#4 Chris Jericho
15 Votes-509 Points
Two #1 Votes
Last Time: #8

He beat Austin and Rock in the same night.

BREAKING NEWS

I was updating the big list on the front page when I realized Flair actually finished 20 points above Michaels. It was right there written out for the world to see this entire time. So for those of you scoring at home, Flair and Michaels flip flop. Ric is now #9 while HBK drops to #10. 

Jun 30, 2020 2:01:25 GMT Baker said:

BREAKING NEWS

I was updating the big list on the front page when I realized Flair actually finished 20 points above Michaels. It was right there written out for the world to see this entire time. So for those of you scoring at home, Flair and Michaels flip flop. Ric is now #9 while HBK drops to #10. 

This is only a slightly lesser whew to my whew of Y2J not finishing any higher. Dude has always been and will always be a clunky plodfoot.

I really loved Jericho when I first started watching wrestling. I remember making my own wallpaper from the banners they had on WWF.com at the time and it was him, Benoit, Rock and Rikishi. This was when he and Benoit formed their tag team after their feud over the IC title and had that classic Raw main event with Triple H & Stone Cold, and then defended them in TLC3 (which for me is better than the Wrestlemania match that gets mentioned more often).

After that I sort of fade in and out remembering the stuff he did. I liked his first feud with HBK but don't remember not the second, I remember the tag team with Christian but that was largely because of Trish's involvement, I remember SRS suit wearing Jericho becoming a blueprint for what WWE tried to make every heel do for the next couple of years but not really anything he did during that run, or the next one with the light up jacket.

Don't think I watched a single match of his between Wrestlemania 29 when he pretty stupidly put over Fandango when everyone was obsessed with that dance, until the No DQ match with Kenny Omega in Japan because of Meltzer's five star rating. It was good but not that good, and then the one they had at Double or Nothing was pretty dull and I dipped out again. Definitely respect the amount of times he's managed to recreate and reinvent himself and the fact that he's still performing at a really high level way beyond the time most guys have either retired or are complete shells of themselves.

Emperor (and others): I'm in the process of updating the big list on Page 1 of this thread. You're welcome. Added # of votes and point totals to the Top 100. Then kept going until distraction caused me to stop at #200. Will have the complete list posted within the next few days.

I had Jericho at #35. Surely too low for RT but much too high for 🤯.

Unfortunately, I'm likely to be busy all day tomorrow. Meaning no update. I hope to have my Jericho write up complete on Tuesday so I can drop #3 that night.

Who was the other #1 vote for Jericho? Who must I profess my love to?

Ohhh, iron maiden and RT are never going to forgive me. 


I was even more torn on Jericho than I was on Punk.  If you’d asked me maybe 5 years ago he’d have been a lock for my list, definitely top 20, possibly even top 10 but I debated so hard about even leaving him off my list this time. He used to be a real favourite, I would really look forward to watching him as he was really entertaining.  In recent times I feel he’s bought into his own hype and has disappeared up his own butt.  I know you’ll all tell me this is part of his persona now and that I just don’t ‘get it’, and you’re right, I probably don’t. I will say that he more than anyone has this fantastic talent for reinventing himself and to still be at the top of his game at an age when most either can’t, or are a parody of themselves is amazing. 

However in making this list I realised that I find him more annoying than endearing hence the low position on my list. 

Will likely have a big post later and certainly on PW News but rest assured Jericho was one of my faves.

Jun 30, 2020 5:19:06 GMT RT said:

Who was the other #1 vote for Jericho? Who must I profess my love to?

I had him at #4. The plot thickens.

Eddie.

I thought Eddie was awesome but top 5? Nah.

I’m surprised Jericho didn’t win the list since he’s remade his career over and over again.

Dudes a legend and I have underrated him his whole career.

Jun 30, 2020 19:45:24 GMT KING KID said:

I’m surprised Jericho didn’t win the list since he’s remade his career over and over again.

Hey, it's that 7/10 guy again but now his jacket has LIGHTS!

Although I absolutely see your point, that his longevity as a prominent wrestler gives him a great chance to have been a favourite for people who were big fans at almost any point in the last 25 years.

It is interesting how the narrative around Jericho has changed. Remember when he'd keep coming back and people wouldn't really care and then he'd put someone over, but beating Jericho meant nothing, so it all didn't matter.

