Read update
- Chris Jericho has proven himself over the years to be one of the most outstanding performers with a drive to keep himself relevant by changing his character and never getting stale. WCW made a handful of mistakes with their roster and Chris Jericho was one name that could have done wonders for the promotion if handled correctly.
Chris Jericho is one of the most prominent names in pro wrestling over the last thirty years - and has no plans to retire anytime soon. Since his debut in SMW in 1994, he has held titles in ECW and WCW, won world titles and headlined PPVs in WWE, and helped get AEW off the ground.
RELATED: Every Major Chris Jericho Feud During WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era, Ranked Worst To Best
His big breakthrough came in WCW when he was not only first seen by a large audience but also came into his own as a performer. However, as with many other smaller wrestlers, his time in WCW was not without hurdles. Here are ten mistakes WCW made with Chris Jericho.
UPDATE: 2023/08/10 11:54 EST BY ETHAN SCHLABAUGH
Chris Jericho has proven himself over the years to be one of the most outstanding performers with a drive to keep himself relevant by changing his character and never getting stale. WCW made a handful of mistakes with their roster and Chris Jericho was one name that could have done wonders for the promotion if handled correctly.
12 Debuting Him Without A Push
Usually, a company will debut a new wrestler by giving them a string of victories. This allows the promotion to see how fans react to them and leads to the wrestler's first featured program. Chris Jericho's debut in WCW was a bit different.
After two victories over veterans Manny Fernandez and Mr. JL (Jerry Lynn), he lost his third match - all on the C-show WCW Pro. Jericho would begin to pick up a little steam in the weeks leading up to Fall Brawl, only to lose in his PPV debut, at Fall Brawl 1996.
11 Horrible Storylines
While Chris Jericho did probably receive more storylines than other Cruiserweights in WCW, that doesn't mean they were good or even helped Jericho's career. Things like calling out Goldberg only to never receive a match against him, made Jericho look beneath the champ. Typically, these storylines would be detrimental to another person's career, but Jericho somehow made them work more often than not. He did have some shining moments like the list of 1004 holds, which was a brief glimmer of light in an otherwise dark part of his career. Chris Jericho easily received the most amount of screen time compared to other Cruiserweights and even received a fair share amount of storylines. The only thing with that though was that Jericho was doing amazing work with what he was given and deserved even more. Despite having more than other competitors in his division, he was still given nothing compared to names like Hogan or Savage. Jericho's work in WCW is something fans still often go back to watch and this just wasn't enough to keep them satisfied. RELATED: 10 Things Chris Jericho Never Accomplished In Wrestling
10 Giving Him Teddy Long As A Manager
After Halloween Havoc, WCW put Teddy Long in Jericho's corner. At the time, Long was an undercard babyface manager with clients such as Sgt. Craig Pittman, Bobby Walker, and Jim Powers.
The pairing wouldn't last long however and the story of them together was dropped and rarely if at all mentioned again on television. Luckily for Jericho, he would soon move into his feud with Juventud Guerrera shortly after.
9 Not Giving Him A Push For The United States Title
Chris Jericho only ever held the Cruiserweight and Television Championships during his tenure with WCW. Now looking back, that just seems wrong as he was often put into scenarios against upper-card talent that was vying for titles like the United States Championship or even World title.
Jericho faced huge names like DDP, Masahiro Chono, and Dean Malenko who all saw much more success during this time. Chris even had a few opportunities for the United States title against Malenko and DDP but never captured the belt.
8 Having No Direction For Him
Jericho's first couple of weeks became a theme for his first year in WCW. It was a stop-and-start affair. Losing to Syxx at Halloween Havoc, he was booked in a match with referee Nick Patrick at World War 3.
RELATED: Chris Jericho Almost Became Paralyzed In The Middle Of A WCW Match
Two Cruiserweight Title reigns lasted a mere few weeks only to be followed by a random victory over Scott Hall on Nitro. Jericho's booking felt directionless until a losing streak at the end of 1997 culminated in his heel turn and the end of white-meat babyface Chris Jericho.
7 Having His Title Loss Reversed Twice
Jericho's 1998 Cruiserweight Title reign was about more than just good matches. He began collecting souvenirs from everybody he beat: Rey Mysterio's knee brace, Juventud's mask, and Malenko's career. The story leads to Slamboree and a Cruiserweight battle royal. The winner would face Jericho immediately afterward. To everybody's surprise, the Mexican jobber Ciclope won - only to reveal himself as Dean Malenko! Malenko beat Jericho in five minutes to win the Cruiserweight Title.
