10-23-2016, 10:50 AM | #1 |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
DISCUSSION - Chris Jericho is the most misused Wrestler in WWE history
DISCUSSION - Chris Jericho is the most misused Wrestler in WWE history.
It's an odd statement to make given that Jericho has had so many World title reigns, IC title reigns, etc., but I stand by my observation. Jericho could have and should have been the 'heir apparent' to The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin but the WWE fucked it up. Jericho's 'phantom' WWE title victory over Triple H should have been legit and would have gotten Jericho to that next level in a genuine way. Even though Jericho technically got the better of The Rock in their matches in 2001, all of Jericho's victories were made to look like complete flukes. Even from his "crowning achievement" at Armageddon 2001 (beating Rock and Stone Cold) to Wrestlemania 18, anything and everything Jericho did was made to look like a complete fluke........and he gained little to no credibility from those things. After Wrestlemania 18, he was completely squashed by Triple H on multiple occasions and returned back to the mid-card. Even from Jericho's debut, the guy was mis-used. After his incredible debut in 1999, the WWE put him in shit feuds with Road Dogg and Chyna (with Jericho even jobbing to Chyna). Even though Jericho managed to get his steam back (and was absolutely sizzling in 2000), the WWE tried to use Jericho to elevate Benoit and Angle as opposed to the other way around. Out of those 3 guys, Jericho was the only guy that was really capable of being a true heir apparent to Austin and The Rock. Chris Benoit wasn't charismatic enough, while Angle's escalating drugs problems was never going to make him 'top dog.' Even between 2002-2004 when the WWE was desperately looking for the next Austin/Rock, they continuously overlooked Jericho. They tried to 'give the ball' to the following wrestlers, but these guys were never going to be 'the guy' for the following reasons: 1) Randy Orton: Complete immature douche backstage. 2) Kurt Angle: Drug problems (as mentioned) 3) Brock Lesnar: Given too much too quickly. Didn't fully appreciate what he had. Got burned out and left. 4) Chris Benoit: Not charismatic enough 5) Eddie Guerrero: Drug problems. 6) Triple H: Wasn't "likeable" as a face. In terms of backstage character,being "one of the boys," wrestling talent, charisma, etc., etc., Jericho was the *only* guy worthy of being the heir apparent to The Rock/Steve Austin from a company standpoint. Jericho should have been the clear cut 'bridge-gap' guy between 2002-2005 when the WWE was in between The Attitude Era and the John Cena era. Even in later years (2008-2010ish?) when Jericho produced some of his best matches and was World champion, you just never got a sense that he was winning in convincing fashion. By contrast - Shawn Michaels during the mid-90's played the cowardly heel champion, but even he had convincing and dominant wins when it mattered most. You just never really got that with Jericho. If the WWE had allowed Jericho to go over Hunter in 2000 (non-phantom World title victory), along with allowing face Jericho to go over face Rocky, face Austin, and even face Triple H at Wrestlemania (all in clean and convincing fashion), I think the proverbial 'party' would have kept going. So in conclusion - I do believe that Jericho was the most misused wrestler in WWE history, despite his numerous accolades. Jericho should have been the legit heir apparent to Stone Cold and The Rock. In retrospect, Jericho being held back was ultimately what caused the WWE to decline in my opinion. |
10-23-2016, 11:33 AM | #2 |
Cranky Kong
Posts: 78,671
|
I'd agree with most of this.
|
10-23-2016, 11:46 AM | #3 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,427
|
Yeah pretty much right. He got sewerfucked by HHH in the WM X8 feud. HHH should have totally gone over, clean in the middle, but Jericho could have looked about a million times stronger. Very self indulgent booking by HHH and Stephanie. Plus Lucy the dog.
