Jericho: Turn Face In 2003 Or Go To Smackdown In 2004?

[Little Jerry Lawler]

After losing the Undisputed Title to HHH at Wrestlemania 18, Jericho seemed to be in a funk until he left WWE in 2005. He had his feuds with HBK and Christian but other than not, he didn't do anything much of note. I believe that there were two routes that Jericho could have gone and done better than what we got.

A Jericho face turn in 2003

I was okay with HHH being the top heel in 2003 but the faces during that time were left to be desired. You had Steiner, Nash, Goldberg, Booker T, and RVD. We know how horrible the feuds with the first three went. Wouldn't a heel HHH versus a face Jericho feud produce great matches? HBK wasn't going to fight HHH at every PPV so I think a Jericho face turn could have been sorely needed. At that time, most people would have bought Jericho over Booker T or RVD.

OR

Stay heel and go to Smackdown

Your top heels on Smackdown entering 2004 were Big Show and Lesnar. Lesnar would leave after WM 20 and Big Show would be out for a portion of the year. Although I love JBL and the character, he did come out of nowhere and I can say why most didn't buy into him. I thought that this would be the perfect time for Jericho to be drafted to Smackdown. Of course, it could mean that he wouldn't have faced Christian but maybe Christian could have been the face in that matchup as it would have been something different. Imagine Guerrero or Mysterio vs. Jericho. Add a returning Angle and a hot Cena and Smackdown could have been miles better than Raw.


So what would have been the better choice for Jericho: Turn face and stay on Raw (earlier than he did in terms of turning face), Stay heel and go to Smackdown or did you like his current path?

 

[x24hrs2livex]

Im going to go with current path. Jericho needed a break to reinvent himself. I think the way he went out and came back was just great. Although he should have saved us from Cena instead of Orton

 

[GrandSword]

I would go with Smackdown. A lot of people liked the JBL title reign, but I think a Jericho vs. Eddie program could have been phenomenal instead. These two fighting over the title and then add Angle and Booker T, man that could have led to a series of awesome title matches on SD! between all four great in ring talents.

 

[remyx]

I think Jericho would have been better served on smackdown before he eventually got to go back to RAW and have some pretty good matches with Christian and Cena before he left, but its all ifs and whens.

RAW at the time was primarily focussed on Edge, Benoit, Jericho, Evolution, William Regal and Eugene... Take Jericho away from that and it didn't leave much of a playing field. Although I would have really liked to see Y2J on smackdown... would have been some awesome matches come out of it.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

RAW was so stacked during 2003 to 2004 that Jericho was barley a factor on the brand.

During 2004 when the Smackdown talent pool was dry/rapped a heel Jericho on Smackdown! would have worked wonders for him in restoring his relevancy. Imagine what kind of programmes the show could have had with Jericho at the time. Jericho vs. Guerrero, Jericho vs. Mysterio, Jericho vs. Undertaker.

Imagine if the WM21 main event was Jericho vs. Cena ... what a match that would have been.