In the following weeks, Jericho began complaining about a conspiracy until Dean Malenko for some reason decided to forfeit the title to get another match with Jericho. Jericho went on to win that match via disqualification and regain his title. The next month at Bash at the Beach, Jericho was supposed to defend the title against Malenko again, but Dean had been suspended due to breaking their no-contact clause and was replaced by a returning Rey Mysterio! Of course, Malenko got involved again as Rey beat Jericho for the title. As a result of the interference, the decision was overturned the next night on Nitro. The constant back and forth was a little confusing at the time and the fact that Jericho lost the title three times in a short time (he would lose it for good at Road Wild) hurt his otherwise strong run.
6 Not Feeding Him To Goldberg
In the fall of 1998, Jericho began calling out Goldberg for a match. The most infamous stunt during this one-sided rivalry came at Fall Brawl when Jericho beat up a small, bald-headed Goldberg imposter. But the angle died down pretty quickly.
Why? As the story goes, Goldberg (the World Champion at the time) thought Jericho (the TV Champion) was too low on the totem pole, and it would hurt Goldberg to beat up a perceived cruiserweight. While this may be more Goldberg's fault, the fact remains that management could have simply booked a quick squash - which was exactly what Jericho wanted.
5 Not Pushing Him Up The Card As TV Champion
Immediately after losing the Cruiserweight Title, Jericho found other gold in the TV Title. What should have been a move up the card into the heavyweight division ended up being a disappointment.
RELATED: Chris Jericho's 2000 In WWE Made Up For A Lackluster Start
Since Jericho's feud with Goldberg led nowhere, he was booked into a feud with Bobby Duncum Jr before losing the title to Konnan. While he held the title for four months, Jericho's TV Title reign was lackluster and meaningless because there was never any spotlight on it.
4 Not Portraying Him More Seriously
Just before Jericho was taken off television, he had not only gained his personal security guard Ralphus but also Scott Dickenson as his personal heel referee.
However, his goofy heel character began to feel a little played out. It became apparent that the gimmick would only get Jericho so far. After getting beat up by Saturn at Uncensored, WCW should have pulled the plug on Jericho's comedy and given him a new direction.
3 Not Turning Him Babyface
To take the next step up the card, a wrestler often has to turn. Rocky Maivia took the next step and became The Rock. Steve Austin turned from Million Dollar Champion and King of the Ring winner to the Texas Rattlesnake. Triple H turned into the Game - the list goes on and on. In early 1999, Chris Jericho's goofy heel gimmick had run its course. He had taken it as far as he could, and it was time for a change.
RELATED: Chris Jericho's Career Told In Photos, Through The Years
Perry Saturn kicking Jericho's butt at Uncensored could have been the perfect occasion to begin the next chapter in the WCW career of Chris Jericho. But WCW didn't pull the trigger and Jericho decided to go elsewhere to take that next step in his career.
2 Not Renewing His Contract
Jericho had been a staple of WCW television throughout 1997 and especially 1998. He had positioned himself as the goofy midcard heel; a role that had been left vacant on the stacked roster. In that role, Jericho was gold: not only was his promo work fantastic, but he could also deliver in the ring. Renewing his contract seemed to be a no-brainer.
Although both Eric Bischoff and Chris Jericho have since stated that Jericho leaving had more to do with Jericho wanting to work for WWE and less with money, the question is whether Bischoff and WCW couldn't have made a more concerted effort to keep Jericho. The right mix of creative outlook (difficult in WCW then) and monetary compensation would likely have done the trick for at least another year or two.
1 Not Jobbing Him Out
Traditionally, wrestlers lose a string of matches on their way out of a company. Part of the idea is to cool off the wrestler so that he doesn't enter a rival promotion as a hot commodity. Cactus Jack and Steve Austin did jobs on their way out of WCW, while Hall and Nash lost basically every match in WWE in 1996.
1999 WCW was pure mayhem and so management decided to simply not use Jericho on TV after April, although his contract still ran until July. Instead, he only wrestled on a few house shows. Naturally, his absence built up the fans' anticipation, culminating in his big return to TV - on Monday Night Raw on August 9, 1999.
