My two cents on Jericho:
Jericho as a face has failed because he has no direction and the writers/bookers have had no intention to do anything with him as can easily be seen from everything he's been written into since his Raw return/Armageddon.
I think his return was botched from the word go. Build up was great and practically palpable. Then imo they waited just a too long to debut him: People were literally screaming for him at No Mercy and with the unexpected Cena injury that happened I would have had Jericho's surprise (not really) return, and then have him win the belt, rather than then the lets make HHH look superhuman competing in 3 matches (apparently the ONLY way HHH would not get up for the 10 count) and make the Championship a hot potato ending that they decided to go with instead.
Granted had that happened the Save Us campaign would have been short lived but the pay off would have been bigger and better than what actually happened months later. The symbolic passing of the torch (from who BTW?) into a literal passing made no sense. It was just a poorly thought of set up for the Save Us code to interrupt thereby facilitating Jericho's return).
Now for me, returning to "Save Us" only holds up when you do indeed "Save Us". Anything else is a failure. And since wrestling is scripted, his failure was written as such. Now anyone who writes that failure into a story and then ends it without a Rock/Rocky II/Rocky III like redemption is really bad at story telling or had no plans for a successful Jericho turn to begin with.
For the most part, stories in any medium just don't build up characters to return, fail, and then forget about the quest and/or goal afterwards. Hell there's even an actual expression for it: The character makes a "Triumphant Return"! not a mediocre return, or a losing return, or a technically victorious but still ultimately failed return...
So the fact that Jericho didn't win the belt and then apparently forgot about Saving Us and instead got shifted downward into a program w/ at the time announcer JBL was terrible. Look, if I was cheated out of the main event and title picture I would have dealt with fatty JBL eventually and really would have made winning the title and thereby "Saving Us" my top and only priority.
BTW anyone notice that when Orton runs down his laundry list of guys he beat during the Age of Orton he says Jericho even though Jericho actually won the match via DQ interference. JR or any commentator never corrects him and Jericho's storyline was never written to make it into a point of argument. Doing so could have easily bounced him back into a title feud at any time. I wont even mention in great detail the Hardy mess up/tragedy that could have, and should have, given Jericho the MITB spot rather than the at the time unproven and henceforth almost perpetually losing C(ookie) M(onster) Punk. Who by the way I'm a fan of also.
Anyway, Jericho can work as a face perfectly fine. Its all in the way you push him/write his story lines. In my eyes it's abundantly clear people dont want him in the main event. Now who exactly those people are is a matter open to debate. Vince? Steph? HHH? HBK? Other politicking wrestlers? Writers? Bookers? Agents? some or all of the above? I dunno
Now that he's back as a heel I too hope its as a smart and strong heel, that we all know he can be; with this weeks Raw ending it seems highly possible. More importantly I pray he isn't just Orton's top heel understudy, just keeping his place warm till Orton's return then drifting back into top mid card limbo once the task is done.
Heel Jericho should be smart, stabbingly sharp in his scheming and machinaitions, dripping with sarcasm and one liners, and for the most part be able to back it up in the ring if need be (though with help at certain times), rather then the Undisputed Champion Human Pooperscooper
Now with that other heel run fresh in your mind and speaking of you know whhho, was I the only one who felt that HHH really didn't have to stretch his acting range much when he said something to the effect of the following?
"You know Chris ever since you came back to "Save Us" I've been looking for an excuse to bury... er I mean beat your ass" (Apologies for my faulty memory)
And yes, I know at the culmination of that match Jericho was standing (unofficially) victorious. However you have to admit HHH wouldn't lie down clean, and it took a Cade run in to stop him.
Yes I'll say it: I believe HHH doesn't like Chris at all, privately, publicly and professionally. He will work with him if and when he has to, like when his preferred opponents are injured, but will try to make him bad.
Anyway I guess that sums it up. As a confirmed Jerichoholic I will keep my fingers crossed for this heel turn to be a step up, but history has written so far that he's not what "they" are looking for in terms of a person to bring up to a consistent main event level like HBK Cena HHH and Orton.
Sorry for any bad typing, typos, grammatical errors etc. this was an off the cuff rant!
