Wrestler of the Week: ‘Lionheart’ Chris Jericho
Our resident philosopher, Jay Shannon, takes a look at the new Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho.
On this week’s Monday Night Raw, Chris Jericho captured the Intercontinental Championship for a record 8th time. Jericho is a veteran that has thrilled crowds in every organization that he’s worked for. He’s thrilled North Amercan crowds, Japanese audiences and European fans. Jericho hit the ring running on his current comeback. He finally scored gold against Jeff Hardy with his win on Monday. It will likely be the first of many titles that he will take during this run. For his excitement, enthusiasm, and ring skills, Chris Jericho is my choice for this week’s Wrestler of the Week.
Double citizen Chris
Chris Jericho’s given surname is Irvine. His father is the legendary Canadian hockey star, Ted Irvine. When Chris was born, in 1970, the Irvine family was living in New York. Ted was working for the New York Rangers hockey team. Early on, the Irvines moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Chris always considered himself a Canadian, even though he holds dual citizenship.
Getting to the Hart of the matter
It was assumed that Chris would follow in his father’s footsteps and play hockey. Chris found himself interested in wrestling. In 1990, Chris was introduced to Keith Hart of the legendary Hart family. Keith felt that Chris would be a great choice for a wrestler. Keith brought Chris to Calgary to meet the rest of the Hart family. Chris was “unofficially adopted” by the family.
Chris wanted to be a success, not because of his family name, but because of his talent. He chose the surname “Jericho” for two reasons. One was a nod to a favorite band, Helloween, who had a album called Walls of Jericho. The other reason was for his very deep religious beliefs.
After a few months working the independents in Canada, Chris was teamed with Lance Storm. The two have remained close friends for close to 20 years. They would team together, off and on, for many years. Their team used several different names, including Sudden Impact and The Thrill Seekers.
ECW-Extreme Chris Wrestling
After several years touring Canada, Mexico and Japan, Chris wanted to make an impact on the US market. That break came thanks to Paul Heyman. While Jericho had worked for Smoky Mountain, a couple of years earlier, he didn’t make the kind of splash that he wanted to make. That changed once Chris made his way to a Bingo Hall in Philly.
On June 27,1996, Chris upset Pit Bull #2 (Anthony Durante) for the ECW Television title. Chris made such an impact that he was head-hunted by WCW and left in the late summer to join the WCW family.
WCW-Watch Chris Wrestle
Jericho didn’t have to wait to be in main event matches. After a warm-up match against Alex Wright. Jericho became a target of the Four Horsemen. Jericho would begin one of his longest running feuds with Chris Benoit, who was a Horseman at the time. Chris also crossed paths with the nWo.
Chris won the Cruiserweight title on five occasions beating: Syxx-Pac, Alex Wright, Dean Malenko, and Rey Mysterio, Jr. (twice). Chris also upset Booker T for the Television title. After three years with WCW, Chris decided to move forward. He wanted to spend some time with his band, Fozzy. People suspected that Jericho had retired. They weren’t “counting” on his return.
Tick Tock, Rock the Clock
In the summer of 1999, a Countdown Timer started running on the TitanTron on Raw. No one had a clue what the timer referred to. It was obviously related to the whole Y2K, turn of the century thing, that was only a few months away. The timer was scheduled to end, well before, December 31st. On August 9, 1999, the clock finally reached zero. The Rock was standing in the ring as the clock ground to a halt.
Chris Jericho burst from the back to confront and insult The Rock. Jericho ranted about how boring Raw had become. He played on the running Y2K situation where there was question if computers would need fixing. Instead of being the solution to the Y2K problem, Jericho listed himself as the Y2J solution.
Chris instantly focused on the members of D-X. Jericho battled old foe, X-Pac (Syxx-Pac). He also fought against Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. Chris went through a major slump until November of 1999. In December, Chris won his first WWE gold by defeating Chyna for the Intercontinental title. Jericho ended up sharing the title with Chyna due to a fluke double pin. Chris would eventually take sole possession of the title by beating Chyna and Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match.
