Chris Jericho's Place in Wrestling History

Blitzkrieg

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Chris Jericho lately. I read a report recently that said something along the lines of him not missing wrestling all that much and no rea plans for a return.. Now, I know a lot of these so called reports are complete BS, but I would be surprised if we ever see Chris return to the active roster. He really seems to be focussed on his music and a fulltime return wouldn't allow him to be involved as much in that aspect of his life..

So I guess my question now is, where do you rank Chris Jericho all time?

When judging a wrestler's career one most look into a variety of categories that made up his overall ability and then combine all of the "ratings" into a whole. In WCW I always felt Chris could be doing so much more but they never gave him a real chance to break out and when he finally moved on to WWE he saw how great Y2J could really be..

Chris was awesome on the mic in both a face and heel role. He could be very comical and make you laugh.. He could be extremely serious and draw you in. He could also do it all in the ring.. From a technical standpoint he was damn good, he had the charisma, he could sell, he could take risks, his matches had a nice flow and usually told a story..

We can also factor in his abiity to draw. When WWE when at it's peak, Chris was near or at the top of the card. When he "beat" Triple H for the title on RAW it was by many accounts one of the biggest mark out moments in wrestling television history (he would later have the decision reversed) He was the 1st ever Undisputed Champion, he main evented a Wrestlemania, he was also a 7 time Intercontinental champion and multiple tag champion. Many athletes suffer a certain up hill battle when they lack in size but not Chris, he was too good to be held down at this time..

There are however, some unsolved mysteries to his career. For instance, there was a 3 year period when he didn't even get a title shot.. The reason is unknown to me and it's really too bad..

Personally, I think Chris Jericho should go down as one of the top 10 wrestlers of all time. There really isn't anything he couldn't do and do well.. I think his main problem was that he was in WWE at the right and wrong time.. The right time to have great matches and display his skills, but the wrong time because of him be overshadowed by larger then life stars, most notably Rock and Austin.

Top 10 is still pretty damn good though and I truly believe he belongs there.

Tyler Durden

I don't think Jericho would make my top 10 of all time, I'm inclined to go along with his own ascertion of where he stands in the "all time" history of wrestling when he was interviewed by Poweslam in the UK some months ago.

He put himself as, not on the 1st rung of superstars (the Hogans, Rocks, Austins etc) but on the valuable 2nd rung (I think he likened himself most to someone like Roddy Piper, but also mentioned others). He seemed real happy with his position in the scheme of things. I don't honestly believe he could have ever broken into the top rung, but he had a hell of a career.

Strangely, I watched a bit of Best of Raw at the weekend and watched that debut entrance from him. It's incredible now to think he was actually nothing more than a mid-lower carder in WCW. Some of his best work was on there (particularly the different ways he used to find in the rule book that Malenko in particular had cheated in their matches). And the "Greenberg" stuff that he wasn't allowed to take further.

The crowd knew who it was on Jericho's debut but the noise and the welcome was like it was some main event god, not a lower mid carder. Just goes to show me how WCW totally misread peoples opinions about their own talent and how WWE audiences (people like myself) had been watching Jericho for a couple of years thinking "now he would be excellent in WWE". Used to think the same about Eddie as well.

It also goes to show how the reactions to people jumping from one show to another were so awesome back then, yet now, since everyone knows they're all employed by Vince anyway, no one gives a stuff when somebody "jumps ship"

CrasH - X

Remember the Spyda, dude ..

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

He has stated that after winning the Undisputed Title from the Rock and Austin that anything after that was gravy and didnt need the title as much as some other people did.

I agree.

Man, I used to mark out so freaking hard for Jericho. When I started watching WCW in 97, he was instantly the guy I always enjoyed watching.

Ralphus? Remember him? haha.

He was held down so badly in WCW that I think it kinda killed his overall perception by casual wrestling fans.

Steve Austin was released from WCW, so clearly they didnt know what they were doing all the time. But then again, every company makes mistakes like that.

Where I think the WWE really dropped the ball was by having him get schooled instantly in his VERY FIRST PROMO by the Rock.

You see back then Vince was still trying to put the nail in WCW's coffin, so he must have felt that he had to make his wrestlers look superior to WCW's castoffs.

Look at Big Show. One short run as champ. Booker T, no world titles. Same went for Jericho, but maybe even to a stronger degree.

Back to the overall......

I would have to compile two seperate lists. My personal favorites of all time, and ones for all the fans. My guess is that "Killer Kowalski" would score more votes than Jericho, while unjust, its basically par for the course for Jericho's career.

Underated, but always appreciated.

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