ever, but this feud brought out the best in Malenko as far as mic work and raw emotion. This feud is what set up an immature version of Jericho's current gimmick. If you want a refresher on this go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoVrkiejOIQ This guy had made a whole bunch of videos on it. Great stuff by Jericho

 

[Martindan]

Picking Jericho's best feud is difficuelt.

While you can easy go with the latest with HBK, it's hard cause almost everything he touched ever since has been gold.

Since his comeback at the rumble last year, he has just been going strong.

I mean. With the ring veterans and Rourke, he made a feud with some old guys and Rourke, a golden moment at a sucking Wrestlemania. That moment when Rourke entered the ring, lived to the hype, just because of all jericho's work.

Afterwards he made Rey interesting again. Gold feud. When has Rey been at such highprofile feud that made us all care? I have to go all the way back to the Eddie and Orton feuds some years ago.

and now he even made Big Show mean something more than just "the one week face one week heel guy".

Hell Jericho could be feuding with Bin laden and put him over with the crowd (well maybe not, but you get where I am going)

When they deside to have Orton turn face, they should pair him with heel Jericho. That would make Orton go over with ease.

I think Jericho is WWE's MVP right now. and now I am far off track.

well. I must say the the latest feud with HBK. It just stand so fucking strong and as the last really dirty storyline we've had.

 

[Jetspete]

a few earlier posters mentioned his WCW feud with Malenko, which really was the culmination of his feud with the entire cruiserweight division. I would vote for that as that put him on the map with wrestling fans. Also he had a brief feud with Goldberg that was hilarious in that he never actually fought Goldberg. In WCW Jericho was given liberties that, for obvious reasons, he could never get away with in WWE (highlighted by his Goldberg antics).

 

[whoopwhoop12]

feud with Mysterio - gave credit back to the intercontinental title. case and point.

feud with Steamboat - unexpected. it was a treat. people wanted more. Ricky still has it.

feud with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley - was fun when it occurred. Jericho on the face side owned all the jokes he would make about Stephanie.

feud with HBK - HIS BEST.

 

[haywoodjahblowme]

Jericho is an incredible talent in the ring or on the mike. His gimmick with Trish Stratus where they were dating; then he he double crossed her was great...he got so much heat.

no offense here, but if i remember correctly, jericho and christian were scheming to hook up w/ both lita and trish; christian w/ lita and jericho w/ trish. the christian/lita thing totally didn't work, but wwe continued to play up on jericho's face turn involving trish from winter '03 to wrestlemania '04 where jericho had faced christian, and trish ran out to distract jericho and ended up turning on him and siding w/ christian.

i like most of jericho's feuds to be honest. whether he's a face or heel, the man is 100% entertaining. i enjoyed his feud w/ hhh in early 2002 up till before summer when they fought at judgment day in hell in the cell. that was a great match, even tho hhh won. both those guys delivered one of the best hell in the cell matches in my opinion.

 

[Acid]

I like every feud he has had. I agree with all of them. Also thought I would throw in the feud he had with Chyna over the IC title. I thought it was great. My favorite part was when he crushed her thumb with a hammer.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Jericho has had so many good feuds its real difficult to pick which one is the best. Here are my favorite Jericho feuds:
1) Jericho vs. Malenko (WCW, '98). This is the first time that I started to really notice Jericho. The feud was probably the best one in all of WCW in '98 and who could forget Chris Jericho the man of 1004 holds. That had to be one of my all time favorite promos.

2) Jericho vs. The Rock. This was when he first came to the WWF and was put in this feud immediately. Jericho could be the only person (outside of Austin) who could actually hang with the Rock when it came to mic skills. Every time these 2 were on the mic together it was pure gold.

3) Jericho vs. Stephanie. It was just hilarious listening to Jericho call steph a bottom feeding trash bag ho all the time. It also lead to some good matches with Jericho and HHH too, like their Last Man Standing match at fully loaded 2000.

4) Jericho vs. Michaels. Just read previous posts, it sums up this feud nicely.

Although my favorite was Jericho vs. The Rock, his best feud was probably Jericho vs. Michaels that was the best feud in the last 5 years at least.

