Why doesn't Jericho do a legit Walls of Jericho anymore?

[rockyrocky11]

Simple question.

So did something happen to his back or was it actually hurting other superstars?? Now he does a basic boston crab that no1 ever taps out from anymore. Does anyone know why he stopped doing the real move?

Old Walls: http://slam.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesJ/jericho_ss2001.jpg
http://slam.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesJ/jericho_chyna.jpg

New Walls: http://www.thehardcorewrestling.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/walls-of-jericho_wm.jpg

 

[TheOneTheyCallOn]

Forgive me but I don't understand, I don't see what he did at the rumble for example, to be any different to what he has always done. As far as I'm aware the walls was a Boston crab

 

[rockyrocky11]

See pictures above

 

[boywithbluehanger]

I could be wrong but I heard a while back that wrestlers were getting injured from the move. However I haven't found any proof of this. I personally think he uses the boston crab due to him being a heel. As a heel he has to use moves that still allow fans to have hope that their hero can either reverse or escape. It's more believable for someone (typically a face) to more frequently escape from from the boston crab and doesn't diminish the awesomeness of the original liontamer. When he did the actual liontamer as the WoJ, it would have made an awesome submission finisher look weak to constantly have people escape the hold.

Also it opens the door for more shock value when he does actually go old school with the WoJ..Kinda like he did against JTG on a random episode of Smackdown shortly before he took a hiatus.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

When he was doing the move in WCW and it was called the Lion Tamer he never sat back in the position of the Boston Crab, he would mostly be standing with one of his knees on the back of his opponents head/neck, slightly twisting the legs back not going straight back. IIRC when he got to WWE and started using the move several wrestlers complained of it actually hurting to much so they slowly changed and tweaked it to the point where it just became the simple Boston Crab move he uses now and has been using for a while.

 

[Shotaro]

I would imagine it's got a lot to do with the fact that the original walls would actually cause serious damage and the onus is on the receiver to not get hurt. Whereas the Boston crab is a relatively commonly used submission that the WoJ was based on, all the guys know that move and the onus is then on Jericho not to screw up.

 

[ShawnDiscipleSmith]

Jericho himself said that since he was only given Cruiserweight competition in WCW that the Liontamer was easy to apply, notsomuch to the Heavyweights of the WWE so he changed it up a little bit.

 

[RD_21]

In his book, that I don't have with me at the moment, he says that he is often asked why he isn't doing the REAL Walls of Jericho (with the knee behind the head and the opponnent really high in the air) and doing a lame Boston Crab instead.

The answer is Big Show, Kane, The Rock, Triple H and other wrestlers are just too big for him to do it properly and safely. He could do it in wCw because he was mostly feuding with cruiserweight, but in WWE the guys he was feuding with were bigger.

 

[closet_fan]

I would think he would be able to somehow tweak it so he can do a cross between the WOJ and a BC.

I agree with the OP. The BC is kind of boring. It's one of those moves that used to be a finisher, but turned into something wrestlers add to a match nowadays, whereas the Walls of Jericho was a legit submission move to end a match.

But since Jericho now uses the Codebreaker, it doesn't matter.

 

[drobs85]

Simple question.

So did something happen to his back or was it actually hurting other superstars?? Now he does a basic boston crab that no1 ever taps out from anymore. Does anyone know why he stopped doing the real move?

Old Walls: http://slam.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesJ/jericho_ss2001.jpg
http://slam.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesJ/jericho_chyna.jpg

New Walls: http://www.thehardcorewrestling.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/walls-of-jericho_wm.jpg

That's an easy one. Same reason why Big Show does an wack chokeslam, same reason why Cena's FU sucks now, same reason why Triple Haytch's pedigree sucks now, Same reason why people kick out of a 400lb splash from botch Henry. WWE doesn't mind it looking faker than ever now, and they don't want anyone to get hurt although technically they want the audience to think there hurt.

 

[RJJ]

According to Chris Jericho himself, he doesn't do the original move anymore because it will cause some serious damage to bigger guys like HHH, Kane, and Rock. Chris Jericho: "Big guys are not supposed to bind that way"

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

You mean the Liontamer?

He says in interviews or his book, I forget which, that he doesn't do it that way because he cant apply it on bigger guys like Big Show or Triple H, and that the Liontamer takes away the added drama of the guy reaching for the bottom rope.

Though he did use the Liontamer to beat Daniel Bryan on the first episode of NXT.