Taking it to the next level
After losing the I-C strap to Kurt Angle, Chris went on a rampage to get some gold. He would win the European title in a bizarre Triple Threat/Double Title match where Kurt Angle defended both his I-C and European titles. Chris actually won the European title by pinning Chris Benoit. Sadly, Chris’ title reign would last less than 24 hours. On the Raw following Wrestlemania, Eddie Guerrero upset Chris for the European title.
Over the next few months, Jericho and Benoit would trade the I-C title on several occasions. Jericho would also battle just about everyone in the company.
Defending against The Invasion
After the WWE bought out WCW, a story was created where ex-WCW stars began to arrive to attack the WWE people. Jericho stepped up to become one of the WWE Leaders. He battled various former WCW and ECW stars in his war against Shane and Stephanie McMahon.
Jericho’s face position began to slip as he and The Rock began to cross swords. The Rock won the WCW title and then taunted Jericho, calling him a “Comedy act that never won the big one (a world title)”. The Rock and Jericho seemed to put their animosity aside as they beat the Dudley Boyz for the WWF Tag Team titles. Their alliance crumbled after they lost the tag titles.
The “New” Chris Jericho
Jericho had been a face for most of his career. A chair shot to the face of The Rock changed all that. It was The Rock’s taunts that first started the rivalry. Jericho got the final laugh on December 9, 2001, when he beat The Rock for the WCW World title and Steve Austin for the WWE World title. Jericho became the first WWE Undisputed Champion.
The heel persona worked well for Jericho. He feuded with all the top stars, including Triple H, Tazz, Kane and Edge. It would be Triple H that would end Jericho’s reign as champion at Wrestlemania X-8. Jericho had injured Triple H’s quad and put him on the shelf for several months. Triple H feuded with Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon. Triple H took the final win on their vicious feud with a brutal Hell in the Cage victory at Judgment Day: 2002.
Taking a break
After 15 solid years of wrestling, Chris Jericho wanted a break. He had a book project that he wanted to work on. He also wanted to dedicate more time to Fozzy, his music. Chirs was given his out by losing to John Cena in 2005. After the loss, he was “fired” for his inability to take out Cena. Jericho put on his official website (and later pulled it) that he was no longer challenged by wrestling. He made it clear that the door was not closed on the possibility of a comeback.
The Worst Kept Secret in Wrestling History
On September 24, 2007, a series of odd binary code messages began playing on the Titan Tron. This was considered the “worst kept secret in wrestling history”. Jericho had been out of a book tour for months. WWE was in desperate need of talent. The internet nearly exploded with all the various message boards and web sites trying to find out the meanings of the cryptic clues.
The “Save us” message was finally uncoded on November 19, 2007, as Jericho crashed the “Passing The Torch” ceremony of Randy Orton. Jericho wanted to assure his fans that he had returned to save the WWE from Orton. Jericho issued a challenge for the WWE title. Jericho was set to battle Randy Orton for the title at Armageddon. Jericho had the match won, until John “Bradshaw” Layfield rushed the ring and booted Jericho in the skull. This lead to a nasty series of matches between JBL and Y2J. Jericho truly dominated the feud. JBL has switched his focus to Finlay, so Jericho needed a new target.
Jericho and Jeff Hardy had squared off in the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out. Jericho has qualified of the yearly Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania. Jericho had one last bit of business before Wrestlemania. On the three hour special edition of Raw, held on March 10, 2008, Jericho challenged Jeff Hardy for the I-C title. After a huge back and forth battle that had near falls all over the place, Jericho caught Jeff with the Code Breaker. Jericho now goes into Wrestlemania brandishing his 8th Intercontinental title.
In Conclusion:
He’s a writer, musician, radio host and a wrestler. He could have been a superstar in hockey, but Chris Jericho chose wrestling instead. He has held the Intercontinental title more than anyone else in wrestling. He was also the very first Undisputed Champion. Chris Jericho has been known as Y2J, a Thrill Seeker, and Corazon de Leon. Of all his nicknames and gimmicks, the one that truly describes Chris Jericho best is “Lion Heart”. He has the courage, heart and ability to walk in and take any title, any time. March 10, 2008 is a perfect example. For all these reasons and many more, Chris Jericho is this week’s Pro Wrestling Daily: Wrestler of the Week.
–Jay Shannon
JayofPWD@SBCGlobal.net
(3/12/08)
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