Is modern wrestling so bad that Jericho wearing a scarf and having a list followed by some NJPW/AEW stuff has got people talking about him as a Greatest Ever contender? Not a personal favourite, which I know this list is, but a legit elite of the elite contender.

Jericho was an early favorite of mine. Had no idea who he was because I didn't follow WCW and wasn't really into the IWC until a year or two later. Nothing connected with me in his debut, although looking back it makes far more sense for the product since the reality era on. But it didn't take long for me to inject Jerichol into my veins.

All the little things I loved. The promos, matches, MOVEZ and everything in between. Everyone cites HBK as an influence for Adam Cole, but you can't have BAYBAY without his foot taunt: c'mon BAYBAY. That 2000 flash title win... ugh. And let's not forget have one of the greatest entrance songs of all time. I remember even buying his PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP shirt and wearing it to school. I didn't get in trouble for it, but they did get mad when I wore a certain Austin one. After that I stopped wearing wrestling shirts in public. Plus wrestling was becoming way less cool anyway. He was absolutely the LAST person I picked for the Undisputed title. Even the Raw or SD! before the PPV I remember him getting laid out. Honestly if his tombstone/WWE "in memory" image doesn't include a reference to Rock and Austin I'm gonna be so pissed.

He's had some cringe stuff too. Like when he returned to feud with Randy after being "fired" and his Me Want Title Match Powerpoint, but dude found a way. The List! Do you have any idea how badly I want to make a music video paying tribute to WWE over the years to Taylor Swift's Blank Space with the final scene being about the list? Why is my name on here? Awesome stuff as AEW Champion... I could go on.

Yes he's a slight step behind the younger guys even during his last run in the WWE, but he brings so much more than workrate. Honestly I'd take him over Austin and Bret in terms of longevity. Sure they had more classics, but they've been outta the game for so long that Jericho simply has more moments so it's a quantity over quality issue for me. Austin/Bret may have a handful of 5s, but Jericho has a whole catalog of high 3s low 4s that there's just more variety that he wins on averages. Yeah some math!

Don't get me started on Undertaker being AFRAID to face him.

Really wish they had taken us to a rewind of their 2000 feud in 2004 when Benoit was champ. Gimme that instead of the Kane shit. Shoulda been our Summerslam main event. It was already in Canada ya fucks!

Jericho should be higher.

Jun 30, 2020 20:22:03 GMT Strobe said:

Jun 30, 2020 19:45:24 GMT KING KID said:

I’m surprised Jericho didn’t win the list since he’s remade his career over and over again.

Hey, it's that 7/10 guy again but now his jacket has LIGHTS!

Although I absolutely see your point, that his longevity as a prominent wrestler gives him a great chance to have been a favourite for people who were big fans at almost any point in the last 25 years.

It is interesting how the narrative around Jericho has changed. Remember when he'd keep coming back and people wouldn't really care and then he'd put someone over, but beating Jericho meant nothing, so it all didn't matter.

Is modern wrestling so bad that Jericho wearing a scarf and having a list followed by some NJPW/AEW stuff has got people talking about him as a Greatest Ever contender? Not a personal favourite, which I know this list is, but a legit elite of the elite contender.

Beating Jericho in his late WWE run was a meme, yeah, but it was a blip in an otherwise amazing career.

Instead of rolling over and collecting his WWE paycheck to job to rising stars for the rest of his career, Jericho bet on himself and went to NJPW, killed it, then became the face of a new company. And he did all that in his twilight years in front of smarky crowds that generally shit all over old stars putting themselves over.

Jericho did bring something to the table in NJPW. A fresh face for the top guys to do battle with, the introduction of a new style to the company, and he genuinely did draw a lot of Western eyes to the product for his first match against Kenny Omega.

He also contributed immensely in the first few months of AEW. The star power Jericho brings was a huge boost. Although his matches sucked, he was booked super strong, so when Moxley finally overcame him for the belt, you have a strong champion holding a title with a lot of credibility.

Regrettably, Jericho has become a parody of himself since then. Either he stopped caring since dropping the belt and coronachan happened, or he genuinely think he's being clever/funny. Not sure which.

In general, I feel Jericho was one of those perpetually good wrestlers but rarely great. Same way I feel about Eddie really, although as a kid I was attracted to long-haired "cool" rocker Jericho in the early 2000s.

Saw it best in a Youtube comment.

