By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
October 2nd 1990, That was the day Chris Jericho made his professional wrestling debut. In the two and a half decades since he has wrestled all over the world and won countless championships, he is the epitome of a rags to riches wrestling story. As wrestling changed so did Chris, as the attitudes changed so did Chris, countless times he reinvented himself to suit the era he was in. They Chris Jericho that debut in August 1999 is not the same Chris Jericho we watch today, the long hair, beards and tights were shed many years ago. Chris Jericho in 2016 is a consummate professional, he is also become one of the greatest minds in the business and he is a future hall of famer.
Ass Clown
Upon signing with the then WWF in June 1999 many were aware of Chris Jericho’s skills, however many still doubted if he could ever reach his full potential in the land of the giants. His debut was legendary, as the Rock was cutting a promo in ring the debuting ‘Y2J’ made his entrance and stopped the Rock mid sentence, it was truly a memorable moment. It took Jericho a while to establish himself in the Federation, the move from WCW to the WWF was obviously more complex than first thought. He finally clicked into gear in the December of 1999 in his feud with the now departed Chyna, at the time the two were competing for the Intercontinental Championship. 2000 was a breakout out year for the young Canadian, what WCW couldn’t or didn’t want to see in Jericho the WWF grabbed it and ran with it. From European, IC and WWF Title (Null & Void) wins and feuding with Chris Benoit and Triple H, Jericho proved himself to the masses. For the next fifteen years he slowly carved a legacy for himself, he had multiple IC Championship reigns, captured both the WWE and World Tag Titles, became the first ever Undisputed Champion and won many more WWE and World Heavyweight Titles.
Chris Jericho’s contract was due to expire in the August of 2005, he made it known beforehand that he would not be signing another, Jericho wanted and needed a rest, he also wanted to raise his family. His final act upon leaving was to try and help get over the new face of the company John Cena. In the June Jericho turned heel on ‘friend’ John Cena, this then set in motion a series of matches for the WWE Title. The first match between the two included Christian, the Triple Threat match took place at Vengeance where Cena was victorious, the feud between Jericho and Cena would continue throughout the summer and culminate at the Summerslam PPV. As it was with Cena matches in those days’ roles were reversed, Jericho was the face as the crowd made it clear he was their guy, ultimately and as expected John won. The following night on Raw company man Jericho put Cena over once more and went out the right way…. on his back, Eric Bischoff unceremoniously fired him after losing again. It was classic Jericho.
Zero to Hero
Jericho would make his return to WWE a little over two years later, as with his debut an elaborate series of codes, messages and a countdown eluded to his return. He finally returned in November 2007 to gate-crash Randy Orton’s WWE Title ceremony, again Jericho delivered the message that he was there to save us. As the euphoria of his return quickly faded we were treated to the same old Jericho, the only two changes were his short hair and introduction of his new ‘Codebreaker’ finisher. The feud with Orton bombed, their match at Armageddon was mediocre at best, on the back of that Jericho was then placed into another plodding feud with JBL. As Jericho took part in another MITB match at Wrestlemania it was safe to say that his second run with the company had been a let-down, he had progressed no further and his gimmick was as it was when he left in 2005. Jericho was just another face in the crowd.
Following Wrestlemania 24 Shawn Michaels and Batista had entered into a feud, Jericho in conjunction with his ‘Highlight Reel’ talk show went looking for reasons why hostilities because HBK & Batista had escalated. During a segment on Raw Chris accused HBK of basking in the light of retiring Ric Flair at Mania, annoyed with the comments Shawn then proceeded to Superkick Chris to shut him up. Following this attack Jericho demanded to be entered into the match at Backlash between HBK & Batista, the request was denied. Instead Jericho was given the role of officiating the contest, which he did admirably, controversy rose however after HBK feigned an injury to trick Batista. He then delivered ‘Sweet Chin Music’ for the victory, Chris looked on shocked as he had allowed Shawn time to rest, therefore subconsciously aiding him to win. The events at Backlash and aftermath on Raw led Jericho to accuse HBK of cheating, the seeds of change were being sown. The two were scheduled to settle their differences at Judgment Day, in the run up the event Shawn eventually admitted the injury at Backlash was a ruse all along and that he too had tricked Jericho, the segment ended with ‘Sweet Chin Music’. Shawn would defeat Chris in an outstanding match at the PPV.
