Jericho is one of the few superstars of the Attitude Era that are still active in the WWE. Over the years he might have become an on and off feature of the WWE programming, still he creates the same magic in the ring that he used to do earlier when he debuted in the WWE.
Also, his willingness to promote budding talents is commendable; be it his feud with the late Chyna for the Intercontinental title or Fandango or Dolph Ziggler, Jericho has always been willing to take a fall for new stars. He provided the viewers with an opportunity to witness some great feuds as well. Let’s have a look at his top 5 feuds in WWE:
5. The Rock
The Invasion storyline was in its full swing when the feud between “The Brahma Bull” and the “Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla” kick-started. Jericho was the only person apart from Austin on the roster who could match The Rock’s skills on the mic and these two delivered excellent promos and even better matches throughout the feud.
A rift between Jericho and The Rock was created when Jericho started showing indignation towards The Rock’s successes and the taunts made by him about Jericho unable deliver on big occasions. This led to a match at No Mercy 2001, where Y2J defeated The Rock and won the WCW Championship. The feud continued when The Rock regained his title on the Raw.
Jericho wanting revenge attacked the Rock with a steel chair, almost costing WWF the victory at Survivor Series. The defining moment of this storyline came when Y2J defeated The Rock at Vengeance 2001 after a distraction from Mr. McMahon. On the same night, Jericho also competed and won his match against Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF title after multiple interference.
In the process, he became the first ever Undisputed WWF Champion. This rivalry was a career defining one for Jericho; it turned him into a star from a mid-carder and helped him etch his name in the history books of WWE.
4. Chris Benoit
“The Rabid Wolverine” started feuding with Jericho when he started pursuing the Intercontinental title. Both these stars competed against each other in three consecutive Pay-Per-Views at Backlash, Judgment Day and SummerSlam.
Here were two future greats exhibiting their skill and natural flair inside the ring. These two were natural opponents with Benoit’s no-nonsense attitude and Jericho’s brash and cocky style perfectly complementing each other during the feud. When Y2J made fun of Benoit’s name and teeth, Benoit would come out and let his maneuvers do the talking.
This feud culminated finally at Summer Slam 2000, where Jericho and Benoit had arguably one of the best Ladder matches in the history of WWE . In the end, Jericho defeated Benoit to win the Intercontinental title for the fourth time. This even led to these two forming a tag team out of respect for each other.
3. CM Punk
Well, this one was a personal feud. Jericho had just returned to the WWE and would get emotionally riled up, but, would not say a word or compete in a match. It was not clear if he was a heel or a face. However, Jericho turned out to be a heel when he attacked CM Punk citing the reason that Punk was the worst offender of impersonating Y2J and claiming himself to be the “Best in the World. Punk eliminated Jericho from the Elimination Chamber, but, Jericho won a 10-Man Battle Royal to become the #1 Contender for Punk’s title.
The rivalry just intensified when Jericho started pulling the skeletons out of the straight-edged superstar’s closet. Jericho revealed to the WWE Universe, about Punk’s father’s tryst with alcohol and drug addiction issues of his sister. Chris even smashed a bottle of whisky on Punk’s head during one of their altercations and had vowed to make Punk drink whisky if he won the Match at WrestleMania.
Punk won his match against Jericho even after Jericho tried his best to get Punk disqualified. The stipulation for their match was that if CM punk got himself disqualified, he would lose the title. Even after Jericho’s best efforts to get under the skin of Punk, he couldn’t get past Punk’s resolve to retain the title. Punk won his match against Jericho at WrestleMania 28 after he reversed the Walls of Jericho and applied an Anaconda vice grip. The match was one of the high points of Mania and was lauded by the critics.
If WWE would have gone with its original plan to tattoo Y2J’s initials on CM punk, the rivalry would have become even more memorable. Nonetheless, the feud was the closest you could get to the Attitude era in these PG times and nobody can complain about what transpired during the rivalry.
2. Christian
Jericho and Christian were a part of a heel tag team when they began a storyline with two of the most talented and beautiful ladies ever to step into the WWE ring, Trish Stratus and Lita. Later, it was revealed that Jericho and Christian had a wager of a Canadian Dollar and winner would be the one who is able to sleep first with their respective inamorata.
During the storyline Jericho started to show some shades of a face persona when he saved Trish from a Kane attack. Trish agreed to be “just friends” after she had broken it off when she came to know of the wager .
During an inter-gender match against Trish, Christian put Trish in Walls of Jericho. This led to a match at WrestleMania 20, where Jericho lost to Christian after Trish inadvertently hit Jericho. It was the events after the match that made this feud memorable. After the match, Trish and Christian kissed on the ramp and a heartbroken Jericho watched from the ring.
A friendship that turned sour, a budding love story that was nipped in the bud after Y2J was betrayed by his friend and his love interest made a perfect story to capture people’s imagination. The rivalry finally culminated at Backlash when Jericho defeated Christian and Trish in a handicap match. It was a feud that will always be remembered for its captivating storyline and how smoothly Jericho transitioned from a heel to a baby-face .
1. Shawn Michaels
How will anybody feel when he realizes that the man he idolized and the reason he got into the business is not how he was perceived to be. The idol cheats and fakes injuries to win matches. That’s exactly how Jericho felt, abandoned. This feeling of abandonment resulted in the best feud in Jericho’s career.
The feud started when Shawn faked an injury in a match against Batista where Jericho was the special guest referee at Backlash 2008. Earlier, Michaels had super kicked Jericho on being confronted for ending Ric Flair’s career. After Backlash, Jericho blamed Michaels for cheating, but, Michaels convinced Jericho that his knee injury was genuine.
Later, Michaels confessed to Jericho that he did indeed cheat and super kicked him again. At Judgment Day, Michaels went against Jericho and won. Jericho showed respect to his idol by initiating a handshake after the match.
The June 9 episode of Raw was the tipping point in their rivalry. Jericho was bewildered with the fans still cheering Michaels despite his back stabbing. He turned heel when low-blowed Michaels and smashed his face in the Jeritron which even damaged Michaels’ eye. During the rivalry, Jericho’s character was changed to suit wearing self righteous man who wanted to do the right thing.
Over the course of the next few months, Jericho and Michaels collided many times and every time they put on memorable matches. Be it the blood bath at Backlash, Jericho hitting Michaels’ wife, the Ladder match at No Mercy for the title or the Last Man Standing match on Raw. All the matches kept the fans on the edge of their seats as they witnessed the bad blood between these two superstars.
This feud with Michaels will always be a high point of Jericho’s career as it brought the best out of him to the fore and every WWE fan knows that Jericho is at his very best when he is playing an evil character.
If Jericho stays long enough in the WWE fray, he will add more memorable feuds to the list, his current feud with Dean Ambrose could be one of them. Surely, he is a future Hall-of-Famer and will always be cherished for his dedication towards the business. Let us just hope he doesn’t take a break from the WWE soon and we keep hearing “Crank the walls down".
