Real Name: Chris Irvine
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 225lbs
Hometown: Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada
Titles Held: ECW Television Championship, WCW Cruiserweight Championship( 4), WCW Television Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship (4), WWF European Championsip, WWF Hardcore Championship, WWF Tag Team Championship
Federations Worked With: Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation
Finishing Manuever: The Walls of Jericho
Wrestling Aliases: "Lionheart" Chris Jericho, "Y2J" Chris Jericho


Career Sketch

Chris Jericho may be young, but he is already one of the top names in the sport. At such a young age he has already been in all three big promotions and won a championship in each, not many can claim that. He is charasmatic, talented, and one of the best there is on the mic. This is the story of the "Ayatoallah of Rock and Rolla."

Chris Irvine grew up in Canada the son of NHL star Ted Irvine. He was a great athlete and excelled in many sports. He enjoyed them, but when he saw pro wrestling, he loved it. He knew then and there what he wanted to do for a living.

Chris began to study after the legendary Hart family in Canada. He made his professional debut on October 2, 1991. He made a few appearences in Japan. He wrestled on the Calgary independent circuit until he joined Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling in 1992. He was placed in a tag team with Lance Storm, and then began to feud with Storm.

Chris was working in Canada and San Francisco. In 1993 he won CRMW Heavyweight title and defended it on several occasions until he lost it in February of 1993. After stints in Mexico and Germany, Chris went to Japan to work full time. He had a great year in Japan, competing with some of the world's top Cruiserweight talent.

Jericho came to the USA in March of 1994 when he joined Smokey Mountain Wrestling. He was once again teamed with Lance Storm to compete in an impressive tag team. Jericho broke his arm though, and returned to Japan. After more stints and title reigns in Japan and Mexico, including a memorable feud with the Ultimo Dragon, Jericho made his debut in 1996 for ECW.

After a short time in ECW, Jericho earned a shot at the ECW TV title by defeating Mikey Whipwreck. He fought Pit Bull 2 in June of 1996 for the belt and defeated him. Chris could not hold on to the title long though, and he lost it at Heat Wave 1996 when he was the first eliminated from a four corners match with 2 Cold Scorpio, Pit Bull 2, and Shane Douglas.

The ECW career of Chris Jericho was short, as he left the company in August of 1996 for WCW. Jericho made his WCW debut a few weeks later when he defeated Jerry Lynn in his first match. His WCW Pay Per View debut was at Fall Brawl 1996 when he lost to Chris Benoit. At Halloween Havoc 1996, Jericho and Syxx(now known as X-Pac) put on a great match, but Syxx's nWo mates had ref Nick Patrick in their pocket, so Patrick made sure that the "Lionheart" Chris Jericho did not win.

After that, Jericho challenged Patrick to a match at World War 3 1996. Jericho defeated Patrick with one hand tied behind his back. Chris then moved on to challenge in the Cruiserweight division. Jericho took on Eddy Guerrero at Superbrawl VII for the United States title, it was a great match but both wrestlers were not over with the fans, Guerrero won, and WCW decided to change Jericho's gimmick.

Jericho was in the dog house for about four months until he recieved a Cruiserweight title shot against Syxx in June of 1997. Jericho won the match and the title and began defending it emideatley against the likes of Ultimo Dragon and Alex Wright(now known as Berlyn). At Clash of the Champions XXXV, Jericho took on Guerrero again. It was another good match and Jericho retained the title, only to lose it to Guerrero a few weeks later at Fall Brawl 1997.

Chris then hit a slump in WCW and had an uneventful couple of months.Chris was still a face and took on Scott Hall on a November 1997 edition of Nitro, Jericho won the match, the then biggest victory of his career, but he was creamed by the nWo after the match. After the nWo attack, Jericho adopted a new primadonna attitude, he would go on childish tirades when he lost matches. At Souled Out 1998, Jericho took on Rey Mysterio, Jr. Mysterio had just won the Cruiserweight title, so it became a Cruiserweight title match. Jericho easily won the match and the belt for a second time, and then commenced to destroy Mysterio with weapons after the match.

