Is Jericho the best he has ever been?

[RKO18]

Before I get into it, I became a wrestling fan starting in 1996 with WCW. In the spring/summer Jericho was featured regularly with that company and I have seen his career up until this point.

Since 96 Jericho has been:

a lower-mid card superface
a tempermental heel
a prissy prima donna
the face of the new millenium
co-intercontinental champion with Chyna
the first undisputed champion
pinned by John Cena in Cena's PPV debut
retired by John Cena
the guy who was to save us from Randy Orton
the new "legend killer"



So I ask is this the best Jericho has been in his career?

Other than the millenium and the first undisputed champion I don't think he has been anything other than a humerous backstage interview. even when I did like him I never thought of him as a top guy. He IS a top guy now without a doubt. His mic work is outstanding and his matches have been PPV quality for the last 2 weeks. Now he is to be involved in the first grudge match that has meant anything in a while. And against Mysterio which has to be their first one on one match in some time. I can't wait to see where he and Edge end as these two are on an unavoidable collision course.

Jericho is the only good thing in wrestling right now.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Yes, this is the best Jericho has ever been. And that is a huge compliment if, like me, you absolutely loved him before with his constant funny promos, especially regarding Stephanie McMahon. There has never been a 'bad' part of Jerico's career in my opinion, he was born to be a professional wrestler and is easily in my Top 3 favourites.

However, with Jericho's old gimmick I don't think most looked at him as a serious Main Eventer. He was an amazing entertainer, but I think his gimmick took away from him being taken overly seriously. It could be argued the same thing happened with John Cena - when he lost the rapping gimmick he became a huge star almost straight away. Now, he is a legitimate threat on the title scene, and had one of th ebest feuds of the last efw years with Shawn Michaels. Long Live Jericho.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Arguably, Jericho had a bad point upon his return. Easily the most underwhelming return in recent years. Christian's sudden appearance on ECW trumps that. What followed wasn't particularly great either. I mean, all I remember is a lacklustre feud with Orton and then nothing until his much appreciated feud with Shawn Michaels, which - in my humble opinion - he carried. Not necessarily the matches themselves, but the build up and the promos were only interesting because of him. All Michaels did was blind himself.

As for now, he's on pretty good form. I reckon he's not far off another world title reign. He has guys like Punk, Edge, Mysterio and Hardy to work with. Hell, I even bought a Jericho T-shirt. That's a sign that things are looking up if there ever was one.

Also, he punched a girl. That was interesting enough.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

No. Simply put. This isn't Jericho's best, and it's only in question because his return a bit over a year and a half ago was total shit that naturally his heel turn is making people think he's gotten better, if not at his best.

Truth is, he was at his best in W.C.W, which is where people came to love him for the things he did and it was new and innovative. Not refurbished trash repackaged on a nightly basis.

I personally loved the Chris Jericho that won the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship, but even that Jericho was robbed of true greatness because despite defeating Steve Austin & The Rock in one night, then The Rock & Steve Austin in single's matches at back-to-back Pay per views.. he lost to a one legged man in the Main Event at Wrestlemania. And worse, it was a match that was still so largely over-shadowed by The Rock/Hulk Hogan.. than all people remember, if anything, was Triple H winning the Championship.. "from someone".

Jericho's best times in Professional Wrestling through stand-point of being original, and great, were his times in W.C.W. The feud last year against Shawn Michaels was one of his best since being in the W.W.F/E, but not his greatest overall moment in his Wrestling career. I'll stand by becoming the first-ever Undisputed Heavyweight Champion as being his best/greatest moment.

Followed by his heated, personal feud with Dean Malenko being his best feud.. because the match chemistry was a lot better than against a guy coming up with new reasons to retire each time the two faced. (Seriously, if it wasn't a fake leg injury, it was an eye on the verge of falling out of the socket. That storyline ruined the entire feud for me.)

 

[truk24]

I would say that he has been the best he has ever been on the mic. He seems like he knows what he wants to say, and it is always on point. His timing is perfect when he runs the mic, and I think he cuts the best promos in the WWE today. I don't like him as the heel he is right now, and I think his best heel days are far behind him(cruiserweight days in WCW). His run was first undisputed champion was nice, and even his debut on RAW interrupting The Rock was classic. The heel Jericho today is mediocre.

I honestly think Jericho is best suited as a face mainly due to his strong mic skills. He can carry anyone on the mic heel or face. The WWE doesn't have too many "face characters" like Jericho's "face" character. Jericho's face character was always respectable in my opinion.

 

[Sasori]

yeah this is in my opinion!
hes been pissing ppl off and his heel charactar is just brilliant its cool and very reject like!
and yet he still gets cheered over here in Canada haha! ;]
he has been a multi time world champion ever since he got the new heel turn to him and can REALLY cut a promo!
but I do miss the good 'ol Y2J days when he used to joke around and have fun like when he sang "Shelton Benjamin is a litle bitch!" lmfao that rocked! and all those jokes pulled on stephanie PURE GOLD!

 

[Carter121]

I would have to disagree. Although Jericho has been on fire since turning heel after the terrible "SaveUs" campaign, old school WCW heel Jericho was pure gold. As a avid fan of WCW, I just wanted him to get squashed by Goldberg and even Dean Malenko. He turned the cowardly heel character into a new direction. He was even able to carry an entire feud on his shoulders when facing Dean Malenko, check out (Slamboree?) I believe after the cruiserweight battle royal and the crowd reaction when Malenko takes off his mask, this was due to Jericho's ability as a convincing heel.

 

[ad21k]

No. Simply put. This isn't Jericho's best, and it's only in question because his return a bit over a year and a half ago was total shit that naturally his heel turn is making people think he's gotten better, if not at his best.

