As it’s the 30th Anniversary of the debut of Chris Jericho this week, some of the SLTD Team got together to give their thoughts on the man of 1004 hold, ‘Le Champion’ Chris Jericho.
@callumowen98 (The Wrestling Brain)
Chris Jericho is on my Mount Rushmore of the greatest wrestlers ever. My first memory of seeing Y2J was in 2007 following a 2-year hiatus, he would return as a face to confront the then WWE Champion Randy Orton.
However, it wasn’t long before he turned heel and had that memorable feud with Shawn Michaels in 2008 which really showed to me how great he is. I think something that we can all appreciate is Jericho’s ability to reinvent himself, throughout his career at any point his character may have gotten stale he would change it and whatever he does it almost always gets over.
Let’s look at his 2016 return to WWE as a prime example, he was doing this Rooty Tooty Booty stuff with The New Day, and everyone thought that he’d lost it, then all of a sudden he went back to what he knows best, and that’s being a heel and “The List Of Jericho” was born, he got a potted plant, the word it and a scarf over and he and Kevin Owens carried the Raw roster on their back for close to a year.
When he left WWE in 2017, he joined NJPW and wrestled Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom, this resulted in me to buy NJPW World primarily just to watch his match.
Three fun little tidbits about Jericho, in 2009 I saw him take on CM Punk a match that I definitely now cherish seeing. In 2016 I tweeted a GIF of Kevin MacAlister reacting to Jericho’s return to WWE, which he retweeted, and lastly, the road next to mine is called Jericho Road, so anytime I see the sign I instantly think of Y2J.
When the day comes that Jericho decides to hang up his boots, I’m sure he’ll be remembered fondly for having a huge impact on a lot of wrestling fans lives, whether it’s his early beginnings as Lionheart, the Man of 1004’s holds, that iconic WWF debut, becoming the Undisputed Champion by defeating The Rock and Stone Cold in one night, The List of Jericho, no pun intended but the list of his accomplishments just goes on and on. If there’s one final word that I’d describe Chris Jericho as is The G.O.A.T.
@TheKantastic (Kantastic Wrestle Korner)
My most memorable moment of Chris Jericho, when he first came to my attention as a wrestling fan as a possible major star, was his WWE debut in 1999 and the verbal clash he has with the Rock. The back and forth was hilarious and began his legendary run in wrestling’s biggest promotion.
My second most memorable Jericho moment was in 2001 when he became Undisputed WWE champion by beating both Rock and Steve Austin on the same night. I don’t believe any other wrestler can claim to have done that in their career.
Other memorable moments throughout Jericho’s legendary career was the amazing acting he did when Eric Bischoff ‘fired’ him after losing a ‘loser gets fired’ match on RAW, getting knocked out by Mike Tyson, the nine Intercontinental title reigns and his 2012 return and feuding with CM Punk, which actually made me really not like Jericho at the time because of how the storyline played to Punk’s real-life abstinence from alcohol.
Finally, I love how Jericho transcends wrestling and into other fields, such as music, podcasting and writing. I’m a regular listener of his podcast and it shows that ‘Y2J’ is indeed the GOAT, because he literally has done it all.
@TomCallan16 (War Talk)
Chris Jericho: the man of many talents. It’s hard to think of the wrestling scene without the ‘stupid’ Canadian on our screens weekly. Chris is an estimate to how the wrestling scene changes as time goes on – his many personas being a key example.
Jericho’s feud with Stone Cold sparks many emotions when watching back with the match at Vengence being key. I doubt anyone can think of a ‘bad’ Jericho feud on the top of their head and this clearly indicates his role in the wrestling community. Jericho’s legacy on the scene feels timeless and will defiantly be remembered for years to come. Here’s to another 30 Chris
@TyboTalks (Tybo Talks)
It’s hard to imagine the last thirty of wrestling shows without Chris Jericho. He may have not always been on the top but he has always been an important part of the show, whatever show or promotion that may be.
The thing that makes Jericho different to a lot of other wrestlers is quite clearly his ability to reinvent himself, and see the potential in a storyline or feud that many others wouldn’t see. (His feud with Chyna being a perfect example.
Honestly I can’t think of anyone who has remained in the same character, but been through so many different versions of the same guy. This is more than just swapping from heel to face, I’m talking about when he does swap he completely reinvents himself and adds something new.
Even now in his later career, a lot of other wrestlers would rely on their greatest hits to get them over, Jericho has don’t the opposite and created whole new characters. Even more impressive than this Jericho has pushed himself to go outside the box in the last few years. Where most would of stayed in WWE and got a sweet legends contract, Jericho went to NJPW and changed again. Then went to WWE’s direct competition, to see if he could build something new within AEW.
It’s for all these reasons why I don’t think Jericho’s wrestling career will be over anytime soon, and I don’t think we have seen the last reinvention of the Chris Jericho brand.
Those are are thoughts on Chris Jericho, but what are yours? Comment below, or tweet us @SLTDWrestling.
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