Honest Man
Initially the conflict between Y2J & HBK had been a very entertaining mid card feud, however the rivalry reached new heights in June of 2008. Completely dismayed at HBK’s deceit and the fan’s ignorance at his behaviour Jericho looked for revenge. In another ‘Highlight Reel’ segment Jericho viciously attacked Michaels, angered by his continuous lies he hurled HBK into the ‘Jeritron’ injury Shawn’s right eye in the process. It was an infamous segment, further strengthened by what was just around the corner. The feud would further escalate at Night of Champions, where the returning Shawn would cause a distraction costing Jericho his IC title. Following these events Jericho then recruited Lance Cade as his protégé, it nicely tied in the feud as Cade was once a trainee of HBK. Since becoming involved with HBK, Chris had developed a more serious persona, gone were the catchphrases and laughter, those were replaced by a more Machiavellian approach. Jericho would start delivering promos with pin point precision, I’m sure that many would agree that he was untouchable at this time. Jericho received universal acclaim for his gimmick change, many critics drew comparison with former AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel, which in itself was praise enough to last you a career.
The hostilities with Shawn were far from over, with his new self serving attitude and unforgiving persona Jericho looked to punish HBK for past transgressions. They faced off again at the Great American Bash, the match descended into chaos as Jericho finally got the upper-hand, following on from the eye injury angle Jericho caught Shawn with a hard elbow to the eye which opened him up hard-way. Chris then proceeded to torture HBK by inflicting as much punishment as possible until Shawn could not defend himself, the blood flowed heavily. The referee then stepped in as Shawn was incapable of continuing, Y2J was declared the winner. The smug Jericho relished in the spotlight, finally he had punished the dishonest, deceitful HBK and inflicted his form of justice. The actions of this match led to Shawn contemplating his career, the eye injury was severe and it was thought best that he retires, this announcement was due at Summerslam. With his wife by his side Shawn spoke about the injury to his eye, his career and family, his also mentioned that Jericho would never fully achieve the success he had. This infuriated Y2J who lashed out to attack Shawn but actually punched his wife Rebecca. There would be no going back now, the line was in the sand.
At Unforgiven in September the two met once more at the behest of Michaels, this time the that match would be unsanctioned, no disqualifications, no count-outs, no rules. For Shawn this was personal, the contest was another bloody affair, Jericho this time though had Lance Cade for backup and he frequently distracted HBK. With his wife’s torment fuelling him Shawn was victorious, he like Jericho’s actions at the Bash beat Chris until he couldn’t defend himself. Justice was served, however there would be a twist to this tale. In the main event of Unforgiven the World Heavyweight Title was being defended, CM Punk the then Champion was earlier injured therefore removing him from the contest. The Title match was a Scramble Match, the contest wore onto until the last five minutes when shockingly Chris Jericho emerged as the final combatant and won the match. Out of the annoyance of losing to HBK, Y2J sought to rectify his image by claiming the Big Gold Belt. In reality this was a perfect way to introduce the World Heavyweight Title to the HBK/Y2J feud. With Jericho now the recognised World Champion Shawn wanted to take that away from, with the feud receiving critical acclaim there was only one way to bring it to a conclusion. At No Mercy the finale to their hostilities would be fought under Ladder Match rules, with the title now on the line and hanging above the ring them was much more at stake. Once more their PPV match received the acclaim of fans and critics, Jericho was ultimately successful and retained at the event but together they had created something memorable. Both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and The Wrestling Observer honoured this with ‘Feud of the Year’ awards.
Part 2 will follow next week