Not really Jericho has acomplished more, and had more great matches since comming back than he had in his entire career before his return. Sure his feud with Orton wasn't anything special but thats more to do with the boring overated Orton than anything else. I mean from the high point of kicking vince in the head he has managed to lose all momentum going into wrestlemania, and now is contributing to one of the worst post-mania slumps in WWE history.

Truth is, he was at his best in W.C.W, which is where people came to love him for the things he did and it was new and innovative. Not refurbished trash repackaged on a nightly basis.

Wait so you think that wrestling for the television title in 10 minute matches with largely crusierweights is better him headlining PPV's, having great 30+ minute matches on a regular basis with huge stars like Cena and HBK, and being the champion of the biggest company in wrestling?

I personally loved the Chris Jericho that won the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship, but even that Jericho was robbed of true greatness because despite defeating Steve Austin & The Rock in one night, then The Rock & Steve Austin in single's matches at back-to-back Pay per views.. he lost to a one legged man in the Main Event at Wrestlemania. And worse, it was a match that was still so largely over-shadowed by The Rock/Hulk Hogan.. than all people remember, if anything, was Triple H winning the Championship.. "from someone".

His reign as undisputed champion was ok, but he was never on the same level as Austin or the Rock. That's why he was considered as 'just the other guy' they were facing. The majority of fans at that time were attending/watching events to see Austin or the Rock. Jericho could look a credible main eventer with those two around.

Jericho's best times in Professional Wrestling through stand-point of being original, and great, were his times in W.C.W. The feud last year against Shawn Michaels was one of his best since being in the W.W.F/E, but not his greatest overall moment in his Wrestling career. I'll stand by becoming the first-ever Undisputed Heavyweight Champion as being his best/greatest moment.

Jericho was orginal in WCW because he wasn't a spot monkey like the majority of the crusierweights, and because he was the best wrestler in WCW's entire crusierweight division. At present he's surrounded by higher level talent and wrestling in higher profile, and to be honest better quality matches.

Followed by his heated, personal feud with Dean Malenko being his best feud.. because the match chemistry was a lot better than against a guy coming up with new reasons to retire each time the two faced. (Seriously, if it wasn't a fake leg injury, it was an eye on the verge of falling out of the socket. That storyline ruined the entire feud for me.)

Malenko/Jericho was a good lower mid-card feud and series of matches but Jericho is far more consistantly putting on great matches in high-profile matches at this stage of his carrer. As for his gimmick remember how everyone last year was raving about what such a great heel that Edge was, well Jericho has exceeded Edge as the biggest heel in the company in less than 1/4 of the time it took Edge to reach that status. Cena/Jericho was a better overall feud, and the promos between Jericho and the Legends were better than anything Malenko/Jericho put together.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

Great thread Nice work by the way,

The Fact is i will say Yes, even though Jerichos Comedy styling s where humerus but the fact is Jericho has literally made something out of Micky Rourke bailing on the WWE, he went with the storyline and ran with the ball the WWE gave him, now no offence to those who said his WCW run was a sucess but Jericho did what he could with his WCW run but was never given the control that the WWE has given him, he has been scripting storylines and winning matches, aside from Ortan he is the most hated heel in the business.

And its all because of the fact that he and Shawn Michaels practically stole the show with their feud, he made something out of the bad push he got when he returned, now if WCW tops that then i must be insane.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I strongly disagree.

Keep in mind that I don't fault Jericho really too much for this, but this character he is playing is an absolute snorefest (to me, personally) and doesn't do anything for me, whatsoever. Any Joe Shmo could come out in a suit each and every week, speak in a monotone voice, and call the fans "liars and hypocrites" on a weekly basis. Jericho is capable of so much better than this.

I personally found him much more appealing as a Heel in his tenure with WCW and doing the stuff with Ralphus. That stuff was great. I also found him better earlier on in his WWE career as a Heel.

I don't know. I just don't like this character at all, because I find it so incredibly stale and boring .... and not in a good way. This character comes across as such a generic Heel.

Like I said, I realize that this isn't Jericho's fault, as much as it is Creative telling him how to act, but I really wish they would keep Jericho as a Heel, but simply revamp his character and do something else with him.

 

[RVDgurl]

No, this isn't the best he's ever been- but close to it. The role he is playing now is so far removed from the types of heel he has played in the past. It's fresh and different coming from Jericho and it has breathed new life into his character. The promos that he cuts and the style of match he is currently wrestling is nearly flawless.

However, I will argue that heel he played back in the mid 90's when working for WCW was his best work. Let me remind you that there was not a comedic heel until Jericho perfected that role. His fued with Goldberg was absolutely amazing. His mic work was some of the best promos ever put on tape- a masterpiece. He revolutionized the term "heel" and added qualities to such a role that no one had ever seen before in the wrestling business.

 

[Mjolnir]

Ralphus... man that brings back memories...

Anyways, Jericho is the best. This may sound cliche, but when the crowd loves him, they LOVE him, and when they hate him, they HATE him. Think of his mastery of the transition from face to heel, as evidenced by his latest turn... Jericho isn't trying to be the 'crazy heel' or the 'cowardly heel'... he is going for the bad guy who can't see past the fact that he is bad... doing all of the wrong things for all of the right (honesty, integrity, respect) reasons... he is playing a noble, albeit warped antagonist... when he argues that he was screwed in a match, etc. it is because his character honestly believes it is so... I think it is a MASTERFUL heel run, and I hope he stays this way...

They wouldn't have given him Lance Cade (who should have been an up and coming star; if it weren't for his personal problems) as a protege if he didn't have anything to offer him... that was a shame to have that program ended so quickly...

But what did Jericho do... continued in one of the best fueds in recent memory... slow, culminating and calculating... I for one can't wait to see what he will do next