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May 2010 is focusing on the ONE guy that so many of the IWC are calling for the WWE to make a DVD. Yes, this month: CLASSICS IS JERICHO! We should see a bunch of videos of Jericho, seeing as he’s wrestled in WCW, ECW, SMW and of course, the WWE. I hope that we can unearth some ECW and SMW classics but I bet this’ll focus more on WCW and WWE.
---Week One---
This is nothing but WCW matches and one SMW promo. It looks like WCW 97-98 era for Jericho.
-Meet The Thrillseekers-
This was an SMW card from March 5th, 1994. This isn’t a match but just a contract signing bringing the Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho and Lance Storm) into the promotion. There are two promotional videos, too. The first show Lance and Chris somewhere in the woods talking about how hard they train. So we get a video of them training! It’s like an 80’s montage video with the music used and all. They go back to their hotels where two girls (one looking like she’s 10) are waiting. The second video again shows them in the woods (where Jericho mentions the “Hart Brothers Camp”) and tells how the two started working together and how everyone will pay attention to them when they hit the ring. So it’s time for another video and this time the two are in an amusement park. That’s random. They even ice-skate together, too! I don’t know if watching this video would’ve made me interested in the team at all.
-Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko-
These two had a heated rivalry in the WCW and this is a rarely seen match from WCW Pro airing on November 11th, 1996. The two battle over a hammerlock to start. Malenko is dropkicked down and he rolls to the outside. They battle over a test of strength leading to Jericho missing an enzuigiri and Malenko dropping an elbow to the back of Jericho. Malenko drops a knee to Jericho’s knee and he goes to work on it. He dropkicks the knee, stretches it out on the mat before applying a single leg crab. Malenko releases that and pounds on Jericho in the corner leading to Jericho spinning that around and chopping at Dean. Dean responds with a crossbody off the top rope. Jericho returns fire with a spinning heel kick and a springboard dropkick that sends Malenko from the apron to the outside. Jericho follows with a splash to the outside. Jericho tries a Tombstone but Malenko reverses to one of his own for two. Malenko doesn’t like that and tries a couple more pinfall attempts. Jericho reverses an Irish Whip but runs into Malenko’s boot. Malenko tries for a pinfall but Jericho catches Malenko with a small package for two. Jericho hits a second turnbuckle dropkick. Jericho tries an Oklahoma roll but Malenko sits down on Jericho and uses the ropes to get the victory at 6:05. This was harmless. There’s nothing here that makes one say, wow that was a good match but nothing that would make one dislike it, either. It’s just a standard TV match. **1/2.
-Chris Jericho vs. Nick Patrick-
This was about two weeks after the previous match and it was from WCW’s World War III held on November 24th, 1996. It looks like Jericho will have one arm tied behind his back for this match. Patrick has a neck brace one. Patrick shoves Jericho so Jericho returns with a punch that sends Patrick reeling. Patrick charges and gets his leg swept out and he charges again only to get arm dragged. Patrick bails to the outside and I guess there’ll be a lot of cheap stalling like this. Patrick returns and Jericho works a hammerlock before kicking Patrick into the corner. Jericho hiptosses Patrick out of the corner and Patrick retreats again. Teddy Long is there waiting and they engage in a shoving match. Patrick returns and slaps Jericho but gets bitch-slapped down very quickly. Jericho stomps on Patrick’s’ feet and clotheslines him down. Patrick bails and Jericho follows. Patrick ends up against the ringpost and Jericho tries a clothesline with his untied hand and when Patrick ducks Jericho injures his only good arm. Patrick boots at Jericho, brings him in the ring and even does a neck snap. Jericho fights out of the corner with his bad arm and boots Patrick in the face on a blind charge. Patrick has his face planted into the top turnbuckle ten times and then backdrops Patrick down. The rope around Jericho’s arm is quickly falling off and he has to keep his arm there. Patrick boots at Jericho after getting him to chase him around the ring before delivering a clothesline. Patrick heads upstairs but Jericho’s waiting and he hiptosses him off the top. A superkick ends this at 8:02. This was bad. I know it’s a part of Jericho’s history and his first big WCW feud but as a match this was almost unwatchable. DUD.