 

[capeman]

In my opinion, Jericho is the best wrestler/entertainer overall in the WWE right now. Like all you guys said, his feuds have been pure gold, and he has the power that he can make the other guy look good with no effort from his side, hell he could have a ggood feud with Great Khali (maybe I'm pushing it, but you know what I mean).

Anyway what I really wanted to point out, remember that there's still pending the Jericho/Edge feud, Jericho can turn Edge to a major face in a matter of days, and since he's coming from injury it will be easier for him. What I would really like to see is when Edge comes back, if JeriShow are still Tag Champs, Edge would need a partner, and you guessed it, Christian, and that would make another great feud.

 

[LikeABoss13]

Here are what I think Chris Jericho's best feuds are:


Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle:
- Because they had so much chemistry together and I thought Chris Jericho's insults to Kurt Angle were funny. They had some great matches together and I wouldn't mind seeing them go at it again.

Chris Jericho and The Rock:
- Both were big stars and for them to go at it was fantastic to me because you had the greatest wrestler who has never botched a move (from what I remember) against one of the best technical wrestlers at that time.

Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels:
- When you think of Chris Jericho's in-ring skills the first superstar to come to mind is Shawn Michaels reason why because both are fast paced wrestlers.

 

[hawaiianbulldog]

Although Jericho vs HHH vs Steph was great I have to go with Jericho vs Shawn it was awesome the whole way I don't know why but the one non PPV match I really remember was there last man standing match it was fun crazy and skillful just like there rivalry and this is one of my favorite rivalry's of all time.

 

[classicviolence]

Im not going to go into too much detail here.
1.Benoit feud- This has been going on since 1996, but it really went full circle in WWF during 2000. Every single match between these two represent what pro wrestling was all about.

2. HBK- These two bring the best out of each other. WMXIX and the rematch that year on RAW, along with the 2008 matches were all classic.

3. The Rock- Probably Jericho's most important feud since Rock put him over as a World Champion. Jericho went on to beat the Rock on more than 3 PPV occasions.

Honorable Mentions: Stinko Malenko (WCW), Christian and Goldberg.

 

[pyrusane]

First off...

Jericho is an incredible talent in the ring or on the mike. His gimmick with Trish Stratus where they were dating; then he he double crossed her was great...he got so much heat.

Wow, that's awesome. Sounds like it was a great storyline. Too bad it never happened. What did happen was that Trish double-crossed Jericho, at WM20, leading into his feud with Christian. Jericho didn't really get a lot of heat on that one, because he was the face at the time. Christian was the heel, with Trish as his manager/girlfriend. Nice try, thanks for playing.

My personal favorite is Jericho's work with Shawn Michaels, both in 2003 and last year. While the work they did together last year truly solidified Jericho as a main-event caliber talent (finally, I might add) my favorite match in the series was their match at WMXIX. The premise of this feud was that Shawn was Jericho's hero, that Chris had idolized HBK as a young fan, to the point of learning and perfecting his entire move-set. Jericho contended that he was better at being HBK than Michaels himself was, and that it was time for Shawn to hang up the boots. This led to what I still consider the best match on the card that year.
I especially enjoyed the first part of the match, with the two men trading move for move. It was almost like watching Michaels have to fight a younger, faster, stronger version of himself, and find a way to win in a match where the only edge he had was experience. Although both of these men have numerous great matches on their respective resume's, this has to be among the best work from either of them.

That's my favorite feud. However, I'm not entirely sure it's Jericho's best feud. For that, I think it goes back to his days in WCW. Other people have mentioned his feuds with Malenko and Goldberg. What makes these two feuds stand out to me, however, isn't the comedic gold of Jericho's promos, or the great matches his feud with Malenko produced. The reason I believe these two feuds might be his greatest work is simple: he did it all by himself. There was no agent telling him to "go out there and cover these points in your promo. Make sure you say this, this, and this." And for that matter, he didn't even have an opponent to work with for the majority of the time he spent feuding with these two men.

