SUP ladies & germs! This week I wanted to focus on the man on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Yes, that’s right, one of my favourites, who I am deeply glad to see back! Step over The Rock/John Cena THE AYATOLLAH OF ROCK N’ ROLLA IS BACK! I haven’t watched RAW but I’ve seen enough photos, and heard enough on Twitter about it to guess that it may not have been what you all wanted or expected. However, my personal opinion on it is that it was complete and utter GENIUS. Coming out as a face? Leaving a heel? ALL that without saying anything? Who else could do it? Glad to see him back and I pray and hope that WWE doesn’t screw this up. I’ve waited too long to see him back. But RAW aside, let’s look at the Best of Jericho! aka my favouirte Jericho bits.

JERICHO TURNS HEEL –
In 1998, Chris Jericho found himself in WCW with a gimmick that didn’t suit who he wanted to be in the wrestling business. At the 1998 Souled Out he went up against Rey Mysterio (yes, the one we all love!) for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. The match was quite short lasting 8 minutes and came to an end when Jericho forced Mysterio to tap out to the Liontamer. But not content with making the Master of 619 submit Jericho soon took a toolbox and brutalized the knee of Mysterio. This was the moment that Jericho first turned heel and by doing so dumped the Lionheart gimmick behind. I believe this was one of the stand out moments in Y2J’s career, because we all know and love Jericho when he’s a heel or bad guy if you prefer that terminology and we also know that being a bad guy played a big role in the success of his career.

MAN OF 1004 HOLDS –
Jericho’s time in WCW wasn’t at all bad, he didn’t exactly set the world alight but at the same time there were some classic moments that we can all remember years to come. One of his more memorable feuds was with Dean Malenko, who had zero charisma but was an extremely good wrestler. One of Malenko’s titles was the “The Man of 1000 Holds”, Jericho in his good fashion smart ass style cut a promo on how he, himself was the “Man of 1000 and 4 Holds” and continued the promo by reading off a list of 1004 holds and if I can remember correctly Jericho ended up repeating “Arm Bar” a few times. I tried my hardest to find y’all a picture but couldn’t get one of a good size or quality, so enjoy the video instead 🙂

WWE DEBUT –
Since his departure from WCW many Jericholoics didn’t know whether they would see the Ayatollah of Rock N’ Rolla again. But when mystery countdown timers started appearing on the tron signalling a debut or return of a wrestler many started to speculate whether or not it was Jericho who would be returning. Fortunately for them, he was behind the mystery timers. Jericho’s debut came on August 9th in 1999 in the middle of a Rock in-ring promo. The Rock was talking about Big Show but soon shut up when the “Millennium Countdown” started at 15 and ended with a variety of coloured lights… Somewhat resembling a kids disco. The lights soon went out, followed with a pyro bang which was then followed up with Jericho’s music. What was great about his debut was the crowd; they were brilliant for the whole debut. They shouted Jericho, and when Jericho emerged standing in the centre of the stage the crowd went nuts. Jericho went on a rant about he was the one to save WWE (then WWF). However The Rock would only take so much before he retaliated with some words, and again, the crowd went nuts for The Rock and his famous catchphrases. The one thing that was a let down about Jericho’s debut in WWE was that even though he interrupted The Rock, Jericho would have nothing to do with The Rock for a while as he (Jericho) was placed in a mid-card feud with Road Dogg.

FIRST EVER UNDISPUTED CHAMPION –
This is probably the biggest moment in Jericho’s career because there is not one person in the world who can claim to be the first ever Undisputed champion. The Undisputed title was made up of the WWF title and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship made into one belt. The title was shared across SmackDown and RAW with only 6 people ever holding it: Jericho, HHH, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan and The Rock. Vengeance 2001 was the event that created the biggest moment in Jericho’s career. Stone Cold went one on one against Kurt Angle for the WWF title, a match that Austin would win. Jericho then beat The Rock for the World Heavyweight title. It was after that match that Jericho would then face Austin in the final of the tournament. The match with Austin came to an end when Booker T hit Austin with the WWF title whilst the ref was knocked out. Jericho would go on to get the three count after covering Austin and believe it or not but the referee actually wasn’t knocked out but he was just dazed!

WRESTLEMANIA 19 VS SHAWN MICHAELS –
Jericho has always told us his inspiration and idol in wrestling was Shawn Michaels and who can really argue with how good of a wrestler Shawn was so it comes as no surprise that to Jericho his biggest idol was HBK. People today who want to become wrestlers look up to people like Shawn Michaels, but a name that is becoming increasingly popular is Chris Jericho himself. To face your idol would be the stuff that dreams are made off, who would say no to a match with their idol on the grandest stage of them all? It was back in January of 2003 when Jericho claimed that he would be the next Shawn Michaels and that he would one day be better than Michaels. However Michaels was fixated on winning the Royal Rumble from the number 1 entry. On RAW, Jericho won an over-the-top battle royal and as a result was allowed to pick his Rumble number. Many would agree with me when they say that they would choose number 30 if given the chance (or number 40 if you’re stuck in 2011) as it would be a good number to start from given that it would be the last number left. It isn’t rocket science to work out that if you come in last you have a very good  – if not the best – chance of winning the Rumble and going on to headline WrestleMania. However, in a bid to prove he was just as good as Michaels, or even better than Michaels, Jericho picked number 2. Neither Shawn or Chris would win the Rumble however they would soon go on to create magic at Seattle, Washington at WrestleMania 19. In a 22 minute bout that can only be described as exceptional (that was actually the longest match that night) Michaels beat Jericho with a roll up pin, and when Michaels hand was raised in victory the crowd were bringing the electricity to the building! Jericho and Michaels stole the show that was meant to be Mr McMahon vs Hulk Hogan in a “20 years in the making Street Fight” and they stole it in style. After the match Shawn offered his hand as a sign of respect to Jericho, to which Jericho declined in favour of an embrace. It truly was a WrestleMania moment. But seconds after Jericho showed the world his true colours when he kneed Michaels in the groin leaving him lying in the ring. It was after WrestleMania that one of the greatest feuds ever was created. I won’t go too much into detail about the feud, but I’ll sum it up in points: Jericho would confront Michaels on the Highlight Reel about Michaels lying about a knee injury, Jericho would then slam Michaels face first into the Jeritron6000. The two then had a match at The Great American Bash in which Jericho would beat Michaels so badly that the referee had no other choice but to end the match. On an episode of RAW Michaels along with his wife would announcing his retirement from wrestling, Jericho came out and tried to force Michaels into admitting that it was Y2J that had ended the Heartbreak Kids career. Michaels was too proud to say this so a fight started, in which Jericho ended up mistakenly hitting Michaels wife square in the face. Shock came over Jericho but when he saw how badly this hurt Michaels the Jericho smirk showed on his face and left the ring so the medics could see to Michael’s wife. The next event was Unforgiven were it would be Michaels to beat Jericho so badly in an unsanctioned no holds barred fight. After Unforgiven both Michaels and Jericho went one on one in HBK’s playground the ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. This was when the great, great… Did I mention GREAT feud came to an end. Jericho retained his championship belt after a great (there’s that word again.) ladder match.

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I hope you guys enjoyed my article this week. I loved doing it simply because it’s Y2J and if you don’t love him I’d recommend you going to the doctor! Thank god Jericho is back! Until next week friends! Laters!

-Ryan.