The heel Jericho was a better Jericho, he began referring to his "fans" as Jerichoholics, and constantly beraded every opponent he had. Jericho started using the catch phrase "Welcome to Monday Night Jericho." At Superbrawl VIII, he took on Juventud Guerrera in a mask vs title match. Jericho was pretty confident, and rightfully so, he defeated Jericho handely and taking Guerrera's mask off in the process.

Jericho then began a very long feud with Dean Malenko. The first match in the rivalry took place at Uncensored 1998, and Jericho came out on top to retain the title. After the match, Malenko "retired" from WCW, Jericho however, continued to take digs at Malenko every chance he could get. At Spring Stampede 1998, Jericho took on Malenko student Prince Iaukea, and Jericho won the match easily.

Jericho continued to take digs at Malenko and Malenko's father. With not much competition for the Lionheart, WCW booked a 15-man Cruiserweight battle royal for #1 contendership to Jericho's title at Slamboree 1998, the winner ended up being a masked wrestler named Ciclope, who ended up to be Dean Malenko. The match took place immediatley, it was a decient match, and Malekno won the title with the Texas Cloverleaf, ending Jericho's reign.
After the loss, Jericho claimed to be a conspiracy victim. To get Jericho in the ring, Malenko was forced to vacate the title. At Great American Bash 1998, the took each other on again. The match ended when Malenko used a chair in frustration, Jericho was awarded the title the next night on Nitro.

Jericho was forced to face Malenko within 30 days to keep the title, Jericho also enlisted the services of Ultimo Dragon to take out Malenko. The two were supposed to meet at Bash at the Beach 1998, but J.J. Dillon made a stipulation that if either man touched the other before the match, they would be suspended. After Jericho made a comment about Malenko's mother, Dean came down to the ring and pulled out a clunk of the Lionheart's hair and was suspended, voiding the match.

At Bash at the Beach, Jericho took on Rey Mysterio, Jr. Dean Malenko came down and helped Mysterio get the pinfall for the title. The next night on Nitro, Jericho found the loophole, that if a suspended wrestler affects the outcome of a match, the match is null and void, Chris was still the Cruiserweight champion. On a July edition of Nitro, Jericho and Malenko met again, and it would be Malenko's last shot at the belt no matter what.

Malenko was disqualified for using Jericho's brass knuckles, and this year long feud seemed to be over. It was not over though, because at Jericho's defense at Road Wild 1998 against Juventud Guerrera, Malenko was named referee. Needless to say, Malenko helped Juvi out, and Jericho lost the belt.
In a few weeks on Nitro, Chavo Guerrero was scheduled to take on Stevie Ray for the WCW TV title, Chavo was a no show when Jericho stole and hid his play horse Pepe. Jericho took the match. During the match, The Giant(now known as The Big Show) came down and Chokeslammed Stevie Ray, allowing Jericho to win the TV title, it looked like the nWo Hollywood was recruiting Jericho.

Match after match of Jericho's ended in a Giant Chokeslam, but after a little while, WCW seemed to drop the angle completley. At Fall Brawl 1998, Jericho came out and challenged then WCW Champion Goldberg to a match. Goldberg's music played, but a short, fat, imitation of Goldberg came out. Jericho dominated the bogus Godberg, and began to claim he was the first man to defeat Goldberg. Jericho continued to challenged Goldberg, and claimed that he had beaten him three more times, but in actuality, Jericho never even got in the ring with Goldberg.

On a November 1998 edition of Nitro, Jericho took on the red hot nWo Wolfpac in the form of Konnan, Jericho tried to use his TV belt on Konnan, but Konnan dodged Jericho and pinned him, costing Jericho his TV title.
After a slow few months, Jericho began to feud with Perry Saturn. At this time, Jericho seemed to have alligned with referee Scott Dickinson. Dickinson helped him win many matches, including one at Souled Out 1999, which forced Saturn to start wearing a dress. Two met again at Superbrawl IX, but Jericho won by count out with the help of Dickinson. Once again the two locked up at Uncensored 1999 in a dog collar match, this time Saturn won when Jericho had a spat with his "security guard" Ralphus.