 

[AwesomeCJ]

In the Summer of 2007, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chris for 3 hours while he did autographs at the local Maryland Championship Wrestling event. I was running security for him, and I got to listen to him answer a couple questions as the people came up for autographs. This was one of the questions by the fans. Jericho replied that it was getting harder to apply on the bigger wrestlers, Kane was specifically mentioned. When he was in the Cruiserweight division on WCW Nitro, this was not a problem for him. As he was getting pushed in WWE, he figured it would be beneficial to adapt a more usable form of the Boston Crab universally on his opponents. This is why you see a Boston Crab instead of the Lion Tamer.

 

[Jericaholics_anonymous7]

the risk of injury to a superstar is now to great... it hurts your back, your quads, your neck.... if you applied that to another human being as 1999 jericho did... it is near impossible to get out of and very painful...

the lame boston crab is now nothing more than him bending the knees of his opponent... very poor IMO...

although i expect him to put it in properly at mania...

He also has a good number of finshsers/signature moves including the awseoms 'breakdown' which lasted 2 weeks... he doesnt use it to its full effectiveness....

Infact i wonder if anyone can tell me the last time someone submitted to the Walls Of Jericho?!

 

[Green Bay Wisconsin]

With CM Punk being on the smaller side I believe at WM we will see the return of the Liontamer and I may just mark out a little bit.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

read his book... he says himself that in WCW he was working with cruiserweights and smaller guys so it was easier to do, once he got to the WWE the guys were bigger and he couldn't get that kind of torque on them so he changed it around to do it the way he does and i'm sure at that point he has to stay consistent so now even with guys he can do it to the original way he still does it the new way

 

[Pedigree1]

This has been covered but indeed it probably has to do with Y2J not being able to properly apply the move on bigger superstars!! If some people said it hurt a little too much i buy that it looked painful the original walls!! Why call it the walls its a damn boston crab. Almost an insult to the minds of the IWC faithful if they dont call it anything else other than the boston crab. Its all about keeping these guys safe and still trying to entertain!!

 

[duckbutter]

We seem to be going back and forth on this, but, to reiterate what a few others have already said, Chris said it himself in his last book that he can't apply it the original way in the WWE because the guys he has worked with are much bigger than they were in WCW.

 

[vampirek]

This has been covered but indeed it probably has to do with Y2J not being able to properly apply the move on bigger superstars!! If some people said it hurt a little too much i buy that it looked painful the original walls!! Why call it the walls its a damn boston crab. Almost an insult to the minds of the IWC faithful if they dont call it anything else other than the boston crab. Its all about keeping these guys safe and still trying to entertain!!

An insult? Please, grow up. Its called the Walls of Jericho because thats the name of the signature move. Much like how a AA was a FU which in turn was a Fireman's Carry. How the Celtic Cross is the Razor's Edge, how the Gore was a spear and so on and on and on throughout the course of wrestling history. The fact you said this was an insult to the IWC faithful is just an insult on wrestling history.

 

[Risingtidejc3]

He actually mentioned it in his second book. He uses the "Boston Crab" version because it's easier to do on bigger guys. Think about it: In WCW, he wrestled as a Cruiserweight, wrestling smaller guys, so he would be able to put the Knee in the back much easier. In WWF/E, now wrestling larger guys, it's much easier to just make it a "High-Angle Boston Crab" or even a normal version. It just looks better adding the knee on smaller guys, especially since Jericho isn't that big of a guy himself. Plus, putting the knee in is kinda humiliating if you think about it, so consider the possible politics involved.

 

[itbewilly]

Forgive me but I don't understand, I don't see what he did at the rumble for example, to be any different to what he has always done. As far as I'm aware the walls was a Boston crab

His hold has varied over the years. I remember it being completely different in WCW as it was in WWE

It over the years has slowing moved from ^^^ to more of an elevated Boston Crab really. Maybe Age or Risk of seriously injuring someone with the old style move has caused him to change it.

 

[shattered dreams]

I remember having a good time putting my little brothers in the Walls.

 

[trashboy]

I remember having a good time putting my little brothers in the Walls.

LOL. I still do the original Liontamer with the knee to the head to my nephew all the time if we're wrestling around.

I miss the old school Liontamer / Walls of Jericho. It's always been one of my favorite submission moves, I always used it for my character in video games. Of course I think these days, that version isn't in the games.

Everyone does a Boston crab, so it kind of sucks that Jericho's Walls doesn't look unique anymore.

Does anyone remember when Jericho started using a finisher called "Break the Walls Down?" It was The Stroke / Skull Crushing Finale. Jericho didn't use it for very long if I remember correctly.