Wrestling legend Chris Jericho will put his career on the line when he faces MJF at AEW All Out on 5th September at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The former ‘Y2J’ has been unable to defeat Maxwell Jacob Friedman in three attempts, with his loss on AEW Dynamite this week leading him to wager his career in exchange for another swing at his tormentor. If Jericho does lose, he will leave behind one of the most diverse and entertaining legacies in wrestling history. Here are some of the greatest entries on ‘The List Of Jericho’.
The Man Of 1,004 Holds
Chris Jericho faced technical wrestling master Dean Malenko in a bitter feud for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Malenko was known as ‘The Man Of 1,000 Holds’ due to his incredible mat acumen. After a Monday Nitro victory over Marty Jannetty, Jericho unveiled a long sheet of paper upon which he’d supposedly written a list of the 1,004 holds he knew. In one of the great wrestling comedy segments, Jericho’s list featured ‘armbar’ as every other hold, and he read it through an entire commercial break.
Y2J Becomes Undisputed
Chris Jericho made history by becoming the first ever Undisputed Champion at Vengeance in 2001. A one-night tournament was staged to unify the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship, featuring Jericho alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Kurt Angle. With the two biggest stars in the company on opposite sides of the bracket, an Austin-Rock final appeared to be a certainty. Jericho would shock the fans by beating both men in the same night, signalling a new era for the company and taking his place in history as the first ever Undisputed ruler.
Breaking The Heartbreak Kid
Jericho’s feud with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels is perhaps the Canadian’s finest work. A deeply personal conflict that featured Jericho injuring the eye of ‘HBK’, and Michaels’ wife getting caught in the crossfire of another altercation between the pair. The storyline peaked with an incredible ladder match at No Mercy 2008, where Jericho retained his World Heavyweight Championship.
You Just Made The List
Jericho’s career has been a tale of reinvention. From the earnest ‘Lionheart’ to leading The Inner Circle faction, Jericho’s character never stands still. Perhaps the pick of his recent transformations was ‘The List of Jericho’ era. Carrying a spangly clipboard upon which he would write the name of anyone who wronged him, Jericho was a riot. He would form an all-Canadian dream team with Kevin Owens, before ‘KO’ turned on him, sparking a brilliant and often funny feud between the pair.
Enter The Painmaker
Since leaving WWE in 2018, Jericho has been a regular guest for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He would face then-IWGP Heavyweight Champion ‘Rainmaker’ Kazuchika Okada in a classic PPV main event at Dominion in 2019. Jericho would once again regenerate his character, dubbing himself the ‘Painmaker’ in the build-up, and his match with the consensus best wrestler in the world was one of his best in recent years.
A Little Bit Of The Bubbly
For a man who moves so keenly with the times, it was always likely that ‘internet meme’ would be the next stage in the evolution of Jericho. The veteran achieved this milestone while giving an improvised backstage promo after winning the inaugural AEW Championship. Walking around the backstage area after defeating ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, Jericho came across a table of champagne. Pausing, he remarked, “Ohh, a little bit of the bubbly!” in an unusual vocal inflection that saw the clip spread like viral, netting the wrestler and AEW as a whole a huge viral hit. They would later capitalise on this unexpected cult phenomenon by releasing Jericho-branded champagne.