After a slow series of weeks, Jericho was entered in a US title tournament for the title Scott Hall had been stripped of. Jericho bowed out early when he lost to Scott Steiner, but when he kissed up to President Ric Flair, he was allowed back in the tournament taknig over for an injured wrestler. Two matches took place between Booker T. and Jericho to declare a winner, but interference by Steiner and Stevie Ray caused Jericho to lose.

Around this time, Jericho disapeared from WCW programming, rumors of his contract situation arose, and Jericho was said to be headed to the WWF. Chris had a hard time figuring what he should do, on one hand, he could make more money in WCW, but on the other hand, the WWF planned to make Jericho a top of the line star. Chris continued to work WCW house shows, but on June 30, 1999, the WWF announced that they had signed Chris Jericho.

Jericho's last match with WCW was at a house show where he and Eddy Guerrero took on Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jericho announced that if he lost the match, he would leave WCW. Of course, they lost, and then Jericho in typical fashion, started to degrade the fans, his partner, and his opponents, the other three wished Jericho the best, and Chris Jericho left WCW.

About a month before his scheduled debut, the WWF began to flash a "Minllenium Countdown Clock" on comercial breaks. The clock was up on August 9, and when the Rock was cutting a promo, the clock appeared on the titantron and counted to zero. The lights went out, pyros went off, and Chris Jericho appeared and said "Welcome to Raw is Jericho!" He called himself the "Y2J problem" and began to claim he was here to save the floundering WWF from lackluster stars like The Rock. The next week, Y2J did the same thing during a Big Show/Undertaker promo, at Summerslam 1999, Jericho did the same during a Road Dogg promo.

Chris' first WWF match was on the debut of Smackdown against Road Dogg. Chris dominated the match, and took the D-O-Double G out of action for about a month. Jericho also had Howard Finkle in his corner, as Finkle tool on Ralphus' WCW role. Jericho began to feud with Ken Shamrock and the two were scheduled to meet at WWF Unforgiven. Just before the match however, Shamrock injured himslef and Jericho had to fight X-Pac on the Pay Per View. Jericho also canned Finkle, and hired Curtis Hughes as his tag team partner/bodyguard. After a slow month, Jericho canned Hughes to go solo.

A night after Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title, Jericho came out and challenged her to a title match at Survivor Series 1999, it was a great match, but Chyna came out on top. After the match, Jericho snapped, started attacking Chyna, and even destroyed her thumb with a hammer. Even with the injury, Chyna granted Y2J another title shot at Armageddon, this time Jericho did not disapoint, and he walked out of the Pay Per View the new Intercontinental Champion.

Jericho then began to slowly turn face, and granted Chyna a rematch on the last WWF show of 1999. The match ended when two referees disputed who won and the title was vacated. On the next Raw, Stephanie McMahon declared that they would have to share the IC belt. This did not sit well with Jericho or Chyna. Harcore Holly then stepped in and got involved in the feud. At Royal Rumble 2000, the three met for the undisputed IC championship. Jericho came out on top.

After the match, Jericho and Chyna began to work together, supposedly they respected each other a great deal. After a few slow weeks, European Champion Kurt Angle challenged Y2J to a IC title match at No Way Out, Jericho accepted and the match took place. Angle won the match in very controversial fashion, and later in the night, Jericho and Chyna attacked Angle in the parking lot.

Jericho got a few rematches against Angle for the Intercontinental championship, but to no evail. After a few weeks, WWF new comer Chris Benoit got involved in the feud, attacking both Angle and Jericho on numerous occasions. At Wrestlemaina 2000, Angle, Jericho, and Benoit competed in a two fall triple threat match. The first fall being for Angle's Intercontinental belt, the second for Angle's European belt. The first half of the match was great, with tremendous back and forth action, eventually, Benoit pinned Jericho to win the IC belt. The second half was no different, as the three men battled, and in the end, Y2J pinned Benoit to become European champ for the first time.

The next night on Raw, Chris defended the European title for the first time against Eddy Guerrerro. In weeks prior, Guerrerro had a feud with Jericho's friend Chyna, and Chris was defending the 9th Wonder of the World. The match went on, but when the ref was knocked out, Chyna came into the ring, handed the European title to Chris, and raised his hand. Next however, she clotheslined Chris, and Eddy returned to pin Jericho, dethroning the one day champion.

