Chris Jericho
Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known as Chris Jericho, is a professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment as a part of its RAW brand. Jericho was born in Manhasset, New York, but was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father Ted Irvine is a former NHL player. Contrary to popular belief, Chris Jericho's stage name was not inspired by the ancient city of Jericho, but by a Heavy Metal album bearing the title "Walls of Jericho" (which became the name of Jericho's finishing move) by the German band Helloween.
Career
Early Days
Jericho trained at the Hart brothers' pro-wrestling camp in Calgary, Alberta from June to September 1990. Between his professional debut on October 2, 1990 and the summer of 1996 he worked for many small wrestling companies, including Bay Area Wrestling, the World Wrestling Association, the Catch Wrestling Alliance, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (where he was briefly involved in a tag team called "The Thrillseekers" with Lance Storm) and Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he briefly held the ECW World Television Championship. He also wrestled at one time for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, the oldest promotion in pro wrestling.
World Championship Wrestling
In August 1996 he made his first appearance with World Championship Wrestling and on September 15 of that year he appeared at his first pay per view show, versus Chris Benoit.
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time.
Jericho won the title again on August 12, 1997 by defeating Alex Wright.
On September 25, 1997, Jericho was inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. on January 24, 1998 at WCW's second annual Souled Out pay-per-view by making him submit to the Liontamer to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the third time. After the match, Jericho continued an assault on Mysterio's knee by utilizing the metal ring steps to sandwich Mysterio's leg.
Jericho feuded with Juventud Guerrera culminating in a Title vs. Mask match at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998 in San Francisco, California. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Jericho carried the mask around for months and mocked Guerrera's nickname of "Juice" by refering to him as "Quasi-Juice."
Jericho also feuded with Dean Malenko, Jericho was forced to create the feud because Malenko lacked in microphone ability. Malenko lost a pay-per-view match to Jericho and was shamed. This resulted in Malenko "leaving" wrestling and being off camera for a prolongued period. Jericho would come out and mock Malenko and make jokes about the fact that he defeated him and ended his career. Eventually, Dean Malenko would return and Jericho would drop the title to him. He would eventually regain and lose the title for a fourth time.
On July 13, 1998, Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. to win the Cruiserweight Championship for an unprecedented five times.
Eventually, Jericho would drop the title and on August 10, 1998 Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the WCW Television Championship for his first time.
Jericho would also go on to feud with Perry Saturn. This rivalry resulted in unorthodox matches such as a "loser must wear a dress" match that Jericho won and a dog collar match that Saturn won.
His feud with Bill Goldberg was nixed because Goldberg did not care for the humour that Jericho included in his feuds. This could have potentially hurt Jericho because a feud with Goldberg would have put him in a class that he had not yet achieved in the eyes of many, however, Goldberg usually ended up getting the upper hand on his opponents in devastating fashion and that may have burried Jericho.
Jericho also had a flunkie named Ralphus and a heel referee (Scott Dickinson) on his side before he left the company.
WWE/WWF
Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours until his debut with the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) on August 9, 1999. The build-up to Jericho's arrival was a clock counting down over the weeks prior to his arrival. The clock read "countdown to the new millenium." Unfortunately, the clock finally ran down on August 9, 1999 in Chicago, IL while The Rock was in the ring doing a promo. Jericho, a heel, entered the arena and proclaimed himself Y2J and The Rock proceeded to verbally bash him for his interruption.
On December 12, 1999 Jericho won his first WWF Title, the Intercontinental Championship, from Chyna. This fued continued for a few weeks.
On April 2, 2000 Jericho participated in his very first WrestleMania in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle with peculiar rules. Kurt Angle entered the match-up as both the WWF European and WWF Intercontinental champion. The first man to score a pinfall or submission would be declared Intercontinental Champion. The second man to score a pinfall or submission would be declared European Champion. Jericho was first pinned by Benoit (making Benoit the new Intercontinental Champion) and would later on in the match pin Benoit (making Jericho the new European Champion).
On the April 17, 2000 edition of WWF SmackDown! Chris Jericho shocked the world by upsetting Triple H for in a WWF Heavyweight Championship match. However, Triple H forced the referee to reverse the decision and the title changing hands was stricken from the record.