-Chris Jericho(c) vs. Ultimo Dragon for the Cruiserweight Title-
These two battled at WCW’s Bash at the Beach on July 13th, 1997. Jericho goes behind Dragon but Dragon breaks by getting to the ropes. Dragon trips up Jericho and grabs a side headlock. Jericho headscissors out of that and Dragon kips out of that. Jericho tries a monkey flip but Dragon lands on his feet. Dragon tries the same and Jericho lands on his feet, too. They both try arm-drags and heel kicks and a dropkick but each is blocked and they have a cruiserweight stand-off. Jericho chops Dragon in the corner but Dragon comes back with some rapid-fire kicks. Ross would call it educated kicks I guess. Dragon boots Jericho in the back before going for a nerve hold. That doesn’t make sense because Dragon isn’t a 500-pound tub of lard. Dragon doesn’t keep it on for long and tries for a rana but Jericho catches him and he’s powerbombed twice. That’s a cool spot. Jericho follows with a senton splash for two. Jericho suplexes Dragon and covers for two. Dragon is sent to the corner and flips out of a charging Jericho but Jericho actually flips out of that into a moonsault for two. Jericho hits a Tiger Driver powerbomb for two. Jericho tries a superplex but Dragon blocks. Jericho tries a dropkick off the top to Dragon (also on the top) but Dragon falls off. The announcers play it off nicely saying he did that to “block the dropkick.” Jericho follows with a springboard bulldog to the outside. Jericho brings Dragon back in and bodyslams him. Jericho tries an elbow off the second rope only to get caught by the raised boots of the Dragon. Dragon seats Jericho on the top but Jericho snapmares him over. Dragon heads up again and this time he’s tossed to the outside. Jericho leaps with an axehandle and Dragon blocks that with a dropkick to the gut. Dragon tries a suplex on the outside but Jericho counters into a snap suplex of his own. Jericho tries another second-turnbuckle springboard that misses. Dragon charges (almost doing a 619) which Jericho ducks out of. Dragon eventually connects with an Asai moonsault that leaves both guys out for a while. We return to the ring with Dragon hitting a rana for a pinfall attempt that Jericho breaks by grabbing the ropes. Jericho tries a Magistral roll-up that is countered into one of Dragon’s own that gets two until Jericho grabs the rope. The two tussle and fall to the outside. Jericho chops Dragon but is taken down with an enzuigiri. We get back in the ring where Jericho hits his Lionsault for two. Jericho bodyslams Dragon. Jericho tries another Lionsault but Dragon is up quickly and dropkicks Jericho in the gut. Dragon tries a tiger suplex which Jericho blocks so Dragon puts on the Dragon Sleeper. Jericho blocks with a knee to the face. Dragon kicks Jericho down and hits a moonsault for two. Jericho tries a Tiger Driver again but Dragon rolls through it. Jericho rolls through that and sunset flips Dragon for the pinfall at 12:54. This was a good match. It only had a couple of missed spots (Dragon falling was the most obvious) but I thought it kept up a nice pace for the duration of it and kept things interesting. ***.
-Chris Jericho(c) vs. Juventud Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Title-
This is from the June 30th, 1997 Nitro. The two battle over an armbar to start leading to an early stand-off. Juvie has his mask on still and hasn’t yet revealed his UGLY face. Really, that guy was ugly. Jericho goes behind Juvie and flips him over a la a German suplex before crossbowing Juvie. Juvie tries for a springboard off the top rope but he falls and tries to make the best of it by holding onto Jericho’s hair. Jericho back suplexes Juvie and suplexes him down for two. The talk is all about Dennis Rodman wrestling in the ring and luckily they just ignore Juvie blowing a hurricanrana now. That’s two highspots in a row that he’s blown. Jericho ties up Juvie in a tree of woe and baseball slide dropkicks him in the face. Jericho follows with a backbreaker and he holds Juvie over his knee. The fans chant boring which isn’t really appropriate here. It’s not great but it isn’t boring. Juvie flips out of a blind charge and hits a spinning heel kick to Jericho that misses badly. Speaking of misses, Juvie blows ANOTHER springboard attempt and misses Jericho by a mile. Jericho charges at Juvie in the corner but Juvie ducks and Jericho falls to the outside. Juvie finally hits a big move, leaping over the top to the outside in a crazy suicide dive. Juvie brings Jericho back in and hits a 360 splash for two. Jericho elbows out of a go behind and tries a German but Juvie flips out of it. Juvie tries a rana but gets powerbombed down TWICE. That was cool. Jericho covers but only gets a two. Jericho sets up Juvie on the top and hits a super frankensteiner off the top. He goes right for the Walls of Jericho and that ends this at 6:49. This was really a decent match on Jericho’s part. Juvie completely blew it though with like 4 blatant blown spots. I’d go *** for Jericho and DUD for Juvie so we’ll split the difference and call it *1/2.
---Week Two---
More Jericho! This seems to be following nothing but his WCW career, looking mostly at late 97 and 1998. I guess next week will be the start of his WWE career?
