How Chris Jericho saved us (and WWE!!)

[d_henderson1810]

I will admit, my favourite superstar in WWE is Chris Jericho. He was my favourite during his first WWE stint, and he is now. I find him the character that the most interesting storylines, and best feuds. He, again and again, cuts great promo, after great promo. He makes the crowd laugh as a face, or boo as a heel. It was a thrill earlier this year to see my all-time favourite wrestler, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, clash with my current favourite, Chris Jericho, at WM and "Backlash".

Look at all the interesting feuds Jericho has. His series with HBK for example. The two of them produced the feud of the year, had many great matches, had fantastic promos, and despite the feud going five months, never got boring. Also, while Raw has the same guys fight, again and again, Jericho's potential feuds on "Smackdown" are mouth-watering. His current series with Rey Mysterio is great, and potential feuds he could have in coming months include C.M. Punk, Jeff Hardy, John Morrison and, hopefully at WM26, the Undertaker! All of these matches Jericho has rarely if ever done on PPV before (he fought Hardy in a match at "No Way Out" 2003), meaning that they are all new. Plus, an Edge face turn, or a Jericho face turn, and you could do a series between Jericho and Edge (also a PPV first). So, Jericho will be busy this next year, and I want to see each and every one of these matches.

Also, Jericho makes you care about a feud, and doesn't play politics (as far as I know). By taking a few years off, he has shown that he is not a slave to wrestling, and has a lot of other stokes in the fire (I caught him hosting a reality show called "Redemption Song" the other week on cable). He is an underrated wrestler, and while he blows spots every so often, he can still produce a good-quality match on a regular basis. So, Raw can have Cena, Batista, Orton and Triple H share around the title for the next few months, while Chris Jericho makes "Smackdown" WWE's new No. 1 show, and makes WWE worth watching again.

 

[Sedated]

I have mixed feelings about Jericho as of late. That aside, his recent match with mysterio was awesome. One of the best matches i've seen out of WWE in quite awhile.

 

[Saritafan]

I love chris jericho,one of all time favs in WWE.I love his work,my favorite storyline with chris jericho would have to be love story between him and Trish Stratus,i loved it.my favorite male wrestler and my favorite diva hooking up,it was awesome and soooo cute

i hope jericho turns babyface soon but I doubt he will,maybe edge can turn face and fued with jericho,I would love to see that

 

[Dre Guevara]

Jericho, along with Edge, is the best wrestler in the WWE 2day, what I like most is the way he tells the fans about themselves in his promos, in fact, I can apply what he says 2 & about the WWE fans 2 the "fans" of the current stars in Hip Hop, especially when he calls them sheep. I hope he does face Taker @ WM 26, he just might be the one 2 snap the streak although.

 

[Dirty Spamchez]

I disagree with you about the HBK/Jericho feud. It was boring as fuck. The Mysterio/Jericho feud on the other hand is freakin awesome and has a good stricture to the feud: Mask vs InterContinental Championship. And SmackDown has been the #1 show when the draft came into effect. I mean, look at the possible feuds and matches: Morrison against anyone is an awesome match, Jericho against anyone and SD! is an awesome match, Edge, Rey, Jeff Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, etc.. It's better than a pointless Big Show/Cena feud or an Evolution feud (although Orton/Flair fight was pretty awesome until DiBiase and Rhodes interfered) that has been going on for almost 5 years. So yeah, SmackDown > Raw.

 

[theirishtaker]

HBK Feud was great with Jericho and really got me liking jericho again. That feud was so intense that it got me wanting more again and again. Jericho is the shining light at the moment and has so many fresh matches to come we wont get sick of him for a long time. What i'm most looking forward to though is him and the taker fueding,hopefully a good 4-6 months when he returns,just crossing paths over and over until they go directly at each other right up to WM26. I just hope creative dont mess it up for them.

 

[BigDaddyDawg]

I've always been a fan of Jericho. He has a great character, whether heel or face, and he works a crowd pretty well. Plus, he's a hard worker in matches and people respect him. The fact that he left wrestling for a while to pursue his other interests (music, acting/television, etc.) shows that he's a pretty multi-faceted person. His current character has been kind of confusing lately (he's finally bringing back the "Savior" gimmick), and his current feud with Mysterio is the best feud going on in WWE right now. Once this program ends with Mysterio, I'd love to see him feud with John Morrison. That would be a very good program.

 

[Deathvalley]

While I do enjoy Jericho and enjoyed his fued with HBK and the Legends/Mickey Rourke and look foward to a possible fued with the Deadman, I do not see him snapping the streak. I hope the streak remains until Undertaker retires!!! I also look foward to his fued with Rey Mysterio.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's good to see Jericho finally getting the respect he has earned over the years. Jericho is basically the new "Wrestler's Wrestler" in that he works hard in the ring, on the stick and backstage to show the youngsters the right way but most importantly, he has never dropped the ball for the WWE... Yes he has irons in the fire but everyone knows him as WWE Wrestler Chris Jericho, who also sings/presents etc... He brings WWE a mainstream edge (sic) that the others, even Cena can't quite pull off... he makes real news with episodes like the fan altercation as opposed to the usual WWE generated cheap news like this Trump debacle, is articulate and educated in his appearances on talk shows and has a genuine "cool guy" quality to him outside of WWE, even when he plays a heel, the fans LOVE to hate him...

If anyone is going to end Taker's streak, it's likely gonna be Jericho cos the guy gets those "historical moments" right every time...

When Taker finally hangs it up and Trips is moving more to an upstairs role, Jericho will hopefully be the "locker room leader" and in reality even now he has the role that Bret Hart was supposed to have with the "20 year contract". The mainstream appeal, respect etc was everything Bret wanted... and the best part is he's still only 38, so provided he stays injury free and takes that time out which so re-energised him every few years then he can still be around into his mid-late 40's as a vital in ring talent.