After the WCW/ECW alliance broke up Jericho turned heel again by turning on The Rock. These two ended up having a big rivalry, which culimated at No Mercy 2001 when Jericho defeated the Rock for his first ever WCW Championship. On December 9, 2001, Chris Jericho defeated both The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night to become the first ever WWE Undisputed Champion. He dropped the championship to Triple H three months later. He would go on to tag team success with Christian capturing the tag team titles from Hurricane and Kane. He would turn face in late 2003/early 2004, following an angle involving Trish Stratus and Christian, where both earned his trust, then betrayed him. In 2005, Jericho turned heel once more by turning on recent Raw member and current WWE champion, John Cena. Cena retained his championship against Jericho and Christian at Vengeance in a triple threat match. Jericho is currently still feuding with John Cena, as the two had to be separated by police during Jericho's "Highlight Reel" on Monday Night RAW 7/4/05. Cena and Jericho will meet for the championship at Summerslam.
On the July 25, 2005 edition of RAW, Jericho and Cena were supposed to face each other in a "Battle of the Bands," pitting Jericho's band Fozzy against Cena, Trademarc, and Bumpy Knuckles. Cena and his partners performed Cena's latest single, "Bad, Bad Man," to a great reaction from the fans, but Jericho refused, thinking the fans in Cleveland, Ohio would be biased and said he'd wait to perform at Summerslam. Jericho would get the last laugh of the evening, however, when, as special guest referee, he caused Cena to lose his match against Carlito, setting up a WWE title match for Carlito the following week.
The next Monday night Jericho was again appointed a special guest referee in Carlito's championship match. Cena retained the title against Carlito after knocking Jericho out of the ring; another referree recorded the pinfall. However, Jericho attacked Cena with a video camera, busting him open "hard way". He then applied the Walls of Jericho while Bischoff slapped Cena across the face.
The WWE's official website recently confirmed on July 28, 2005 that Chris Jericho has signed a short-term contract extension to stay with the company. It is currently unknown if Jericho will later commit to a long-term deal.
On August 22nd Jericho was 'fired'.
Miscellaneous
Jericho was inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame on September 25, 1997. On July 5, 2004 he was awarded the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, the highest award given by the Province of Manitoba.
Music Career
Besides being a professional wrestler, Jericho has a degree in journalism and is the frontman of the heavy metal group Fozzy. He also writes a semi-regular column for Metal Edge magazine.
Jericho also started his own weekly XM radio show, in March 2005, called "the Rock of Jericho."
Personal life
Jericho is married to a woman named Jessica, with whom he has a son, Ash.
Profile
- Height: 5'11" (180 cm)
- Weight: 230lbs (105 kg)
- Birthday: November 9, 1970
- Town of birth: Manhasset, New York
- Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Previous Hometown: Calgary, Alberta
- Resides: Tampa, Florida
- Trained by: Keith Hart
- Professional Debut: October 2, 1990
- Stage names: Corazon de Leon, Lion Do, Moongoose McQueen, "Lionheart" Chris Jericho, "Living Legend" Chris Jericho, "Y2J" Chris Jericho
- Previous managers: Ralphus, Chyna, Mr. Curtis Hughes, Trish Stratus, Stephanie McMahon
Quotes
- "Welcome to RAW - Is - Jericho!"
- "Would you please shut the hell up?"
- "Listen, Assclown..."
- "I'm a sexy beast!"
- "I was the first ever Undisputed Champion!"
Finishing moves
- The Walls of Jericho / Lion Tamer (elevated Boston crab)
- Lionsault (Springboard moonsault)
- Running enzuigiri
- Flashback (Sleeper slam)
- Breakdown (Full nelson facebuster)
Signature moves
- Lionbomb (Double underhook powerbomb)
- Jericho Spike (Frankensteiner)
- Double powerbomb
- Missile Dropkick
- Double underhook backbreaker
- Springboard dropkick to an opponent on the ring apron
- Single-hand bulldog
- Jumping forearm
Nicknames
- Lionheart
- Y2J (parody of Y2K)
- Living Legend
- The King of the World
- The King of Bling-Bling
- The Man of 1,004 Holds
- The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla
- The Sexy Beast
- One BadMammaJamma
- Human Highlight Reel
- Highlight of the Night
- Epicenter of Excitement
Championships and accomplishments
1. In a three way match against Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit.
2. The decision was revsersed later on the same show because of a fast count by the referee.
3. Jericho wins both titles on the same show and unifies them. The title is known as the WWE Undisputed Championship from then on.
4. RAW Co-GM Stone Cold Steve Austin forced the newly crowned IC Champion, Chris Jericho, to immediately defend his title in a cage match because of RAW Co-GM Eric Bischoff's interference in the previous match.
5. Jericho won the vacant title in a ladder match against Christian.
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 109 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- Chris won the 2002 PWI Most Hated Wrestler Award.
| Preceded by: Stone Cold Steve Austin |
WWE Champion | Followed by: Triple H |
| Preceded by: The Rock |
WCW World Heavyweight Champion |
External links
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