Only Chris Jericho can interrupt his own theme song with his own theme song.

And still have the people singing along.

Judas IN MY MIND~

@ness raises a great point. If I'm forced to get the reality that I got at WMXX, I do like the idea of revisiting Benoit vs. Jericho a million times more than Benoit vs. Kane... Just, what do you do about Christian's heel turn against Y2J? Resolve that by June, then turn Y2J heel too?

Chris Jericho

I don't think anyone else has managed their career as well as Jericho. His Canadian background exposed him to all these different styles which put him way above the curve in 1996 and got a lot of fans attention. He was a top prospect in WCW, but they booked him in some horrible matches. It seemed like Jericho could have worked with Eddie Guerrero, Syxx, Ultimo Dragon and really made a splash in 1997 but top brass just took advantage of Jericho's naivety.

It wasn't until Jericho started venting his frustrations, that he really started gaining some traction in WCW. He was arguably the greatest WCW Cruiserweight Champion of all-time and his feud with Dean Malenko is one for the ages. The great thing about Jericho at that time, is that he had three feuds going on at once with Dean, Rey and Juvi which all culminated at Road Wild '98 where Juvi avenged his earlier demoralising mask vs. title match by beating Jericho for the title.

Jericho rebounded OK, but it was obvious his decision to reject the nWo hurt his booking and by November he was already making tracks to the WWF. It was a shame in some ways to see Jericho dip on WCW around that time but ultimately with Nash as head-booker it was the right call. There was no way in hell Nash back then was going to try and position Jericho for a PPV main event, no way.

Jericho joining the WWF was such a smart move. The WWF had some holes on their roster, they needed to push some talent and quick and Jericho's move had global attention. I actually thought they screwed up massively when they dipped on Rock-Jericho and went Rock-Bulldog instead. Rock-Jericho had some great bouts and they would have been money together in '99. Instead they put him in one of those freakshow matches with Chyna. I will say, despite the issues, Jericho brought out the best in Chyna and had some legitimately good matches with her, possibly the best WWF Intercontinental Championship matches of that year. I'm trying to think of other contenders maybe D'Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett at SummerSlam and Edge vs. Jeff Jarrett at Fully Loaded '99, but I'd have Jericho vs. Chyna on par if not higher.

By that point, Jericho had solidified himself as a genuine attraction which was important because the WWF were going through a massive upheavel in talent. It put him in prime position to have that memorable WWF Championship match with HHH at State College, Pennsylvania. That match crystalised Jericho as a WWF guy and made his eventual WWF Main Event run an inevitability. With even more injuries and the uncertainty of the Invasion Era, Jericho once again found himself in the right place at the right time and with the WWF running out of fresh talent, they finally gave him the ball and he made the most of it. I'm not sure if you're guys are aware of this, but he beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night to become the first ever WWF Undisupted Champion.

The problem was, perception became reality with Jericho. The WWF didn't know how to promote Jericho, they obviously wanted Rock, Austin, Angle somebody else to be champion so they stacked the odds against him at Toronto by having HHH's wife 'manage' Jericho to a title loss and screw up any potential rematch opportunities. It was one of the most disgusting pieces of business I've seen since Montreal, but that's the World Wrestling Federation for you.

Jericho really struggled for opportunities after that. He got a Wrestlemania match out of Shawn Michaels which for mine was more important than the SummerSlam and Survivor Series matches for Shawn. SummerSlam and Survivor Series were what those matches needed to be, but the Wrestlemania XIX showed that Shawn could still perform at his peak and Jericho brought that out of him. The rivalry with Christian was incredibly smart from Jericho. You could make the argument that there was no bigger babyface in the WWE than Trish Stratus in 2003 and Jericho helped bring out a new side to her that we hadn't seen before, which helped elevate Christian. Then before he rode off into the sunset, he had one last memorable bout with Cena before bouncing.

It was a smart decision from Jericho. The WWE clearly didn't know how to put together any money making matches with him so he started popping up on television and doing gigs with Fozzy. His initial return was smart and it was really wise of him to go back to that Shawn Michaels well and really milk it for what it was worth. He finally got his main event run around this time, did a great job of elevating his opponents and walked away when he was in career best form.