 

[travistragic]

Jericho is one of my all-time favorites and considering that just about all of my other favorites are either retired, dead (E.G.), or somewhere else (TNA, AAA, etc.), he's probably the only reason I have to keep watching WWE.

Raw's been nothing short of a miserable snooze-fest since the draft and Trump's involvement makes me wonder just how long I'll be able to stay awake tonight without the commercial breaks to perk me up (make/take shots). Smackdown on the other hand has Jericho and a bunch of fresh talent for him to feud with.

But, I wouldn't say Jericho has saved, or possibly can save, anything. We keep hearing about Smackdown being the flagship show, but obviously they still focus on RAW with these three hour shows and now commercial-free shows and blah-blah-blah, and still cram the same old shit down our throat with the same people every night on RAW and still we're left keeping our fingers crossed for a good match every here and again.

Smackdown is probably the best televised wrestling show at the moment and I think at least half of that should probably be attributed to Jericho solely. In that sense he's kind of temporarily saved Smackdown, but, while Smackdown looks better and better every week, wrestling programing in general, as evident by RAW and TNA, seems to suggest that actual wrestling content, let alone watchable wrestling content, is getting more and more reduced. TNA shows a little more than 15 minutes of actual wrestling in each 2 hour program. Could you imagine watching a football game like that? Where each team plays for 1/8th of the time and talks shit to draw heat and pops the other 7/8th? I know Professional Wrestling isn't a sport, but they could actually SHOW professional wrestling for at least half the length of a program. And if not, please, if anybody's going to be on the mic the rest of the night, just let it be Jericho.

 

[Nev]

So, Raw can have Cena, Batista, Orton and Triple H share around the title for the next few months, while Chris Jericho makes "Smackdown" WWE's new No. 1 show, and makes WWE worth watching again.

Keep dreaming. The WWE will not have the 38-year old Jericho as the top heel or face of the WWE.

Jericho is just there because he can produce quality matches and promos. His character is well established and is at the prime of his career.

WWE is way too nervous pushing talent to the top. I'm still very surprised how they did it with Cena and Batista, it took Cena up until around late 2006 where he put on great promos and Batista around 2008, really.

 

[dunkamaniayoung]

Keep dreaming. The WWE will not have the 38-year old Jericho as the top heel or face of the WWE.

Jericho is just there because he can produce quality matches and promos. His character is well established and is at the prime of his career.

WWE is way too nervous pushing talent to the top. I'm still very surprised how they did it with Cena and Batista, it took Cena up until around late 2006 where he put on great promos and Batista around 2008, really.

I don't get why you think they wouldn't have Jericho as the top heel/face... and then bring up the point that Batista is a top face.... Jericho > Batista in EVERYWAY Possible. Except for a ripped out of your mind body. And if that's what's important to WWE then that's stupid.

Jericho has potential to be both a top Heel and a top face. And I will use YOUR point to back that up. If Batista can do it... Jericho definitely can do it!

I don't know if Jericho has saved WWE yet.... but He was saving Raw for sure. He's on smackdown and look what's happened to Raw?! Could it be that Jericho was a better top Heel than Orton!? *gasp*

 

[RevolutionHellCowboy]

The Jericho/Mysterio feud is a good one. I remember when they briefly feuded in WCW, except it wasn't a good one since WCW didn't like to push its younger talent. At least in WWE, both Jericho and Mysterio have been World Champs, unlike in WCW. I predict that Mysterio will become IC Champ at The Bash because I really doubt they want to unmask Rey anytime soon (because they make a lot of money off his masks). As for Jericho, I believe he will become World Champ again soon. Whether it's Hardy, Punk, or Edge as WHC, I believe Jericho will defeat them to become a six time World Champ.

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

Jericho is a magician in the ring and with his promo's. He's always been high up on my list of favourite wrestlers throughout the years and he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders unlike a few of the guys on the roster. The way he holds himself as a face or a heel is priceless and top of the pack. He can carry a match and/or feud and can work well with pretty much anyone.

The man is a legend, a sure fire Hall of Famer and a classic fan favourite (heel or face). Even when you're booing him you can't help but think fuck this guy is good!

 

[FromTheSouth]

that title vs. mask thing was done in WCW.

Juventud Guerrera, anybody?

Far be it from wrestling to reuse a story line.....


I think Jericho is one of the best ever in the business. His versatility up and down the card, combined with his character abilities on both sides are what make him great. I think his best position in the midcard is as a heel, while at the top of the card, he needs to be underdog face chasing the title or a smarmy heel with the title.

His best attribute is his ability to rile up a crowd at every opportunity. In the ring, his moveset is enough to excite a crowd as a face. His technical mat abilities give him the time to taunt his opponent and the crowd enough to make you hate him.

Jericho is a great asset to the company, and his title reigns show that his ability is recognized.

 

[Nev]

I don't get why you think they wouldn't have Jericho as the top heel/face... and then bring up the point that Batista is a top face.... Jericho > Batista in EVERYWAY Possible. Except for a ripped out of your mind body. And if that's what's important to WWE then that's stupid.

Jericho has potential to be both a top Heel and a top face. And I will use YOUR point to back that up. If Batista can do it... Jericho definitely can do it!

I don't know if Jericho has saved WWE yet.... but He was saving Raw for sure. He's on smackdown and look what's happened to Raw?! Could it be that Jericho was a better top Heel than Orton!? *gasp*

I agree with you, but I'm just basing my opinion on the facts of the WWE. They like tall, ripped guys. Unfortunately there's nothing I, or we can do about it.