Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho is one of the most decorated wrestlers in WWE history. He holds the record for most Intercontinental Championship reigns, and was the first ever Undisputed Champion. At age 19, Irvine entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling. It was there he met Lance Storm, and they worked as a tag team called “Sudden Impact”. Jericho worked the Canadian independent scene, until he traveled to Mexico and started working for CMLL where he won and defended the NWA Middleweight Championship for eleven months. Irvine wrestled in Europe before heading off to Japan. He wrestled fellow Canadian wrestler Chris Benoit (Wild Pegasus) in the second Super J Cup tournament, which he lost.

In 1996, recommendations from Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Mick Foley convinced Paul Heyman to sign Jericho to ECW. Jericho won the ECW World Television Championship before being signed to WCW, who had taken an interest. During his early days of WCW, Jericho wrestled for NJPW as part of a working agreement with WCW. Jericho returned to WCW wrestling in the cruiserweight division. Jericho started a feud with Dean Malenko which garnered him much praise from fans. After defeating Stevie Ray to become WCW Television Champion, Chris Jericho repeatedly called out Goldberg. Jericho cites the reasoning behind him leaving WCW was due to Bischoff, Hogan and Goldberg’s refusal to book Jericho in a PPV squash match loss to Goldberg.

Chris Jericho debuted in the WWF after the clock finally ran down, and referred to himself as Y2J (a play on the Y2K bug) after interrupting The Rock’s promo. His first feud was with Chyna, and they soon became co-holders of the Intercontinental Championship. From this moment on, Jericho wrestled the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero over secondary championships. Y2J pinned Triple H in a controversial match over the WWF Championship. The reign is not recognized due to the referee’s fast count. His biggest match to date came about during the Fully Loaded PPV when Jericho lost to Triple H in a Last Man Standing match. In 2001, Jericho teamed with Chris Benoit to defeat Austin and Triple H for the WWF Tag Team Championships. At No Mercy, Jericho won his first World Championship when he defeated The Rock for the WCW Championship.

At Vengeance 2001, Jericho defeated the World Champion, The Rock, and WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin to become the first Undisputed WWF Champion. He defended the title against both men at the next two PPV before losing it to Triple H. Jericho would be used in the mid-card going forward. In 2003, Jericho challenged Goldberg and they had a short-term feud which ended with Goldberg defeated Jericho. Jericho continued to be used in mid-card feuds, and in 2005, introduced the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho returned to wrestling for ECW at ECW One Night Stand 2005 under his old “lionheart” gimmick, he lost to Lance Storm. Jericho left the WWE in 2005 to take a break from wrestling.

In 2007, Jericho returned after many binary code videos leaving cryptic messages. Jericho was used to feud with main event stars going forward. Y2J and HBK started a feud which was named “feud of the year” by PWI and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Jericho soon changed his image once again by stripping away his old character, and started wearing a suit. At Unforgiven, Jericho won a Championship scramble to become World Heavyweight Champion. Jericho lost the title to Batista only to win it back in a steel cage match. Jericho eventually lost the title to Cena at Survivor Series 2008. In 2009, Jericho and Edge won the Unified Tag Team Championship, making Jericho the only wrestler to win every Grand Slam eligible championship. In 2010, Jericho won his last World Championship by defeating The Undertaker in the Elimination Chamber. He held the title til April 2nd when Jack Swagger cashed in Money in the Bank and won the title. Jericho was once again used in feuds against high-tier talent going forward.

Jericho fought CM Punk at Wrestlemania XVIII for the WWE Championship, which he lost. He failed to win the title again at Extreme Rules. From this point, Jericho wrestled in feuds to elevate younger talent, often taking breaks to pursue Fozzy tours and other projects. Irvine has worked on many projects, including music, film, theatre, comedy and writing. Jericho continues to be a wrestler and musician, and is bound to enter the Hall of Fame when his career comes to an end.

Notable Matches

vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XIX.

vs Shawn Michaels at No Mercy 2008.

vs Chris Benoit at Royal Rumble 2001.

vs Wild Pegasus (Benoit) at WAR Super J Cup 1995.

w/ Benoit vs Austin/Triple on Raw (2001).

vs Angle vs Benoit at Wrestlemania 2000.

vs The Rock at No Mercy 2001

Notable Feuds

vs Triple H

vs The Rock

vs Steve Austin

vs Shawn Michaels

vs Chris Benoit

vs Eddie Guerrero

vs Rey Mysterio

vs Edge

vs CM Punk

vs Christian

vs Dean Malenko

Other Notable Achievements

World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1) and The Big Show (1)

WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and The Big Show (1)

WWF European Championship (1 time)

WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)

WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)

WCW World Television Championship (1 time)

ECW World Television Championship (1 time)

NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)

CRMW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm

WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo

WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy