Chris Jericho's 5 Strangest Feuds
AEW's "Le Champion" has embarked on a career path unlike most...
Jun 24, 2020
When you think of Chris Jericho's best feuds, certain templates come to mind: scientific and high-flying battles with comparable peers (Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit), competitive rivalries with the cream of the crop (The Rock, Shawn Michaels the first time), and deeply-personal issues with men he had no problem trying to maim (Shawn Michaels the second time, Jon Moxley). No doubt, Jericho's versatility as a performer has been evident through the years, and is key to him shining in storylines of varying tones.
It's that versatility that has led to him being part of some rather offbeat angles across his three decades inside the ring. Remember when WWE would trot out those fish-out-of-water "guest hosts" on Raw a decade back? Jericho *always* shared a segment or two with them on each episode, because WWE knew they could count on Jericho to make chicken salad out of the pile before him. Lucky Chris.
With Jericho preparing to take on everyone's favourite "Messiah of Meh", Orange Cassidy, at AEW Fyter Fest, let's take a gander at some of Jericho's most unusual rivalries from over the years.
When you think of Chris Jericho's best feuds, certain templates come to mind: scientific and high-flying battles with comparable peers (Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit), competitive rivalries with the cream of the crop (The Rock, Shawn Michaels the first time), and deeply-personal issues with men he had no problem trying to maim (Shawn Michaels the second time, Jon Moxley). No doubt, Jericho's versatility as a performer has been evident through the years, and is key to him shining in storylines of varying tones.
It's that versatility that has led to him being part of some rather offbeat angles across his three decades inside the ring. Remember when WWE would trot out those fish-out-of-water "guest hosts" on Raw a decade back? Jericho *always* shared a segment or two with them on each episode, because WWE knew they could count on Jericho to make chicken salad out of the pile before him. Lucky Chris.
With Jericho preparing to take on everyone's favourite "Messiah of Meh", Orange Cassidy, at AEW Fyter Fest, let's take a gander at some of Jericho's most unusual rivalries from over the years.
After a planned feud with Goldberg fizzled out for apparent political reasons, Jericho treaded aimlessly through the midcard until he happened upon the irascible Saturn. It *could* have been a straightforward battle of hard-hitting roughneck vs. arrogant heel, but no.
Instead, the feud, which spanned a few pay-per-views, included a corrupt referee (anyone remember Scott Dickinson?), Saturn being forced to wear a dress (and liking it), and, finally, Saturn upending Jericho in a dog collar match. Months later, Jericho left the company.
The intergender aspect of the rivalry isn't even what qualifies this as strange. What began with a cocky, blustering villain challenging a woman for an IC title predominantly held by men went through a few twists that defied characters and convention.
There was the bit where a vengeful Jericho tied Chyna to a chair and broke her thumb with a hammer (when would *that* Y2J do that?). Then there was the double pin that led to *both* Jericho and Chyna reigning as co-champion. Then they became allies, because, sure.
So this is what it comes to, huh? A wise-cracking babyface who is immensely over with the fans, and a generally well-protected monster heel of comparable stardom. And the best way WWE can create conflict between the pair is to create a row over spilt coffee?
Kane inadvertently received a java bath from Y2J, didn't take kindly to it, and somehow we got a two pay-per-view deal out of the random run-in. That face full of Folgers culminated in a Last Man Standing match at Armageddon 2000, which is right well buried to history.
When Jericho started going into his stop-start tenures (where he'd leave for a while and then come back months or a year later), we got used to him working with top guys, in order to maximize the time WWE had him for. That's why the incoming dancer was a bit of a surprise.
Jericho was also perplexed by the choice, and at first, refused to put him over at WrestleMania 29. The feud stretched through 'Mania, and at one point included an actual dance contest on Raw, in which Jericho teamed with one-time Dancing with the Stars partner Cheryl Burke.
Four years later, Jericho lost the AEW World Heavyweight title to Jon Moxley, the capper to a feud that saw Moxley overcome a spike to the eye, and the entire Inner Circle (including mercenary Jeff Cobb), to rob Le Champion of his precious gold.
Their 2016 WWE feud was much, much sillier, as Jericho destroyed Ambrose's pet houseplant Mitch, and "The Lunatic Fringe" responded by annihilating Jericho's light-up jacket. Then came the Asylum Match, which proved brutal - in terms of violence *and* excessive runtime.