How Would You Grade Chris Jericho's Return?

[PlayTheGame]

Chris Jericho returned in the beginning of January this year and has been feuding with CM Punk ever since. Now, we're almost in May, almost 5 months into his return. So I think it's fair to look back on it now and judge it to see how it's been. Although Jericho's return has been overshadowed with all of the other happenings on Raw, such as Rock's presence and Lesnar's return, Chris Jericho has been crafting a pretty impressive program with CM Punk for some time now, as it may be the longest-running current program right now in the WWE. However, although Jericho's been able to put together some solid in-ring work, promos, and an entertaining feud, I can't help but feel that Jericho's return has been a bit underwhelming so far.

Now, it's certainly been great having Jericho back, and he's been delivering, so it's not really on him. It's more on creative. So far, I just feel his return has been a bit underwhelming. There was so much hype for his return, and it seemed his character made a lot of promises via those mysterious return videos that aired for quite some time. But let's look back on his current run. Everyone thought he'd win the Rumble... but he didn't. He had a shot at a Wrestlemania win... but he lost. Many thought he'd become the WWE Champion by now and regain his title as "the best in the world"... but he hasn't. Thus, I feel a bit underwhelmed by his current stint, but I don't blame him.

So while I think Jericho's return has been entertaining and solid, I feel as though it could have been better if he'd been able to accomplish more since his return. Jericho's character is centered around his ego and cockiness, but if keeps losing and failing to accomplish his goals, then it'll start to detract from his character in my opinion. His return has been good, but it could have been better if he'd been able to back up all of his talk and hype. That's why I personally believe he'll eventually win the title from Punk somewhere down the line. I don't think he came back just to lose and put others over. There's got to be some wins/title reign(s) left in him.

How would you grade Chris Jericho's return?

 

[ProWrestlingFan84]

It's just how WWE decided to go through with Jericho's latest return. He started off by not saying anything for weeks which looking back was just stupid. Then at the Rumble he lost to Sheamus therefore saying 'the world would change' or whatever was said proved to be pointless. Then Elimination Chamber wasn't really that great and again another failed promise and finally Mania despite having a good match he lost again. The feud with Punk wasn't that good either until a week or so before Mania started and only now with Jericho not appearing on Raw does it seem to pick up steam. Depending on what happens there can be a chance to salvage Jericho being in WWE from now going forward but his coming back was done really wrong. Plus it doesn't help that the fans we're expecting something completely different with awesome promos, not Jericho running around like a madman not saying anything.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

I don't think I'd care to really grade it until it's over, so that I could look back and see how the conclusion of this current run effected his return for better or worse.

Jericho takes pride in what he does in WWE, and tried to do something new with his current run in WWE. The problem is, the 'End of the World' vignettes, and the silent treatment feel totally disconnected with the Jericho we are seeing at the moment. He's back to the cocky, slimeball heel we've seen him play before.

He's been given a great opponent in Punk, and if he returned against anyone else, I think it would hurt his current run more than help.

If Punk and Jericho put on a great match at Extreme Rules, than Jericho can be remembered as someone that came back and gave two great matches with one of WWE's current foundation talents.

No matter what, he's put on some good in ring work, and has had some great moments since returning..and regardless of how it may have started, or how long it took to get to where it is now..I think WWE is always a better place with Jericho in it.

 

[BreezyDaProtege]

If I had to grade it so far its a B-. I say this because Jericho needs to have some in ring action. It seems they treat him like he's only there to do PPV. I dont mind him popping up on the titantron trying to mentally get to Punk thats kool but at least use him while u have him. I was really hoping for an Orton vs Jericho match on Raw or Smackdown during these past 5 months being that Orton is the reason he was gone.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

for me a B, but it will get better. WWE really fucked him when they hotshotted the royal rumble IMO....He needs a win....

 

[keefee93]

It was a different return that I thought worked well. However because of Rock/Cena and HHH/Undertaker I definatly think his return and feud with Punk was overshadowed so people disliked his return.

