The evolution of Chris Jericho

Danger_Dave

I decided to try post something meaningful on the board for a change . Here goes !

The majority of people on the PW forum will remeber how good Chris Jericho was in WCW, from feuds to promo work . He was able to continue this in the WWE Attitude area as Y2J. From his first appearance on Raw. From 1999 to 2005 Y2J gave consistently entertaining matches from his opponents, of course it helps when the people you are feuding with are HHH, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit , Christian, Shawn Michaels . In saying that he still had a part to play in making memorable matches e.g WrestleMania XIX match with Shawn michaels.

Add to that his outstanding promo work. Whether on his own, with a commentator or his opponent. Chris jericho had the ability to make the crowd laugh or have them baying for his blood. In one word he was "entertaining" !

Eventually the demands of wrestling coupled with the birth of his child in 2003 gave chris jericho a reason to leave wreslting. Many Fans including myself believed it to be a shame to see someone who could achieve so much more leave the business.

Fast Forward to 2007.....

Promo's cutting randomly in WWE programming. From "Save us" to the "Second Comming" to similar looking images from his old entrance themes. It was the worst kept secret in wrestling. After all the anticipation of his return , fans are left underwhelmed. Chris jericho has not returned the man he once was. He does not seem to have the same charisma he once had. A quick stint in a poor main event feud lands him in the safe sanctuary of the mid card.

A long slow burning feud with Shawn Michaels seems to reignite whats seems to have been lost. How much of it down to Shawn michaels ? . The disappointing part of the feud is not the promo's or the matches, but that the once great Y2J seems to be lost to the viewers of sports entertainment.

What will we see from Chris Jericho in this Main Event Stint ? A pressurized feud with Jericho not being able to step up to his full potential for the company ?. To once again be landed back in the mid card were he is comfortable to have feud were he reachs his full potential with no pressure with a heavy weight title in the mix ?





P.S i got the idea to write this from the Soccer Forum. The Soccer Write OFF. Mabye we should have a great Wreslting write off ?

callaway92

Jericho was probably in the top 3 on RAW this year

Bounty Hunter

Danger_Dave wrote: »

P.S i got the idea to write this from the Soccer Forum. The Soccer Write OFF. Mabye we should have a great Wreslting write off ?

Nice piece on Y2J and i like the Soccer Write Off (im in it) but i dunno what kind of standard we would have here. The Soccer board is much bigger and has many Journalism majors / actual Journos etc that took part methinks o and me. But if it works go for it cos i know atleast a few here who could produce something unique and the idea of it being anonomouly written is good IMO.

Bubs101

How about doing something like this away from exam time

ShawnRaven

I've a few peices i wrote from a couple of years back, i'd happily contribute to a write off type thing.

I am with Bubs in the sense that it's best to wait until after the exams finish for some of us, that way you'll have no shortage of contributors.

DRakE

Chris Jericho.
A great man.

Tricity Bendix

Danger_Dave wrote: »

A long slow burning feud with Shawn Michaels seems to reignite whats seems to have been lost. How much of it down to Shawn michaels ? . The disappointing part of the feud is not the promo's or the matches, but that the once great Y2J seems to be lost to the viewers of sports entertainment.

I think it would be false to say the Jericho returned to form because Shawn Michaels carried him. When I look back at that feud, none of Michaels' promos stand out to me. Week in and week out, it was Jericho's promo work that kept that feud alive, in my opinion, starting with him 'outing' Shawn as a dubious character to the fans, and then turning on the fans when they continued to cheer for HBK. It made such a refreshing difference from the mumble-fests that opened every RAW for weeks.

The matches weren't great, the ladder match was a poor fit for what had been a great feud, and I am of the opinion that their first rivalry (when Jericho explained how he had wanted to be Michaels, but now he wanted to show that he was better than Michael) was a more natural fit for their characters (not to mention their show-stealing blow-off at Wrestlemania completely out-shone anything they've done since) but I still wouldn't describe their feud as disappointing. Yes, Y2J is gone, but characters are expected to change over time. It helps keep the wrestlers themselves interested in what they are doing, and it helps refresh the roster. Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker are just a few names who have changed around their characters over time, and I think we as fans are the better for it.

gimmick

Jericho in my opinion is about the most versatile guy on the WWE roster. He can both open and close a show, or be in the middle of the md card and all the while seem perfectly credible. His in ring work is beyond reporoach, and I would argue he carried HBK more than vice versa in their most recent fued. His promo work has been outstanding and totally got himself over as Raws top heel.

JP Liz

When Jericho returned as face to the WWE he was expected to be way over but he wasnt. The best thing they did was turn him heel and let him feud with HBK.

JERICHO = BRILLANT

gimmick

JP Liz wrote: »

When Jericho returned as face to the WWE he was expected to be way over but he wasnt.

I think his return was a monumental screw up. First of all, the return promo went on about 3 weeks too long, and then when it actually the night of his return, they blew his pop by having him high the running dude backstage before he made his entrance onto the stage. Whether any of that caused his lack of overness as a goody is questionable though.

His heel work, by and large, has been far better than anything else he ahs done in the company.

Now, if he could only go back to wearing his older ring attire.....

JohnJericho

Jericho is by far the best thing on WWE TV right now. For me he is the only man who can get me emotionally involved in a match. The amount of heat he gets in the arena at the moment is unreal

Vince135792003

Jericho has been really good this year, one of the the best and most consistent. However he seems to do all the right things but for me, I just don't buy him as an elite good or bad guy. He's a half a step away for me.

JP Liz

Raw Spoiler

Superstar of the Year: Chris Jericho

Iang87

Vince135792003 wrote: »

Jericho has been really good this year, one of the the best and most consistent. However he seems to do all the right things but for me, I just don't buy him as an elite good or bad guy. He's a half a step away for me.

Excellent point man he is confusing the bulk of the fans with is he going to be good or bad whilst he is leaning towards bad its kind of confusing with is he generally just obsessed with the title making him do this or is this the Jericho we can expect for years to come. I personally hope not i'd like the old Jericho to be in the position he's in now cos in my opinion if it was old jericho against cena the promos and all that would be brilliant. they both have great mic skills and can be excellent if they are face or heel