The Jericho Zone!

Jerichoholics need not be anonymous here at TDZ. Chris Jericho was (is?) everything you could want in a wrestler: good face, great heel; skilled on both the mic and the mat; not too big of an ego to job, while also winning an impressive array of belts, including the first unification of the Heavyweight titles. Above all, he was relentlessly entertaining and one of the all-time greats - dare I say The Living Legend.

Click below for a look at the many names, hairdos, and accolades of this multi-talented performer.


Lionheart - Welcome to Monday Night Jericho!

Chris Jericho had awesome in his blood, so there should be no surprise about the greatness that became him later in life. His father was an NHL player who played for the Bruins for a time, so it's not surprising that he grew to have the toughness and athleticism necessary to work in wrestling. Given his NHL-playing father, you'll be shocked to learn that he's Canadian as well. Canada isn't just known for its export of comedians, it's also the heartland for producing many popular wrestlers. In particular, Jericho was a student at Stu Hart's famous Dungeon, which produced such greats as Bret and Owen Hart, "Superstar" Billy Graham, and Chris Benoit.

After stints in Japan, Mexico, and ECW, Jericho burst onto the national scene with WCW in its Cruiserweight division. Despite the amazing athletic and technical skill of the division, WCW hardly developed the personas of these wrestlers (perhaps because quite a few were masked lucha libre style wrestlers with limited English-speaking skills). Jericho won the Cruiserweight title for the first of five times in 1997.

Experiencing the growing pains of a rising star stifled by his weight class and limited exposure (compared to the nWo storyline which dominated most broadcasts), Jericho turned heel, ironically amassing a huge fan base in the process. He would throw amusing temper tantrums after every loss, gloat over any and all wins, and do just about anything to get under the skin of his rivals - and the audience. A few examples:

Chris Jericho mocks Dean Malenko's shtick as "The Man of 1,000 Holds": he's got 1,004!

Epic Chris Jericho rant with Dean Malenko portrait, fights Bore-us Malenko:

Jericho gets a letter from Ted Turner...:

Jericho fights Gillberg:

And I could post a whole lot more.

Despite all the shenanigans, crazy nicknames, and Ralphus, the Ayatollah of Rock n' Rolla could wrestle. While he may not have known 1,004 different holds, he was one of the best technical wrestlers of his generation and won a surprising number of his bouts fair and square despite being cast as a cowardly heel. His Lionsault and Liontamer submission were just two of the more entertaining moves in his arsenal (also loved his Tiger Suplex, Northern Lights Suplex and Codebreaker) and exhibited his potential for future world title glory.


Y2J - RAW. IS. JERICHO!

I've heard arguments that Jericho left WCW because he was fed up with being a zany mid-card performer with Hogan and the bigger heavyweight vets controlling the storylines. Whatever the reason, Lionheart died and was reborn in the WWF as Y2J. Ultimately it was a great career move for a couple reasons: 1) WWF gave him the opportunity to be a prime-time character, and 2) WWF also happened to outlast WCW and merged the two lineups poorly for the most part, so Jericho avoided that mess. I'd like to think that he would've risen to the top just the same though.

At the start, it looked like more of the same mid-card tomfoolery as Jericho had to job early on and even feuded with Chyna, but he gradually moved up to battle the biggest names including Chris Benoit, The Big Show, Kurt Angle, Triple H, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

For the most part, Jericho was an annoying but capable (European and Intercontinental title winner) pest until he turned heel late in 2001 by teaming up with Kurt Angle to beat The Rock, who was approaching his peak in popularity. Finally, on December 9, 2001 (another day that will live in infamy!), Y2J faced The Rock and Stone Cold Steven Austin in back-to-back matches for a chance to unify the WCW and WWF Heavyweight Titles. It took a lot blood, sweat, guts, crotch shots, and maybe a smidge of interference from Vince McMahon and Booker T, but he got the job done.

Jericho vs. Rock - Part I, Part II
Jericho vs. Stone Cold - Part I, Part II

In sum:

• 5x WCW Cruiserweight Champion
• 1x WCW TV Title
• 2x WCW World Heavyweight Champion
• 1x WWF Hardcore Champion
• 9x WWF/E Intercontinental Champion
• 1x WWF European Title
• 7x WWF/E Tag Team Champion
• 3x WWE World Heavyweight Champion
• 1x Undisputed Heavyweight Champion

To think that a hilarious little cruiserweight runt would eventually scale the ranks and weight classes of wrestling to become its undisputed champion. Truly, he is "the best in the world at what he does." Fellow Jericho marks, what are your favorite moments?