Does Jericho lose too often?

Tommy Platinum · 10-31-2009, 05:30 PM

Definitely going to sound like a typical hard to please internet fan who will bitch whatever, but hear me out...

Chris Jericho has done a great job putting over talent and making his opponents look good since his return to WWE in 2007, and he has been widely praised recently for his ability to do this while other main eventers don't do as much as they perhaps could to elevate young talent.

That said, I believe recently he has actually been losing too much. Yes I am aware that heels, even ones who are credible main eventers, can lose more than faces and that is fine, but Jericho has been pretty much losing to everybody. Guys like MVP, Kofi, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio multiple times, hell, even JTG of all people. Obviously it is a good thing that Jericho is willing to take these losses and put over talent (not to mention making them look good even when he wins) but I think there comes a time when you have to say he is losing too much and basically looks like a jobber. After a certain amount of defeats he begins to lose credibility, or at the very least a victory over him does not mean as much as it once was.

Kofi defeating a former multi-time World Champion should have been a huge moment and a big step in his career, but instead, you just look at a list of others who have defeated Jericho in 1 on 1 competition over the last few months and it doesn't really give Kofi a rub because it seems anybody can do it. If JTG, one half of a tag team who have never even been the champs, can defeat Jericho 1 on 1, who cares if somebody else does?

Even though Jericho is a heel, he is put over as being one of the best in the industry. If you are one of the best, you shouldn't be losing to just anybody. To lose all these matches and still be considered one of the best shows that wins and losses don't really mean much in wrestling anymore, and it makes it less believable, as well as less impactful when an up and comer gets a win over him. A lot of these guys didn't need to win to benefit from it. Even looking good against an established top guy is enough for guys like MVP and especially JTG.

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I think it's a problem when you let so many guys pin one of the established stars who is still marketed as one of the best there is. It's one of many things that show how little wins and losses mean nowadays compared to years gone by.

horrorfan_1986 · 10-31-2009, 05:50 PM

I couldn't disagree more. Jericho is winning/losing the right amount of times. Looking at the guys you named, I see no problem with him losing to Jeff Hardy (Biggest push of his career) and Rey Mysterio (Biggest feud of the year) since both of those guys are/were major stars. He only lost to JTG and MVP in order to add backstory to their tag programs. Once again, nothing wrong with that. At the same time, Mark Henry defeated the Big Show. Not to mention, Jericho got the pin back on JTG at Summerslam. Finally, there's Kofi. Personally, when I read Kofi beat Jericho in a 10+ minute match on Raw cleanly, I felt that was Kofi's biggest win of his career. It's a huge deal, regardless of the fact that Jericho lost to others.

At the end of the day, Jericho isn't a main eventer of Taker, Hunter or Cena status. He's still stuck in Benoit purgatory where you can flawlessly go from midcarder to low main eventer on any given day.

The Postman · 10-31-2009, 05:58 PM

To add another point, Jericho is pretty much the only guy on the roster reguarly wrestling twice a week, so you could argue that a) although his loss count seems high, it's only because he wrestles more, and b) fatigue sometimes kicks in.

Silver Saviour · 11-01-2009, 02:54 AM

I can sorta see what Tommy's saying but I disagree. Y2J does lose to stars 'not as big as him' a lot, but as Horror said, its to progress something, and he always wins it back.

My reasoning is that Jericho does often get huge wins to counter balance the losses to lower stars. Winning the bragging rights fall alone gives him plenty of cred, and again on Smackdown, he pretty much obliterated his loss to Kofi, while Kofi still looks awesome on raw.

Also, its how commentary put over a win that has massive bearing on how 'big' it is, not so much the wrestler. Commentary has a much bigger impact then people give it credit.They are the voices of the product.

Rehab · 11-01-2009, 04:00 AM

I don't think so really. Jericho is the kind of worker that focuses on the quality of the match and getting the match over, as apposed to just getting himself over. So even in loses, he doesn't lose credibility with the crowd (like Henning or Owen Hart). Jericho has been such an established star for years now so he'll never be a mid-carder again. Its better for business to use his status to help elevate lower level workers in between his own title reigns. Heck Jericho freeing admitted in a interview that WWE need new top level talent desperately.

seize the day · 11-01-2009, 12:09 PM

Thing with Jericho, he easily regains momentum. He takes a loss here and there but he is one of the only superstars that can really take a rebound. Doesn't matter anyways as it doesn't do anything to his credibility. What he loses by losing a match is easily made up.

Does Jericho lose too often?

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