I think his returns suffered partially due to the match-making by the WWE and Jericho just struggling to adapt to the modern style. Jericho was ahead of the curve for so many years that eventually the next generation was going to come along and just diminish Jericho's appeal. I think that list gimmick was cute and he was the most over wrestler in the company, but ultimately the WWE didn't see much in him and his matches with Owens were just sort of tacked onto the undercard. Supposedly even that Festival of Friendship was never meant to happen, which goes to show how important Jericho/Owens were.

In 2015, Jericho celebrated his 25 years in Pro Wrestling and caught up with Don Callus, Luther and Lance Storm for a fantastic podcast. I feel podcast set the wheels in motion for Don and Lance's podcast, which helped get the wheels spinning for a NJPW commentary gig for Don. That would open the door for Jericho to leave the WWE and go join NJPW and give Jericho the freedom to grow as a performer. That Alpha/Omega match was a huge piece of business for the industry and I think it's that match that really saw things like AEW become a reality. I think Jericho has been smart saddling himself up with these guys and while he's clearly lost a step or two, he knows when to reign these guys in and his commentary has been excellent. I couldn't have imagined the Inner Circle getting over as well as it has, and it all comes down to Jericho working with these young up and coming talents.

He should be my #1, but there's just so many talented wrestlers and the WWE put him in so many nothing matches there's a long stretch where I just don't find him that interesting to watch.

He'll always be a first page WWF No Mercy roster guy to me though. (suck it 🤯)

Jul 1, 2020 15:32:10 GMT Big Pete said:

I don't think anyone else has managed their career as well as Jericho.

See I would have thought Hunter as well, but his plans to take over from Vince seem to have fallen through in recent times and nobody respects him as much as Jericho. That's despite being able to call his own shots in the WWF/E for over 20+ years.

Jul 1, 2020 15:49:02 GMT Big Pete said:

See I would have thought Hunter as well, but his plans to take over from Vince seem to have fallen through in recent times and nobody respects him as much as Jericho. That's despite being able to call his own shots in the WWF/E for over 20+ years.

I guess this depends on what we mean by well managing someone's career. I don't think Triple H's bank account cares about more smarks respecting Jericho than him and his legacy will always be greater than Jericho's.

The Rock is the real answer. Even as one of the all-time stars and draws, he chose to take time off at his peak to do The Mummy Returns. He didn't have the wrestling addiction that others do. He has wrestled less matches than Flair did 1981-1983 (something like this, I worked it out recently), got out with his health in tact, became the highest-earning actor in the world and has people genuinely talking about him as a future presidential candidate.

I definitely agree with Rock being the right answer here for the exact reasons laid out by Strobe.

Then in some order but for sure on the same tier IMO: Brock, HHH, Taker, and Cena.

Then in some order but on the next tier after that: Batista, Orton, HBK... and maybe Austin, Flair, and Hogan (who I bump down to here between either their Hollywood careers being mostly straight to DVD shit, or them having troubled public relations at times due to domestic disturbances, racism, ugly divorces, issues with alcohol, etc.).

The in some order but on the next tier down: Y2J, Big Show, Kane, and Goldberg.

I look at Jericho as somebody who didn't possess the prowess of The Rock or Brock Lesnar, yet mapped out a career that's going 30 years strong and just keeps adding to his in-ring legacy.

Brock jobbed out to Cena in his first match back and lost to HHH at Wrestlemania, even with Heyman the guy is an A-grade dummy. Plus he couldn't organise Goldberg/Brock IV - failure.

A dozen people enjoyed HHH's reign, well done.

The Undertaker just released a five part documentary series about how bitter he is. Again, well done.

John Cena just released a 20 minute David Lynch inspired run-down of his career and how awful it was. Finally, well done.

Batista is more like it. Clearly over-achieved beyond his wildest imagination, but had nowhere near the in-ring career of Jericho. His last proper run was infamously poorly managed.

Orton maybe the poster child on how to go through the motions. He's wasted his entire career and should be the Lebron James of Pro Wrestling.

Strong disagree on HBK, he's just a major scumbag who constantly pulled shady shit all the time and denied fans of some awesome moments.

Austin I can accept. He tanked business when he decided to team with Vince, but otherwise he was smart to change up his style and pick fights with guys like Bret. 2001-02 was a massive misfire.

I would have said Hogan, but Bubba did a number on him. I can't prop him up during this turbulent times, maybe in 5 years time we can put his 80s and his nWo run over.

It's difficult to get a sense Flair really succeeded when he seems so unsatisfied in interviews and such.

