5 reasons why Chris Jericho may be the smartest person in wrestling today

As he made his professional debut in 1990, Chris Jericho has been a professional wrestler for close to three decades. Rarely does a week go by in which Jericho has not made major headlines. This is not only due to Jericho's successes in the ring, but due to his many projects outside of the ring, as Jericho has found acclaim as a singer, podcaster, actor, television host, businessman, and author.

While there are wrestlers who have achieved more success in terms of mainstream recognition -- Hulk Hogan, The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin being a few of those examples -- almost no one comes to mind when you think about wrestling performers who have had success on a long-term basis as Chris Jericho has. Simply put, there is a lot of that can be learned from Jericho who may be the smartest person working in professional wrestling today.

Below and on the following pages are five examples of how and why Chris Jericho is on his own level both in and out of the wrestling world.

#1 Multi-Generational Appeal

Whether or not his career longevity has anything to do with it, Chris Jericho has multi-generational appeal. Wrestling fans today know and respect him, as do some of the "lapsed" fans who lost interest in wrestling after the Monday Night Wars, as do fans of the indies from the early 1990s. To draw a musical parallel, Jericho can be compared to The Pixies in starting off independent, being influential to a global scale, and maintaining long-term success as a free agent.

Jericho also appears to have success within the industry itself, thanks to successful long-term relationships. He is tied in with Diamond Dallas Page and DDP YOGA, while also fine with New Japan Pro-Wrestling -- whose bookers he knows from the early days of his career -- and also accepted by the ALL IN crew. Meanwhile, the upcoming Chris Jericho Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager cruise manages to include Ring Of Honor talent, Impact Wrestling roster members, WWE and WCW legends, and various independent wrestling staples. His Talk Is Jericho podcast also regularly includes WWE talent, past and present.

WWE -- which did have Jericho on for its RAW 25 show earlier this year -- carries the tagline of "then, now, forever," yet Chris Jericho clearly personifies that branding with how he does business.

#2 Reinvention

Within the musical world, there are some artists who ought to come to mind when you think of constant reinvention. Madonna and David Bowie are two of those artists, as each new studio album was likely to have a new look and a new sound.

In the case of Chris Jericho, the man has had more characters and personas than you may realize. "Y2J" was a long time ago, to say the least. So were the "The Man Of 1,004 Holds" and "The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla." He had that Nick Bockwinkel-esque, slow-talking, suit-wearing period. He did the "Book Of Jericho" stuff, where people made "The List," which tied in with being "Best Friends" with Kevin Owens...

The key is that Chris Jericho never turned into a "greatest hits" sort of wrestler. Sure, he has his signature moves to expect during a match, but he cannot be easily defined in terms of his style. He can break out high-flyer moves, he can do Japanese strong-style, and so forth. He has remained adaptable to what a particular storyline or match needs, while still maintaining originality and distinction.

#3 Crossover Appeal

At any given time, there are more than a handful of professional wrestlers who are well-known to people who claim to not watch wrestling. Currently, this includes The Bella Twins (as known for Total Divas and Total Bellas), Ronda Rousey (as known for her UFC career) and The Miz (who had done reality television even before signing with WWE).

In the case of Chris Jericho, he has been one of the few wrestlers to do non-WWE projects while signed to WWE. This not only includes his rock band Fozzy but also movie and film projects (e.g. MacGruber, Dancing With The Stars), published books and a weekly podcast.

As Jericho has found success in multiple areas not related to wrestling, he is on that shortlist of wrestling-related celebrities that all sorts of people will recognize. In turn, when hired for a project, it is not just assumed that Jericho is bringing "the wrestling audience" with him.

#4 Diversified

Related to point number three, discussing Chris Jericho's crossover appeal to non-wrestling fans, comes the point that he is extremely diversified. What this means is that he cannot be easily defined.

A wrestler, by nature, is both an actor and a professional athlete. Jericho has also worked as an actor, a host, a podcaster, a radio host, an author, a cruise host, a one-man spoken word performer, a podcast network curator, and a musician. In turn, just calling him "a wrestler" is neither fair nor accurate.

The fact that Jericho is diversified -- and I have not mentioned business holdings or investments -- means that he is not limited to what he can do. So if he decided not to wrestle anymore, not only does he have other projects to work on, but he has existing fanbases for those projects. There is no need for him to start convincing people that in a post-wrestling career that "can" do other things.

Comparably, when a musician decides to be an actor, they are likely to be met with "don't give up your day job" sorts of criticism. The key appears to be that Chris Jericho timed the launch of his various non-wrestling projects well, using his limited off-time to get things started, rather than waiting for wrestling career to wind down before reinventing himself.

#5 Trolling

As one of the best talkers in wrestling, past or present, Chris Jericho is known to be creative on all fronts. In turn, he is fun to follow on social media.

While often breaks the fourth wall on his podcast, one has learned never to take everything Jericho says at face value. Case in point is how he has taken to Twitter numerous times on the eve of big returns and surprise appearances to deny that he is making a return to the wrestling world, only to reappear.

Currently, Jericho is in the midst of big rumors that he is going to launching a new professional wrestling promotion alongside WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross and a NFL-related billionaire. The facts reported in relation to this news story sound solid, as they included the who, what, when, why and how.

However, Jericho responded via Twitter with a trolling-oriented response to that story: "I’m starting my own wrestling company? AWESOME! I'm also starting my own movie studio w #LadyGaga, my own carwash w #Bono & my own bakeshop!"

Thinking things through a bit, a pure denial would generate heat if Jericho were moving ahead with this concept. An admission would generate heat from the WWE if Jericho were moving ahead with this concept. A non-denial like this just gets more people talking.

Wrestling promotion or not, Jericho will be hosting a cruise later this month -- which appears to be part of an Internet pay-per-view -- while remaining IWGP Intercontinental Champion within NJPW, touring with Fozzy, pumping out podcasts each week via Westwood One, (reportedly) having a t-shirt line in development with Bobby Schubenski and writing another book. In turn, Chris Jericho may be the smartest man in professional wrestling today.