-Introducing Chris Jericho – Part 1-
Chris talks about growing up and watching wrestling with his grandmother and she hated the bad guys (like Ventura) but Jericho loved him! Chris saw an ad for the Hart Wrestling Camp and he signed up and while there he met Lance Storm. The two got along really well and tagged together as the Thrillseekers. He talks about their first match with crazy Japanese moves that were too fast for the territory. We have that match with the Thrillseekers vs. two masked men (from March of 94 as near as I can tell). Lance starts with the first masked man and it’s a simple armbar to start. Red One elbows out of it and Lance comes back with a reverse springboard splash for two. Lance hits a nice dropkick and the Red Two is tagged in. Jericho comes in and he kicks Red Two down to the apron. Jericho follows with a springboard off the second turnbuckle with a shoulderblock. Jericho suplexes him down and covers for two. Jericho uses a chinlock and tags in Lance. They do a double leapfrog leading to a double clothesline for two. The other tag team are the Inferno’s? Lance snap suplexes Red Two for two. The Inferno’s they are and their names are Fire and Brimstone. That’s good to know but who is who? Jericho hits a flying clothesline and tags in Lance. Both head up to the same corner and connect with a double dropkick and that’s enough for the pinfall at 3:00. The announcer gives the team a 9.95 rating. It was good and exciting but it was a squash match to showcase the high-flying skills of the Thrillseekers. *. We get an interview with the Thrillseekers, too.
-Introducing Chris Jericho – Part 2-
After SMW Chris moved on to the ECW (after working in Japan and Mexico). Chris felt that ECW had a good hybrid that fit his style that WWE and WCW weren’t having. Chris’ first match was against RVD on 2/3/96 but it never aired because it wasn’t that good. Chris only worked 23 matches for ECW because Japan was still his number one source of income. He met Bischoff in Japan and started working for WCW because the WWE weren’t calling (yet).
-Alex Wright(c) vs. Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Title-
This was probably the main event of the August 16th, 1997 episode of Saturday Night that it aired on. Jericho attacks the dancing Wright from behind. Wright still has his jacket on as Jericho boots at Wright. He charges but runs into a boot of Wright. Wright connects with a spin kick and he can finally take his jacket off. Wright hits a snap suplex as the fans chant a USA chant. Obviously, they aren’t cheering for the Canadian Jericho. Maybe Dusty thinks they are against the English Wright, before Schiavone points out that he’s German. Jericho bodyslams Wright and hits a spinning heel kick. Wright comes back with a back suplex. Wright clotheslines Jericho over the top rope and drops elbows to Jericho’s back. Wright doesn’t know what to work on as he goes to a chinlock now. Just pick a bodypart man. Jericho ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody for two. Wright comes back with a vicious lariat for two. Wright seats Jericho on the top rope but Jericho is able to push him off. He tries for a missile dropkick but Wright dropkicks Jericho right in the gut on the way down. Wright is up from the double KO first and he softens the back of Jericho. Jericho returns with some chops but misses a dropkick. Jericho is tossed to the outside. Wright celebrates but that allows Jericho to get back in and hit a missile dropkick from the second turnbuckle. Jericho charges but is backdropped to the apron. Jericho landed on his feet and hits a reverse elbow on Wright for two. Wright fingers Jericho in the eye and gut-wrench suplexes Jericho down for two. Wright follows with a double underhook for two. Wright tries a German suplex but Jericho rolls through it and puts Wright in the Walls of Jericho. Wright taps out and Jericho is your new Cruiserweight Champ at 8:33. Jericho celebrates but Guerrero comes in and shoves Jericho. I was really impressed with this match and the intensity of it. It was confusing to have Wright work a couple of different body parts and while I thought of that little fact I don’t think it hurt my enjoyment of this match. It was paced well and it worked. ***1/4.
-Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero-
This is from the second ever episode of Thunder, airing on January 15th, 1998. Of course it showed why Thunder sucked: the match is only about 7 minutes long. Chris gets on the microphone before the match starts and he gets some decent heel heat. I guess he had attacked Rey Misterio (for making fun of his family under his breath) previously. Chris tries for a sneak-attack clothesline but Eddie ducks underneath and clotheslines Jericho down. Eddie hits a flying elbow to the gut of Jericho that sets up a seated dropkick. Eddie tries a suplex but Jericho blocks and tries to reverse. Eddie rolls out of it but charges and gets clotheslined over the top rope. Jericho gorilla press slams Eddie over the top rope and covers for two. Eddie rolls out of an atomic drop and dropkicks the knee of Jericho. Eddie fires some chops Jericho’s way as well as some forearm uppercuts. Eddie puts Jericho in an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes for leverage. Guerrero whips Jericho to the ropes but Jericho lifts up Guerrero and drops him down face first. Eddie gets a roll-up for two and clotheslines Jericho down. Eddie uses a chinlock with his knees in Jericho’s back. Eddie tries a Gory special but it looked like Jericho landed on his freakin’ neck. Eddie seats Jericho on the rope but Jericho blocks and pushes Eddie off. There’s a sequence of moves that leads to Guerrero flipping out of the corner and trying a hurricanrana and Jericho reversing that into the Walls of Jericho for the submission at 4:28. If you want an example of a match with no flow and pacing, this is it. It was just a bunch of moves strung together with no real story being told. This was a disappointing match whose only redemption was the strong finish. *.
-Chris Jericho(c) vs. Dean Malenko for the Cruiserweight Title-
This is from WCW UnCensored airing on May 14th, 1998. Malenko quickly trips up Jericho and applies a front face-lock. Jericho breaks and charges but gets caught in a drop toe hold. Jericho is wearing 1004 tights which is funny. He takes Malenko with a hammerlock and says it’s move #643. That’s good stuff. Malenko works the arm and shoulderblocks Jericho down and Jericho is getting increasingly frustrated. Jericho catches the foot of Jericho only to have Jericho hit an enzuigiri that sends Malenko to the apron. Jericho tries a springboard crossbody but Malenko ducks out of that and returns to the ring. Jericho decides he’s had enough walks to the back. Jericho does opt to come back and when he does he catches a leaping Malenko and sidewalk slams him down. Jericho does his obnoxious cover for two. Jericho suplexes Malenko and covers for two. Jericho puts his boot into Malenko’s face. Jericho snap suplexes Malenko and hits the Lionsault. He covers but Malenko’s foot makes the ropes. Jericho chokes Malenko on the ropes before issuing a backbreaker and extending Malenko over his knee. Malenko fights out of the corner and pummels Jericho. He hits a belly to back suplex for two. Malenko’s adrenaline quickly ended (which is a nice psychology spot) and Jericho’s able to hit a senton for two. Malenko is tied up in the corner and Jericho charges with a dropkick. Jericho sends Malenko to the corner and Jericho’s blind charge misses. Malenko tries a suplex but Jericho flips behind him and hits a reverse suplex. Jericho tries the Walls of Jericho but Malenko makes the ropes. Malenko sneaks in a roll-up for two. He catches Jericho with a backslide for two. Malenko is sent to the corner and ends up on the apron and Jericho wanted to do a springboard splash that would send Malenko to the outside but he couldn’t pull the trigger so he just slugs him to the outside. Malenko comes back in and tries a German suplex but Jericho blocks and seats Malenko on the top rope. Jericho tries a back suplex off the top but Malenko falls on top of him for two. Malenko misses a dropkick and this allows Jericho to try for the Walls. Malenko fights it off and gets to the ropes. Jericho puts Malenko on the top again and he tries a hurricanrana but Malenko puts Jericho on his shoulder and does a gutbuster off the top that is good for two. Malenko tries a single leg kick but Jericho catches him and puts him in the Walls. Malenko almost makes the ropes but Jericho pulls him back to the center of the ring and puts a knee down to really crank it in. Malenko has no choice but to tap at 14:43. This was a really good match. The fans didn’t get into it but that’s their bad. This was back and forth, had a great pace to it and was psychologically and technically sound. ***1/2. Jericho talks to Gene afterwards but Gene just walks away to talk to Malenko. Malenko is pissed and Gene basically tells Malenko he should’ve won but he didn’t and that’s been losing at all the big events. He asks where Malenko goes from here and Dead has one word to answer: Home.
-Chris Jericho and his 1,004 holds!-
This is from the March 29th, 1998 Nitro. This was a good angle for Jericho. Malenko always called himself the Man of 1,000 holds and Jericho, proving that he was better than Dean, showed that he was the man of 1,004 holds! Jericho had defeated Malenko (in the match we saw before) and he makes fun of Malenko for quitting and going home. This looks like an actual match and it is Marty Jannetty who will be cannon fodder tonight. Chris attacks from behind but a blind charge finds the elbow of Jannetty. Jannetty clotheslines Jericho down and connects with a powerslam for two. Jannetty keeps his momentum with a faceplant. He tries a Rocker Drop but Jericho realizes this is Marty freakin’ Jannetty and he trips up Jannetty and puts the Walls on him to end this at 1:22. Another Jericho squash! ½*. The real meat of this match is Jericho reading off his list of 1,004 holds. There are a bunch of armbar’s here, too. We go to break and return with Chris Jericho reading his list (ARM bar). Jericho is still reading his list when Prince Iaukea comes out and shoves Jericho and tells him not to dishonor his teacher, Dean Malenko.
