4 WWE Superstars Chris Jericho requested to work with and 2 he did not

Chris Jericho competed in over 1,200 matches during his 19-year association with WWE.

The nine-time Intercontinental Champion had classic matches in the early stages of his WWE career with the likes of Kurt Angle and Triple H, while he was also involved in memorable rivalries with Superstars including AJ Styles and Kevin Owens towards the end of his time with the company.

As regular readers of this series will know, it is very difficult for a veteran Superstar to go their entire career without having issues with certain opponents and storylines, and Chris Jericho is no different.

In this article, let’s take a look at four WWE Superstars that Chris Jericho requested to work with, as well as two that he did not request to work with.

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#5 Chris Jericho requested to work with Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura

After forming an on-screen friendship with Kevin Owens in the summer of 2016, Chris Jericho broke up with his ally in early 2017 before facing him in matches at WrestleMania 33 and Payback.

The storyline was widely viewed as one of the best during that period of time in WWE, but Chris Jericho’s original ideas did not even involve Owens.

Speaking to Inside The Ropes in 2018, Chris Jericho revealed that he requested a match with Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 33 after working with him at a WWE live event in Japan in July 2016.

“I came back and I remember talking to Vince [McMahon], ‘You've got to bring this Nakamura guy up to the main roster. I want to work with him. Let's debut him at WrestleMania.’ And Vince was like, ‘Oh, that could work.’” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Chris Jericho, who later suggested that he should work with Owens at WrestleMania 33 instead, also disclosed that he pitched a match against Finn Balor at SummerSlam 2016.

“And then, another funny thing. I was supposed to work with Finn Balor at SummerSlam [2016]. I pitched that when I worked with Finn the previous year in Japan.”

Owens ended up joining forces with Chris Jericho at SummerSlam 2016 to defeat Enzo Amore and Big Cass, while Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the first Universal Champion.

#4 Chris Jericho did not request to work with Fandango

One of the biggest upsets in modern-day WWE came at WrestleMania 29 when the debuting Fandango defeated Chris Jericho.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio in 2019, Chris Jericho reflected on the WrestleMania storyline and admitted he was “pretty p****d off” when Vince McMahon presented the idea to him.

McMahon was adamant that the match was going to take place, with Fandango emerging as the winner, even though Chris Jericho tried to get out of it by working with someone else.

"I gave him three or four other suggestions and he said no to all of them. He was super into Fandango. And I finally said, 'There's nothing I can do to change your mind, is there?' And Vince goes, 'Nope.' So I hung up on him." [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

The Undertaker advised Chris Jericho to do exactly as McMahon requested. That way, even if Fandango did not connect with WWE’s fans, Jericho could at least say that he did everything that was asked of him.

#3 Chris Jericho requested to work with Seth Rollins

The opening match of the main WWE SummerSlam 2018 pay-per-view saw Seth Rollins (w/Dean Ambrose) defeat Dolph Ziggler (w/Drew McIntyre) to win the Intercontinental Championship, but the match could have been very different if Chris Jericho had his way.

At the time, Chris Jericho held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship after defeating Tetsuya Naito in June 2018 for NJPW’s secondary singles title.

Over in WWE, Ziggler headed into SummerSlam as Intercontinental Champion, while the title was also held earlier that summer by Rollins.

Speaking on his Talk Is Jericho podcast, Chris Jericho revealed that he pitched an idea to “a certain head of a certain wrestling company” about the possibility of having an Intercontinental Champion vs. Intercontinental Champion match at SummerSlam.

"I placed a call to a certain head of a certain wrestling company, let's just leave it at that. I said I've got something for you. It's boffo box office. I said, 'What do you think about first-time Intercontinental Champion vs. Intercontinental Champion, Jericho vs. Rollins?'"

The match would have ended in a disqualification, according to Chris Jericho, but he did not hear back about the idea.

#2 Chris Jericho did not request to work with Stephanie McMahon during Triple H feud

Triple H defeated Chris Jericho (w/Stephanie McMahon) in the main event of WrestleMania X8 to win the WWE Undisputed Championship.

Speaking on Barstool Breakfast in 2019, Chris Jericho gave his opinion that his co-Intercontinental Championship storyline with Chyna was one of the worst of his WWE career.

He also made it clear that he was not fond of having Stephanie as his manager during his rivalry with Triple H.

“There was another one when I was actually the World Champion, Jericho versus Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon was my manager, I guess.”

Chris Jericho admitted that he was essentially Stephanie’s on-screen “b****” during their storyline, even though he was the World Champion at the time.

“I wasn’t able to say anything because I was the World Champion in name only, but you go through those things. Your job as a performer, just like being on a football team or a hockey team, if you’re given one role, you play it.”

Interestingly, Chris Jericho added that bad segments and storylines were sometimes given to people to see if they could handle it, and he believes that might have been the case with the Stephanie story.

#1 Chris Jericho requested to work with Rob Terry

Chris Jericho revealed in his autobiography that he requested to have former Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) wrestler Rob Terry as his protégé on WWE’s main roster in 2008, but the role ended up being given to Lance Cade.

Terry (aka Big Rob) left WWE’s developmental system in 2008 and he went on to spend five years in IMPACT Wrestling between 2009-2014.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet in 2020, Terry said he has heard in recent years that Chris Jericho wanted to work with him, but he was unaware of that at the time.

"I don't know about that. Multiple times people would tell me that that would have been the coolest thing for me. That would have been freaking awesome, but you know, it's the wrestling world. People have ideas, they go so far, and then, sometimes, they don't materialize.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Terry, a two-time Natural Mr. Olympia bodybuilder, was part of the same FCW class that featured WWE Superstars including Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Fandango, Sheamus and Tyson Kidd.