Neither New Year's Baby Big Show, Katie Vick Kane or Starrcade 1998 Goldberg belong on this list. Bill in particular should have dominated Pro Wrestling in the 2000s and was run off by some Kliq bullshit.

What's next? Sting? Ultimate Warrior? Buddy Landel? Jake Roberts? Dynamite Kid? Scott Hall? Lex Luger? I don't knoooooooooooooooow!

Jul 1, 2020 19:37:10 GMT Big Pete said:

I look at Jericho as somebody who didn't possess the prowess of The Rock or Brock Lesnar, yet mapped out a career that's going 30 years strong and just keeps adding to his in-ring legacy.

Brock jobbed out to Cena in his first match back and lost to HHH at Wrestlemania, even with Heyman the guy is an A-grade dummy. Plus he couldn't organise Goldberg/Brock IV - failure.

A dozen people enjoyed HHH's reign, well done.

The Undertaker just released a five part documentary series about how bitter he is. Again, well done.

John Cena just released a 20 minute David Lynch inspired run-down of his career and how awful it was. Finally, well done.

Batista is more like it. Clearly over-achieved beyond his wildest imagination, but had nowhere near the in-ring career of Jericho. His last proper run was infamously poorly managed.

Orton maybe the poster child on how to go through the motions. He's wasted his entire career and should be the Lebron James of Pro Wrestling.

Strong disagree on HBK, he's just a major scumbag who constantly pulled shady shit all the time and denied fans of some awesome moments.

Austin I can accept. He tanked business when he decided to team with Vince, but otherwise he was smart to change up his style and pick fights with guys like Bret. 2001-02 was a massive misfire.

I would have said Hogan, but Bubba did a number on him. I can't prop him up during this turbulent times, maybe in 5 years time we can put his 80s and his nWo run over.

It's difficult to get a sense Flair really succeeded when he seems so unsatisfied in interviews and such.

Neither New Year's Baby Big Show, Katie Vick Kane or Starrcade 1998 Goldberg belong on this list. Bill in particular should have dominated Pro Wrestling in the 2000s and was run off by some Kliq bullshit.

What's next? Sting? Ultimate Warrior? Buddy Landel? Jake Roberts? Dynamite Kid? Scott Hall? Lex Luger? I don't knoooooooooooooooow!

Wait, what are we even talking about? I thought increasing name value/star power, payouts/cash in the bank, while also wrestling the fewest matches and/or having absurd career longevity.

To all the nay sayers claiming Jericho isn't the GOAT...

In a way, it is like you are giving Jericho a pass for not being on the top tier of success, for never quite getting there, so he can't be shat on for any falls or underwhelming runs.

He let himself be Steph's bitch in 2002. He agreed to job to Fandango in 2013. These don't seem like mastermind decisions to keep his standing high. And it isn't like he hasn't had the classic wrestling addiction issues.

Being a top guy in the #2 promotion in the least popular wrestling era ever doesn't make him some master career manager, even if I agree with a lot of your points of him making good calls (such as choosing to go the WWF, working hard rather than sulking when given the Chyna feud).

"The WWF didn't know how to promote him", "Jericho really struggled for opportunities after that". These could be blamed on WWE, but could also be at least partly on Jericho. We can say he managed his career well by leaving at specific points, but maybe he only had to leave because he had not managed his career well enough. If he had been more firm on certain things, turned down certain ideas, offered suggestions. In a world where he was one of the more over stars and Foley, Rock and Austin all disappeared pretty quickly, he was not able to take advantage. I'd say he let Trips/Steph fuck him over at a really crucial point, after Rock did a lot of work trying to get him towards the elite, and that capped him at a certain level, which has had to fight against ever since.

This is all making me look like I don't like Jericho, when I do.

EDIT: forgot to quote Big Pete

Strobe I would like to go on record by saying that I don’t make excuses. I know in my heart that Jericho is the GOAT, because he can do anything, and rose to the pinnacle of success while never becoming too selfish to not put so someone over.

He’s got the promo. He’s got the charisma. He’s got the talent in and out of the ring. He’s been consistently good at different levels of the roster in multiple companies since 1997.

And he’s from Winnipeg, you idiot.

Jun 27, 2020 13:50:54 GMT 🤯 said:

The best thing Punk ever did was let Brock carry him through a decently entertaining match at SummerSlam.

Besides X-pac, I was also there live for that match.