---Week Three---
It’s more of JERICHO!
-Introducing Chris Jericho – Part 3-
This would be the debut of Chris Jericho in WCW. I just noticed, they still have Mr. Kennedy on the Introducing screen. Chris says his first match in WCW was on Nitro against Alex Wright. Jericho says he was a main eventer in Japan and Mexico and now he’s in WCW with guys like Luger, Hogan, Savage and Flair. Jericho talks about working the styles of being in the different companies and he’s interested now to see how his style has changed. They should’ve had this match with Jericho’s commentary. Jericho always dreamed of being in the WWE but he thanks Bischoff for the opportunity to get into WCW back then when the WWE wasn’t calling. We see Jericho’s Nitro debut from August 26th, 1996 against Alex Wright. The two shake hands before they lock-up and start. Jericho shoulderblocks Wright down but Wright comes back with a hurricanrana. They both try a dropkick which leads to a standoff. The fans go apathetic. Jericho takes Wright down with a hammerlock and he sends knees to Wright’s back. Jericho follows with a northern lights release suplex and wraps up Wright with an armbar. He boots Wright in the chest but Wright flips out of the armbar and hits a Northern Lights suplex of his own before grabbing his own armbar. Jericho escapes and hits a spinning heel kick (called an elbow by Bischoff) that sends Wright to the apron. Jericho connects with the springboard dropkick that sends Wright to the outside. Wright makes the apron again and Jericho suplexes Wright in and covers for two. Jericho heads upstairs and tries for an axehandle but Wright counters with a dropkick. Wright heads up and does a second-turnbuckle crossbody for two. Wright sends Jericho to the corner and charges but Jericho ducks out and chops away at Wright. Jericho splashes Wright in the corner (which Bischoff calls a Wall of Jericho, which is ironic considering that is what his move would be in the WCW). Jericho charges again but Wright ducks out and Jericho hits his head on the top ringpost. Wright tries a crossbody from the top to the outside but he misses and connects with the steel barricade. Wright is about to be counted out but Jericho doesn’t want to win like this and he tells the ref to call the match and it’s a No-Decision at 4:54. That was an odd ending for a guy’s debut. Mean Gene comes out and interviews Jericho. Jericho didn’t want to get a win like that over Wright. Jericho even calls out the New World Order. It’s a totally crazy ending but that’s WCW for you. This was a good debut but it was on the short side. **.
-Introducing Chris Jericho – Part 4-
We end with Jericho’s debut in the WWE, an event I really remember. For some reason I’ve memorized the date (8/9/99). I actually have a live feed of this show on tape somewhere in my collection. Jericho’s debut was counted down on WWE television for weeks leading up to this and when it came the crowd was pretty damn stoked. Jericho thought of the idea of coming into the WWE as a riff on the countdown to the Millennium. Chris still has people come up to him saying how great a debut it was. Chris debuted and was his asinine best. Chris compares WCW to Kansas (black and white) to WWE’s Oz. That’s a good comparison. He even calls WWE the “big leagues.” We see Jericho’s debut, as the clock counted down to his debut as the Rock was in the ring. Jericho introduces himself and he has a verbal spar with the Rock (which Jericho loses because it’s the freakin’ Rock) but Jericho was totally smarmy here as his Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah persona was in high-gear tonight. He was able to christen himself as Y2J, too. I should point out that ass and balls were bleeped out here.