In the case of the Malenko feud, Jericho did the majority of the work building up the feud while Malenko was on vacation. That's right, Dean Malenko was on vacation, nowhere near a studio or wrestling ring, for the majority of the time Jericho spent building their feud. The first time they even locked up with each other was in the match where Malenko beat Jericho for the Cruiserweight title, just minutes after winning a Cruiserweight battle royal while wearing a mask.

Then you have the Goldberg feud. It's (relatively) easy to have a great feud when you are working with an opponent who is willing to give and take equally. When your opponent can engage you verbally and physically, and work with you to build the feud to a point where the fans truly care about the eventual outcome, you can make something memorable happen. In the case of the Jericho/Goldberg feud, Jericho worked hard to build the feud while Goldberg worked just as hard to make sure it never happened at all. They never had a match against one another, and the only time they interacted on-screen at all, Goldberg walked out and speared Jericho at the end of one of his promos. That spear ended up being the "blowoff match" of the feud. And yet Jericho managed to make it into one of the more anticipated spots on the show each week, even to the point of getting Ralphus over in the process. That, my friends, is talent.

 

[Doctor Awesome]

i agree with most on here that it is hard to pinpoint what his best feud was. unlike most wrestlers, with each high profile feud starting with the cruiserweights in wcw, to the chyna one, y2j/benoit/angle over the 2 midcard titles, to the rock, hbk, the legends and mysterio; it is really subjective in that which one you enjoyed the most.

for me personally, it would be the feud with the rock over the wcw title, to being partners, and culminating in jericho's feat in becoming the first undisputed champion. they were both at their physical peaks ringwise, and the promos were top notch. this was also the feud that road tested him and got him over the hump into his first world title reigns.

 

[avi01]

His feud will Shawn Michaels as the best. The feud with Benoit in 2000-2001 was huge too but the one vs. Shawn Michael was more epic with great storyline.
I like the one vs. The Rock. Not a huge one but it did lead to him becoming to the first ever undisputed champion.
Y2J-Stephanie was great too throughout 2000-2001

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

I gotta go with Jericho/Michaels. Any of their feud's could rate number 1 for me. Their ability to put over a story is so strong it's fucking awesome. Last year they had one of the best feuds of this millenium and it was one of the best ever, period.

Another good feud I haven't seen mentioned was his feud with Christian, that was pretty sick too.

 

[PBA_Sensation]

I am glad that we have some WCW guys in here. Everyone here only has mentioned the WWF(E) feuds, and those were all good, but come on. Go watch some of his older stuff and realize that what he does now he did 15 years ago in WCW. Everyone forgets that WCW existed now.... its a shame

 

[theiceman]

In my opinion, Chris Jericho's best feud was his most recent feud with Shawn Michaels and I find it difficult to vote against it. Up until that feud, the core fan base was starting to look at Chris Jericho's return to the WWE as a flop and he just didn't have the same appeal that he used to have.

Then, he re-invented himself as he jumped into the feud with Shawn Michaels and everyone started praising his work again. Jericho played the old school heel role like the pro that he is, and HBK was great. This feud also had a touch of real-life feel to it and that added to the storyline that much more.

 

[666_The_Game_666]

Jericho and Stephanie McMahon durring the invasion god Jericho would endlesly insult Steph so much and god it made for good promos its always a kick to watch the promos he cut on her. Though it was weird less then a year later she was teaming with him before WM

Jericho HBK they feuded twice and in the process have put on epic matches i mean last year was more personal then it was back in 2003 but even 5 years on it was still epic need i say more than No Mercy Ladder match

 

[NSL]

As a long-time Jericho fan, I really want to say his best was with Malenko, because it was funny, and resulted in one of the greatest promos ever. But, thinking about everyone he has feuded with, I can even put the Rock over that one, because his debut in WWE was huge, and that carried him over from WCW.

Overall, the best has to be his feud last year with HBK. He really had time to shine on the mic without being funny, and had some of his best matches of his career. That rivalry really carried wrestling through the middle of last year with Cena and Batista being out, and Taker and Edge involved in their own rivalry.

 

[deadman403]

I would have to say the Jericho/Rock feud. the chemistry was just there between these two. They were both witty and entertaining and it made for some great matches.