Now that only Cena/Lesnar are overshadowing him and punk, its begining to shine and more people are investing time in this feud. I for one am interested to see how much longer he'll be sticking around!

So far I give his return a grade B-

 

[Workrate]

I realize I'm in the minority, but I think his return -- so far -- has been pretty bad.

I think his current feud with Punk, the way it has gotten personal and how vicious his attacks have been, has made for an interesting story. Eventually someone was going to have to follow the path Jericho has taken with Punk, the whole leading him down the dark trail to alcoholism thing, and I think he's been the perfect guy for it. He fits the role and he's believable in the role.

That said, if you really take all things under consideration, the meat and potatoes of this feud has been going on for maybe a month and a half. Sure, it started earlier, but it wasn't substantial until just after Elimination Chamber. I think the above poster is right that his "end of the world as you know" it vignettes clashed too much with his say nothing return, which also clashed with his character now. At the time, it was understandable to say "let's see where this goes." But I think now it's safe to say that the vignettes were simply trying to make us think it was someone other than Y2J and his return, where he ran around the ring celebrating, was... well, we still have no idea what that was and probably never will. It certainly seems like a waste of television time for a month or so, time that could have been used on any number of other wrestlers.

Anyway, I just feel like something is off with this return. I fear he'll win the title at Extreme Rules, which hopefully isn't the case (isn't he leaving to film a movie or tour with Fozzy or something?). He doesn't have the same affect he once did.

EDIT: Also, doesn't he have more losses than wins since returning? And he rarely wrestles. So as good as his match at WrestleMania was, he doesn't really have anything going for him inside the ring either.

 

[rge2010]

Chris Jerichos return has been poor. His videos were cool, but made no sense at all. Jericho is not and never will be a force, and has proven that since he returned.

Speaking of which, he did some crappy silent promos, then sold the Rumble on lies, then lost the Rumble, then lost at Wrestlemania. He is not the best in the world and has looked an idiot for spouting all this. He cant even cheat a win.

He has looked weak since his return. Crappy booking by WWE and crappy by Jericho for agreeing to it.

C-

 

[mrpops]

Jericho tried way too hard and it failed. If his goal was to have a over hyped and boring return that made no sense except to troll us...well then he succeeded....but i dont see how it can be considered good.

It feels like jericho had no idea what the heck to do and just winged it every week. I swear he was thinking "what the hell am i doing out here" every time he did the silent treatment. He looked so awkward and out of place and the fans were like..."um...do something? were bored."

It was just so anti climatic. Then after boring us for weeks straight he takes forever to get into a feud with punk and it started off bad. The mic wars between the 2 were supposed to be amazing, but ended up being.....average. Then their WM match was average because their styles dont mesh well. Jerichos too old and slow and doesnt mix well with punks moveset. The match underwhelmed and was average.

Now in the last couple weeks things are picking up and i want to see the story continue, but i just hope these guys dont stink the ring up next time. Hopefully they plan out a great match instead of the stinker from mania.

Overall his return sucked. Was it different? Yes. Was it boring and made no sense? YES! I guess ill give it a 5/10. +5 points purely for hype/vingettes but minus 5 for failing to deliver on hype and boring me to tears.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Like so many others, I was waiting for the day he came back from his latest sabbatical and it's a little disappointing to admit his act just isn't inspiring me the way it used to. He looks great with his weight down and his body possessing more definition that it did during his last WWE run, yet he's 41 now and time seems to be catching up to his ring repertoire: it just isn't as exciting as it was. Chalk it up to advancing age, sure..... but if his WM match with a technician like Punk didn't thrill me, I don't know what he can do that would.

Also, the feud with Punk is less than scintillating. Naturally, all these programs are scripted, yet Jericho used to make them fresh and interesting with him seemingly invested in whatever he was involved in. Not this time. Perhaps Punk and Y2J just don't make a compelling pair; we'll have to see what happens with whomever Jericho goes after next.