|
10-23-2016, 11:51 AM | #4 |
Cranky Kong
Posts: 78,671
|
I don't understand why title feuds just can't be about the title. That should be enough to fuel two competitors in a professional wrestling environment. If you want to make a feud about dog poop, it should be between two j-bros who have nothing else going for them. That feud was fucking bullshit to the point that it soured ME on Jericho for a bit, and I was the biggest Jerichoholic there could be back in the day.
|
10-23-2016, 11:54 AM | #5 | |
LUV CABBAGE/H8 JEWS
Posts: 42,497
|
Quote:
even the shitty storylines, cause they're usually bad to the point of hilarity |
|
10-23-2016, 12:11 PM | #6 | |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
Quote:
There is no way Triple H should have gone over Jericho in that match. For starters, Jericho shouldn't have even been heel in my opinion. Remember how around mid 2001, face Jericho had a match with face Rocky (crowd was actually slightly pro-Jericho), and Jericho was slowly starting to get the better of The Rock? (before the match was ended via interference). The WWE should have kept Jericho face, and had him and Rocky settle their differences as faces....culminating at WWE Vengeance with face Jericho going over both Rock and Austin. Face Jericho continues to dominate after that, and ends up defeating face or heel Hunter at Mania'. Jericho going cleanly over 3 of the biggest names of the Attitude Era (Rock, Austin, HHH) would have been best for business. |
|
10-23-2016, 12:30 PM | #7 |
Reigning Tipsters Champ!
Posts: 2,087
|
While I agree with the thread and the points, I still think Big Show is the absolutely most misused. He is retiring as a joke, when he should have been a legend.
At least Jericho has respect of the fans. |
10-23-2016, 01:20 PM | #8 | |
Fire up Chips!
Posts: 27,456
|
Quote:
|
|
10-23-2016, 02:54 PM | #9 | |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,427
|
Quote:
|
|
10-23-2016, 04:25 PM | #10 |
Best Poster
Posts: 56,903
|
|
10-23-2016, 04:41 PM | #11 |
Resident drug enabler
Posts: 45,473
|
Ryback was the most misused wrestler ever.
|
10-23-2016, 06:04 PM | #12 |
Former TPWW Royalty
Posts: 66,588
|
I'd say yes at least in regards to big name stars. During his early years alone, every big moment he has either immediately gets overshadowed or he goes right back to doing something of lesser note afterwards.
In terms of major belts, he owns the record for most IC reigns but none ever lasted long while outside of the Undisputed belt, the rest of his heavyweight reigns were with the lesser status World belt. |
10-23-2016, 06:56 PM | #13 |
Let me talk to ya
Posts: 11,749
|
I disagree. Only thing Jericho was misused for was jobbing to Fandango at WM.
|
10-23-2016, 07:16 PM | #14 |
Resident drug enabler
Posts: 45,473
|
Actually, Fandango was pretty horribly misused after that. I would put him as my most misused wrestler ever. Johnny Curtis has "face of the company" written all over him and he's a comedy jobber.
|
10-23-2016, 09:25 PM | #15 |
Posts: 60,919
|
It's a very interesting point of discussion. I'd hesitate to say "most ever" or anything like that, but you can certainly make some strong points about it.
He was super over in 2000/2001. He felt like the third most popular guy in the company to me, next to Austin and Rock. He had that same sort of showman charisma as The Rock too. It would have made sense to do a Heel Rock vs. Babyface Jericho program at some point if fans kept pushing back against Rock. And as awesome as we know Rock is, I think people were starting to get sick of the constant catchphrases, etc. Hence the Hollywood Rock change in 2003, despite that not exactly setting the world on fire in a business sense. Rock would have been the perfect guy to get Jericho to that "next level" as a babyface. Listening to SCG Radio's "It Should Have Been" podcast, Jericho came up as a potential candidate for the man who ran down Steve Austin. When I heard that, everything clicked into place for me. Sure, we'd lose awesome IC Champion in the beginning of 2001 Jericho, but we'd have "I did what I needed to do in order to create a spot at the top of the card for myself" heel Jericho, who I think could have been a major player. The only flaw with that is that it kind of necessitates Jericho has a place near the top of the card around WrestleMania X-7, so you probably sadly have to hold off on Angle. But going back to the Invasion and 2001 and the mess the year was -- in retrospect, I think Jericho would have made a wonderful King of the Ring. Edge was looking to break-out, but given that there wasn't any room near the top of the cards for him at that point, it kind of felt like a bit of a delayed ear-mark. Jericho could have taken the King of the Ring and felt like an emerging main eventer right away. While the Austin heel turn probably shouldn't have happened, once you get to the end of 2001, the best option for Mania at that point is probably Austin vs. Triple H. Weirdly enough, I think making Jericho the first-ever Undisputed Champion as a "shock" really hurt him. I think people underestimate the pressures that come with putting the belt on someone at the wrong time. Austin vs. Triple H was the main event for WrestleMania X-8, and Jericho probably should have been working elsewhere. I usually come back to Rob Van Dam as an opponent for him at Mania that year. And Jericho should have won the 2012 Royal Rumble. I don't understand how "Best in the World vs. Best in the World" is supposed to work if Jericho loses all his matches to get to it. |
10-24-2016, 12:34 AM | #16 |
King of Love and Piss
Posts: 62,988
|
I'm pretty sure Bray Wyatt would disagree.
|
10-24-2016, 01:44 AM | #17 |
Hey Mister!
Posts: 54,947
|
Y'all need to read Jericho's books. A lot of this stuff he admits was his fault because he was inexperienced.
|
10-24-2016, 02:24 AM | #18 |
boop/bop/beep
Posts: 38,427
|
wtf is he supposed to say though? Nothing gained by throwing shade at anyone. We saw what happened.
|
10-24-2016, 03:29 AM | #19 |
Rigged from the start
Posts: 35,417
|
I think there's a lot of names that could make this claim more than Jericho (interestingly--or not, I dunno--around c. late '99-sometime in 2000 probably, I had a now long gone hotmail account using "millenniumman01012001" as my name with no knowledge that around his early era, the commentators would sometimes refer to Jericho as "The Millennium Man")...I mean just look at all the missed opportunities during the mid-2000's, right during the peak of the Ruthless Aggression Era. In particular, Matt Morgan and Nathan Jones spring to mind from that time period.
|
10-24-2016, 11:25 AM | #20 |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
I know a lot of guys on here want Bray to be elevated, but from what I saw a few years ago, Bray isn't quite on that level. He's got an awesome character, sure, but his ring work still needs a lot of polishing in order to truly warrant a main-event position.
|
10-24-2016, 11:27 AM | #21 | |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
Quote:
I'm flat out saying that Jericho could have been at or close to the level of a John Cena. Austin and Rocky he wouldn't have been, but he damn sure would have been close. |
|
10-24-2016, 11:28 AM | #22 |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
|
10-24-2016, 11:32 AM | #23 | |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
Quote:
Look at Big Show's physique in 1999, and look at Big Show's physique post 2004, and you'll how lazy he truly became. Big Show wasn't deserving whatsoever. He wrestling was sub-par, and his attitude wasn't where it needed to be. |
|
10-24-2016, 11:57 AM | #24 |
Stickman
Posts: 15,119
|
Mr Perfect should have beat Hogan for the gold and then we'd have the perfect world champion.
|
10-24-2016, 12:06 PM | #25 |
b/c 5 is better than 4
Posts: 9,721
|
I'd say Big Show was more mis-used, but Jericho is a solid #2 choice.....
|
10-24-2016, 12:08 PM | #26 |
Father of Hinduship
Posts: 21,083
|
I'd argue that Big Show wasn't really deserving however, given his lack of commitment to being in top physical shape. There was a reason why he was suspended back in 2000. There's also a reason why Big Show doesn't look anywhere near as good now as he did back in 1999.
|