-Chris Jericho(c) vs. Eddie Guerrero for the European Title-
This is from an episode of Raw taking place on April 3rd, 2000. Jericho has just won the title at Wrestlemania and so this must’ve been his first defense of that belt. Chyna’s in the ring for some reason. I guess this is when she was in Jericho’s corner. Eddie has a Radicalz shirt on and a microphone. He tells Chyna that she wants some Latino Heat. There’s a slugfest to start and Guerrero gets an early advantage pinning Jericho in the corner. Jericho is whipped to the other corner but recovers and flips a charging Guerrero into the corner. Jericho comes back with a clothesline and a back drop. He tries a piledriver but Eddie backdrops out of it and sunset flips Jericho. He doesn’t cover but instead dropkicks Jericho in the face. Eddie connects with his reverse elbow and 80 seconds into the match he grabs a sleeper. Jericho elbows out of it but runs into another sleeper. This time Jericho back suplexes out of it. Jericho is dumped to the outside and is sent to the stairs, which we miss because we go backstage to Stephanie sitting down. We come back with the two exchanging chops. Jericho gets the better of that and Eddie runs away. He stops short and thumbs Jericho in the eye. We return to the ring and Eddie hits a brainbuster suplex . He makes eyes at Chyna before heading up top. He tries for the Frog Splash but rolls through it when Jericho evades. Jericho comes back with a powerslam for two. Jericho bulldogs Guerrero for two. Eddie comes back with a boot to the gut but gets tripped into the referee by Jericho. The ref is down and he’s not able to see Jericho’s double powerbomb on Guerrero or count when Jericho hits the springboard moonsault. Chyna counts the pinfall but it’s not official. Chyna raises the hand of Jericho but turns on him and DDT’s him. She rolls Eddie on top of Jericho and revives the referee. Chyna’s DDT was so devastating that it is enough for the pinfall. Eddie is your NEW champion at 5:39 and Chyna gives Eddie the title. This was all you can hope for a sub six-minute Raw match. **.
-Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin for the Undisputed WWE Title-
This was from Vengeance 2001 held on December 9th. Jericho had just defeated the Rock in the tournament to decide the new Undisputed WWE champ (with a title that combined the WCW and WWE titles) when Austin runs down to the ring. He slugs Jericho but Angle (who lost to Austin earlier in the night) comes out with a chair shot to Austin that lays him out. To even things up, Jericho is laid out with a Rock Bottom. Rock chases Angle to the back and both men are out as the match starts. Hebner starts the count which doesn’t make sense. How can a match like this end in a draw when it is to decide a champion? Jericho is up first and he covers Austin for two. Jericho stomps away at the Rattlesnake (or the Bionic Redneck as he was known at the time) before chopping away and delivering a flying elbow. Jericho sends Austin to the corner and follows with a clothesline. He tries it again but Austin’s ready and he counters with a spear. Jericho has his face rammed into the turnbuckle about 13 times before trying for a Stunner but Jericho escapes to the apron. He’s smashed off and he lands in front of the broken table of JR’s. Austin fires away with chops and JR immediately calls this a slobberknocker. Jericho is sent into the ringpost a pair of times and then goes old school and rips up the pad over the concrete. Jericho counters and clotheslines Austin and Austin’s head hits the concrete pretty hard. Jericho preps the Spanish Announce Table and he tries a suplex. Austin counters and tries a Stunner but Jericho trips up Austin and he tries the Walls of Jericho. Austin flips Jericho off the top of the table to the floor and he quickly follows with a suplex to the concrete. Austin brings Jericho in and sends him to the corner. He charges but misses Jericho and posts his shoulder. Jericho chops at Austin but misses a dropkick. Austin catapults Jericho into the corner and clotheslines him down for two. Jericho goes right back with an arm-bar that looks like a crossface just without crossing the face. Jericho uses the ropes for leverage but he has to break the hold when the referee finally sees Jericho has been cheating. Jericho suplexes Austin and heads upstairs. Jericho’s axehandle is met by an Austin shot to the breadbasket and now it is Austin firing away with chops. Austin tries a backdrop but Jericho rolls through and locks on the Walls of Jericho. This was the watered down WWE version which looked more like a Boston Crab than the one that really wrenched the back of his opponents. Austin makes the ropes to put an end to that. The ref gets in position to get bumped and sure enough Austin ducks a flying forearm and the ref takes it full on, sending him to the outside. Jericho lowblows Austin and hits a Stunner. Vince McMahon brings out a new referee and the ref tells Jericho to cover Austin. Ric Flair runs out the crooked Nick Patrick and knocks him out only to get laid out by Vince McMahon. Flair is sent into the ringpost. Meanwhile, back in the ring, Austin lowblows Jericho. He sees McMahon and charges after him, stomping a mudhole in him. Austin comes back into the ring with a Thesz Press and the FU elbow. Austin misses a blind charge but catches Jericho as he tries a dropkick off the second rope. Austin gets to do the cooler version of the move for some reason. Jericho immediately taps but there is no ref! Booker T runs in and lays out Austin with the WCW title and quickly runs back into the crowd. Jericho covers as Hebner revives and that’s all she wrote at 12:35. Jericho is your NEW Undisputed Champion. Everyone thought that the glass ceiling was broken at this point but we were just kidding ourselves. This was a whacky match. Austin was almost crippled and Jericho just finished wrestling a match so neither man was considered fresh going into the ring. There was a lot of “WWE Main Event” style wrestling here with all the brawling. It was overbooked as hell once the ref bump happened, too. Still, I thought it was enjoyable and even after 8+ years I could sit through it. ***1/4.