Incidentally, unlike others in this topic, I have no problem with Sheamus winning the Rumble over Jericho. I was positive Jericho was going to take it and loved the unexpected ending. It's part of what WWE does so well; a great answer to the fans who detest everything they come up with. Plus, I don't think Jericho was hurt by not winning it. There will always be something new on the horizon for Chris, and the Rumble will fade from memory quickly enough.

Here's hoping he can re-capture the magic he used to bring, 'cause I'm just not seeing it yet.

 

[Smokeydogg7]

i think he came in simply to help get punk over then he will leave he doesn't need to win matches the full time guy who may very well be facing austin at wm needs the wins

 

[2Sweet_4Life]

Something i never understood was, why didn't Y2J win the RR and sheamus win a battle royal on SD! that way jericho would win rr, not compete at EC, And put punk over at WM28 wheras he has lost at 3 consecutive PPV's. Also a battle royal on SD! would be more exciting we wouldn't know who the winner would be- it could of been barrett,sheamus or orton. But WWE are just plain and utter thick, because the current stuff y2j is doin with punk he could of done on the road to wm, because he would of had more time to fued with punk which meant everyone would of got the brilliant build they would of wanted.

 

[Low_Ki]

Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

And for the last few months on articles relating to Chris Jericho I have seen people saying this and that about him since his return at the beginning of the year. Some were saying that this has been by far the worst Chris Jericho return that they have seen, while others have defended him.

I side with the defenders. Chris Jericho's WWE run this year may not have been what many were hoping for, or even expected, but you can not deny that Chris Jericho is a quality story teller. The return videos are what the naysayers are really upset about. They believed that everything that was said in the vignettes had to mean something because of Jericho's history of hiding clues in his videos. A friend of mine asked 'what happened to 'her'?' and 'were the powers that be really shaken?'

I think to have really appreciated the whole return for what it was, you just didn't have to think into it that much. Sure, I asked the questions too, but just because I didn't get the answers, I didn't dislike him any less, and after investing 6 years watching LOST, I got used to the notion that not everything has to have an explaination.

Another complaint was that he is acting the exact same as he did from his previous heel run. Well, what do you expect? The man came back and trolled for the better part of a month before he even spoke on TV. Did you want him to speak cling-on or something? Maybe come out dressed a chicken? I know people wanted to see something a little different, but its Chris freeking Jericho. The greats (of which I consider Jericho one of) never needed to change to evolve. Austin, The Rock, and to a lesser extent, HHH, all pretty much stayed the same throughout their entire runs.

Chris Jericho is clever. He comes and goes because he understands that if wrestling fans want to be seeing him perform in 6 years from now he needs time off. I know that he's touring with Fozzy, but its a great way to heal up from the 6-12 months that he is on the WWE full time schedule. I have really liked his return and have thought that his feud with CM Punk has been one of the most entertaining of the year. Not to mention the fact that 95% of the time he is putting on A* matches.

I guess the theme to this thread is, what do you think of Jericho's return this year and is it really as bad as people are making out?

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Jericho's return this year has been lackluster. Chris Jericho is a good heel,we get it. Now he needs to do something different.

2008- Jericho doing the same heel routine (hypocrite,etc)
2009 - Same as 2008
2010- Same as 2009.

Jericho himself said before returning in interviews that he will do something different but he returned and became the same heel that he was in 2008,2009 and 2010.

Jericho returned, turned people off by not speaking, Lost at Royal Rumble, Didn't win at Elimination Chamber, Lost at Wrestlemania.

This run is pretty bad Jericho run in my opinion.

 

[Wald]

His run has tanked this time around because he hasn't delivered on any of his promises. I actually thought the not speaking promos were excellent, and was really excited when he finally spoke and said at the Rumble it would be the end of the world as we know it. I expected fireworks basically.

