WWE is boring. That was the theme of Jericho’s 1999 debut. He came to save wrestling fans, but after cutting classic promo’s on The Rock and The Oldertaker the first week of his WWE career things went downhill pretty fast. Jericho of coursed rebounded and got through the WCW curse to become the first ever Undisputed champion but if anyone who’s read Jericho’s two awesome books know—Jericho has a real life obsession with being the best performer of all time.
Jericho’s last WWE run was his best, he evolved into a low talking borderline psychotic version of Nick Bockwinkel (youtube him). But despite a great feud with HBK and giving Edge arguably his last great feud, the fans didn’t appreciate what he was doing. I remember going to a match at staples center and when Jericho walked the ramp me and a few other people did the customary “Legend Bow” as he passed by the guard rails. The younger fans either booed lightly or sat on their hands. Vicki Guerrero had more boos than Jericho did that night, It was not great heel heat, it was indifference and that had to hurt. Jericho was revolutionizing what it meant to be a complex heel and people didn’t care so he got bored and left.
Why would Jericho come back after that? He’s rich, he has multiple other projects, he’s won titles. It’s because of his legacy. When Jericho is remembered he won’t be mentioned in the same breath as Rock, Hogan, HBK, or even Cena despite that he could probably out wrestle all of those guys. Jericho will be talked about for the night he debuted and went line for line with the Rock. That’s it. “Remember when Jericho won the Undisputed Title in a mess of a match with all kinds of interference” that’s not his legacy, his debut is and that bothers him more than any of us will ever know.
How do you change that? How can Chris Jericho finally get from under this Y2J (something he hates to be called now) silver shirt, wild hair, debut that rocked the wrestling world? He parodies it. Jericho came out last night after an awesome build up and gave “dumb” wrestling fans something to eat up.
Wrestling fans love promo packages that they don’t understand and make no sense—Check.
Wrestling fans love a countdown—Check.
Wrestling fans love to figure out who it’s going to be so they can seem smart—Check.
Jericho came out in his sparkling shirt an obvious parody of his first night in the WWE, slapped hands the same way he did when he first debuted in Mexico, and gave them an over the top “C’mon!” the same way he did when he debuted as a pretty boy baby face in WCW. Jericho’s career went full circle in ten minutes. All of the BS you have to do in order to get over he gave wrestling fans with a cheesy smile and they ate it up like the fools they are. Jericho’s character is a heel and to prove a point that the fans need to be “saved” he shoved every corny thing about wrestling down their throats and they cheered regardless. They didn’t remember the way he slammed HBK’s head through the Jeritron or how he called them Gelatinous Tape Worms. These dummy’s cheered his name a week after telling wrestling fans to “fuck off and get over it” because they kept asking him if he was coming back. Jericho worked the entire WWE universe to prove a point. For those fans who are upset or confused, clearly you don’t know who Chris Jericho really is. He doesn’t want your cheap “I’m back” pop, He’s not your hero, he’s not Y2J, he’s the best in the world at what he does— expose the hypocrisy of the industry.
Enjoy the road to Wrestlemania.