-Chris Jericho vs. Edge in a Steel Cage Match-
This came from the July 23rd, 2002 episode of SmackDown! This has a viewer warning before the match so I guess there will be blood. This was SmackDown’s first ever Steel Cage match according to the announcers. We start after coming back from a commercial break, a start which saw Edge dropkick the door into Jericho’s face. Edge pummels Jericho and Jericho tries to make a quick escape through the door. Jericho fires back with rights and stomps Edge in the corner. Edge is sent to the corner but bounces out with a clothesline. Edge looks a lot smaller than he does now and Jericho looks bigger than he does now. Jericho is sent to the corner but he wisely climbs up the corner and tries to get out of the cage. Edge literally pulls Jericho back into the ring. Edge fires away with chops and Jericho is booted into the corner. He gets wrapped up in the ropes but instead of leaving he spears Jericho. Jericho is untangled and Edge charges again but this time Jericho sidesteps and Edge eats the fence of the cage. Edge is cut open and Jericho starts rubbing Edge’s head into the cage to open him up even more. Jericho butt splashes Edge on the second rope and does the arrogant cover for two. Jericho chops Edge in the corner again but Edge reverses that and fires his own chops. Edge escapes but falls into an inverted DDT for two. Jericho ties up Edge in the ropes and fires away with rights. Jericho charges but Edge frees himself and ducks out of the way, sending Jericho backfirst into the cage. Edge comes back with a faceplant for two. Edge misses a follow-up dropkick and Jericho tries for the Lionsault, only to find the knees of Edge. Edge does his reverse X-Factor move to get a two. Edge tries climbing over the top but Jericho catches him and seats him on the top rope. Edge counters with a top-rope Edge-O-Cution for two. Edge walks into a Walls attempt but Jericho can’t get it. So he slingshots Edge into the steel cage. Jericho crawls towards the door but Edge grabs onto his feet to stop him. Jerich was able to grab a chair and he whams it into Edge’s face. He covers for a two. Jericho can’t believe it so he covers again for two. Jericho gets the chair again and preps for another attempt but it’s a swing and a miss and Edge spears Jericho for a very long two-count. Edge climbs up to the top rope and he’s low-blowed by Jericho. Jericho follows with a top-rope bulldog that hurt Jericho as much as it did to Edge. Jericho tries to escape over the top and he makes it to the top. Edge catches him and it’s an electric chair off the top rope. Edge is nursing his leg which may have been hurt legit. Jericho crawls to the door but Edge is up first and climbs over the top and to the outside to get the victory at 13:11. Edge is attacked by Test, Christian and Lance Storm – the UnAmericans. They each get their shots in leading to John Cena run in and try to make the save. Rey Misterio runs out to try and even the odds and hits a crossbody from the TOP of the cage. That was a really good match that worked as spotfest more than anything else. ***3/4.
-Booker T & Goldust(c) vs. Chris Jericho & Christian for the WWE Tag Team Titles-
This comes to us from the December 23rd, 2002 Raw. We see a clip of Jericho calling Shawn Michaels the Has-Been Kid and he gets superkicked as a result. Goldust and Christian start this off. It’s funny that in the time that this match aired both Christian and Jericho cut their hair and improved their status in the WWE as a result. Goldust gets a quick atomic drop and a clothesline on Christian. Booker T is tagged in and he kicks Christian down for two. Jericho is tagged in but he runs into a running forearm by Booker. Booker suplexes Jericho and tags in Goldy. Goldy gets a fist from the second rope. Christian interferes from the apron so Goldust slugs him to the outside and slingshots Jericho over the top rope onto Christian on the outside. Goldust slugs at Jericho in the corner only to have Christian run over and interfere. Jericho dropkicks Goldust in the lower back and Jericho drives elbowdrops into the back. That is smart thinking considering that Jericho’s final submission move wrenches the back. Christian is tagged in and he works the gameplan, too, hitting a backbreaker for two. Since this is Raw, Goldust is only the face in peril for about 45 seconds before he makes his comeback and tags in Booker. Booker backdrops Christian, he hits a side suplex on a charging Jericho and he gets a spinebuster on Christian for two. Jericho attacks Booker from behind but Booker fights back and it’s a double noggin knocker for the Canadians. Booker kicks the two down and Goldust takes care of Jericho on the outside. Booker does the spinarooni and hits the axe-kick. He covers and the ref counts three but he sees Christian’s foot on the bottom rope and says the match is continuing…after the break. We return with Jericho hitting a side slam on Booker. Jericho runs into a spinning heel kick and Booker