Instead we got Sheamus eliminating him and Jericho not doing anything of note

So we move to Elimination Chamber and another end of the world promise, again I expect something big, although my interest had cooled slightly

Instead he got knocked out and couldn't finish the match

So he reverts back to the 'You're all hypocrites' Jericho and gets a title shot at Wrestlemania. At this stage I'm wondering why we should care, and what happens?

He taps out clean to CM Punk.

So now we have him trying to get Punk to drink and embrace the hate, and it looks like he finally achieved his goal last Raw and got to Punk.

Instead Punk makes him look like an idiot and sends him packing.

I'm actually struggling for one reason to think Jericho is a match for Punk (kayfabe here) and why I should buy into their title match at Backlash. I have no doubt the WWE will probably have him win the title, so he can drop it back to Punk at a later date, but that's just because they'll try to hotshot the title to spike ratings more than Jericho deserving it. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Punk's 'dad' comes in and clocks Punk with a bottle to give Jericho the cheap win. That's how bad this feud has been.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Jericho's return has been a bit of a letdown. We got an awesome feud against CM Punk filled with great promos and fantastic matches. He upgraded his entrance to include the jackets with red and blue lights. One can argue that some aspects of his return have been a success. However, something is missing. Victories in bigger matches. It is hard to rank a wrestling return as a success when there is a shortage of wins.

Sure it is understandable that his main goal with this run was to put over CM Punk. He did that and then some. I would have liked to see him win more though. A WWE or World Heavyweight Championship reign could have been cool, and I know I'm not the only one who would have wanted to see him make the belt light up like his jacket, even if it was just for one promo. We can't all be too picky though. Jericho came back to work a Wrestlemania angle when he did not have to. So.... While there are a couple of things I would have wanted to be different, I sill give the return a positive review due to the entertainment he has given the fans for the past few months.

DAGGER'S REVIEW
B-

 

[MCMG]

As it stands i would say a B. It has been good but not as spectacular as I and I'm sure many others were hoping for. He has had good matches with Punk and the Fatal 4-way wasn't bad either. I enjoyed his initial few weeks when he returned when he was silent and then when he was denigrating the rest of the roster for copying him.

The suspension ruins the run but gives him a second chance to return and I'm sure he will do something imaginable for that as well. I would have liked to see a feud with Orton and Sheamus but that is now not possible which is a shame.

 

[AjStyles]

the thing about this its not about how we want Jericho to be portrayed as, its what the WWE creative team sees him as, someone who can still put over people while at the same time winning matches and getting a response from the audience, so far I think he has done a pretty good job so far but as for what the future holds for Jericho, only WWE creative knows and all we can do is hope and wait that they smarten up and use Jericho for what he really is, a good in-ring performer who's great on the the mic and sells really good, who knows maybe WWE creative has a plan for Jericho in the near future, only time will tell

 

[Trance Metaphor]

After thinking long about this, I have to say that Chris Jericho's return was less than stellar. The thing that's missing is that he's predictable now. I mean, his previous run before this was awesome. I didn't think he'd beat Undertaker, Batista and Shawn Michaels. I didn't think he'd become World Champion again and defend it successfully against Edge at WrestleMania. Every time I thought he would lose, he'd totally shock me. What happened to that Jericho? Gone. Now we have a Jericho that's too easy to predict and yeah, he's putting over others. Thing is, he's been doing that for years, but with balance between victories. We've seen CM Punk vs Chris Jericho countless times before with both guys exchanging victories. So what's the point? Jericho has lost so many matches that, in my eyes, defeating him doesn't feel all that special anymore. It doesn't make me go, "Oh my god! He beat Jericho!" It's more like, "Oh, typical...anyone can beat Jericho." Whatever though. If creative wants to keep him that way and Jericho himself loves doing what he does, then more power to them. But, don't tell me that you don't want to see Chris Jericho beat guys like John Cena and Randy Orton and become WWE Champion again even if he doesn't need to.