tags in Goldust – but the referee doesn’t see it. Christian runs in for a double-team and Jericho does the ultra-heelish clapping of his hands to indicate a tag. Booker fights back and rolls up Jericho for two. Christian is tagged in and he slows things down with a side headlock. Booker makes a comeback by slamming Christian down after catching him coming off the top rope. Booker makes the hot tag to Goldust who fires away at Jericho. He connects with a flying clothesline and the butt-butt that sends Jericho to the corner. Goldust is distracted by Christian and Jericho tries for the Walls only to get rolled up for two. Jericho and Christian try a double back drop but Goldy counters with a double DDT. Goldust fires up a big ball shot to Christian and then sends Jericho hurtling into the same region. Goldust powerslams Jericho for a 2 and three-quarters. Goldust tries a Curtain Call but Jericho flips out of it and puts Goldust in the Walls of Jericho. Goldust tries making the ropes but Jericho pulls him into the center of the ring. Booker makes it back to his feet and he superkicks Jericho.Booker misses the axe-kick but he does kick him down anyway with a spinning heel kick. Christian returns and the two tumble to the outside together. Jericho rolls up Goldust and covers (using the ropes) but Goldust kicks out at two. Jericho tries the Lionsault but finds the knees of Goldust. Goldust schoolboys Jericho and grabs a hold of the tights and that’s enough to finish this at 14:41. Jericho was killing in this match and he single-handedly made it a blast to watch. ***1/2.
---Week Four---
-The Bottom Line-
I’ve always liked Chris Jericho because I felt he was the last guy of my generation that I could enjoy. He started coming up as I was getting into wrestling again (in 1996) and was on the verge of stardom a few years later when he got to the WWE. He never really could break through until 2001 but was still behind guys (egomaniacs?) like HHH. He was always a cool guy to me and even when I stopped watching wrestling altogether I still followed Jericho. As other wrestling favorites of his generation fell (Guerrero and Benoit most notably) he was still around. He took a breather from wrestling and came back even better than ever and when he cut his hair and feuded with Michaels it was some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen. Even when I watch wrestling no I feel that Jericho is the only link I have to my memories watching as a teenager. So I’ve always like Jericho and I’ve wondered why the WWE never put out a DVD of his. This just scratches the surface of Jericho’s matches. Besides the No Mercy and Vengeance matches it doesn’t really cover his big PPV career. Obviously his big matches with Benoit were left off of here and that is a big part of Jericho’s early days in the WWE.
Here’s a rundown of matches I didn’t watch this month.
--Week 1 & 2--
These weeks were 100% complete as one would expect from a true Jericho-holic!
--Week 3—
--Chris Jericho vs. William Regal (Wrestlemania X-7)
--Chris Jericho vs. The Rock (No Mercy 2001)
Both of these fall under the category of: I have them on DVD and will be reviewing them eventually.
--Week 4—
Unfortunately the videos were taken down prior to my viewing them. I had intended to watch them and I got home from vacation on May 31st to check them out and lo and behold, they were gone. I had read that the next update would’ve been June 1st (because May 31st was a holiday) but it looks like that was some misinformation. I’m not too broken up about it, though since I tuned out for all of this stuff and haven’t missed it at all. Here’s what would’ve been on here. Maybe when this stuff is archived I’ll come back and do a retro repost.
-Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels-
This would be their Wrestlemania XIX rematch and it took place on Raw from July 21st, 2003.
-Christian(c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam for the Intercontinental Title-
After Jericho won the WWE Title he was deemed too small or something and he went right back into the Intercontinental Title level. Here he tries for the title at the 2003 Unforgiven event that took place on September 21st.
-John Cena(c) vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Title-
This is from the August 22nd, 2005 Raw. This was Jericho’s rematch from Summerslam 2005 and the stipulation was added that if Jericho lost, he was gone from the WWE.
-Chris Jericho Returns-
Chris returned on the November 19th, 2007 Raw.
-Batista(c) vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Title in a Steel Cage Match-
This was from the 800th episode of Raw, taking place on November 3rd, 2008.
-Chris Jericho(c) vs. Rey Misterio for the Intercontinental Title-
Back to the IC ranks again. Chris battled Rey for the title at The Bash PPV held on June 28th, 2009. Rey’s mask was also on the line. Just knowing what’s going on now, I think I know who won this match.
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