After a few rematches with Guerrerro, Chris challenged Benoit to an IC title match, and one was booked for Backlash. A few weeks before Backlash, Jericho was in the back, and "accidently" mistook Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley for one of the Godfather's hos. Then on Raw, Jericho was to fight WWF champion, and Stephanie's husband Triple H in a non title match. Before th match though, Jericho goated HHH into making it a WWF title match. Jericho then revealed he had hired The Acolytes to protect him. It was an exciting match, and since ref Earl Hebner had a personal vendetta with Triple H, he used a fast count, and Jericho became the WWF champion. After the match though, Triple H threatened Earl Hebner, and made Earl reverse the decision, voiding the match. In the record books, Jericho's world title reign does not exist.

Backlash came, and so did the match with Benoit. It was an excellent match, the two work well together. Jericho was DQd though, when he used the IC belt to hit Benoit. However, the next week on Smackdown, with Hebner's help, Jericho defeated Benoit to once again become IC champion. The next week on Raw, with The Rock not there, Jericho was the top face in the WWF. Vince McMahon booked Y2J to face Angle for the IC title, which Jericho won. Then, he was booked to defend against Big Show, but Big Show was occupied chasing Shane McMahon. Finally, Vince booked Chirs to defend against Benoit with Triple H as ref. As expected, HHH screwed Jericho when he ended the match, even though Jericho had never submitted, giving Benoit the IC belt.

The two were then booked for Judgement Day in a submission match. The rivarly was built up very well again, and when Judgement Day came, it was a good match. However, Benoit won when he put Jericho unconsious with the Crippler Crossface, retaining the Intercontinental title.

In the next few weeks, Jericho qualified for the 2000 King of the Ring, and was immediatley a favirote in the tourney. He faced Angle in the first round, but with Stephanie McMahons interference, Angle won, on his road to the title itself. However, Jericho got last laugh when he laid a kiss on Steph.

That kiss however, enraged Triple H, and the two met in a last man standing match at Fully Loaded 2000. It was an excellet match, with Triple H getting the win. After that, Benoit re-entered Chris' picture, and the two were booked in a best-two-out-of-three-falls match at Summerslam 2000. In another great match, Jericho came up short, the story of his WWF career.

After Summerslam, Jericho began a feud with X-Pac, as D-X was no more. The two clashed at Unforgiven 2000, and at No Mercy 2000 in a cage match, Jericho won both matches in a very boring feud.

After the X-Pac feud, Jericho did a little promotional work on the WWF with his band Fozzy, who had just released an album. Jericho then began a feud with Kane that had started when Chris accidently spilt coffee on Kane in the back. The two clashed often, it seemed like they fought in some way on every show. At Survivor Series 2000, Jericho and Kane clashed one on one, and Kane won when he caught Jericho by the throat as Jericho was in mid-air on a moonsault.

After Survivor Series, Jericho began competing as a partner in many tag matches, including partnering with The Rock and Steve Austin. At Armageddon 2000, the WWF decided to once again hook Jericho and Kane up, but this time in a last man standing match. The match ended stragley, when Jericho stacked a ton of barrels over Kane, and when Kane could not get up, Jericho was declared winner.

After the buzz of the Kane feud died, the WWF brought back Jericho's best feud, Chris Benoit. Benoit held the Intercontinental Championship, so once again the belt would be on the line in this feud. The two were then scheduled to compete in a ladder match at the Royal Rumble 2001. In what was an excellent match, Jericho came out of the ladder with the Intercontinental title for the fourth time.

After the ladder match, Jericho was thrown into a multi-person feud for the Intercontinental championship. After weeks of build-up, Jericho defended the belt at No Way Out 2001 against Benoit, Eddie Guerrerro, and Billy Gunn. Benoit and Guerrerro had inner-Radical problems in this match, which allowed Y2J to leave with the belt unscathed.

When March approached, Jericho began to have lots of problems with the Commisioner of the WWF, William Regal. A few weeks before Wrestlemania XVII, Regal booked himself to take on Jericho for the IC title at the event. After pretty good build-up, the match took place, and saw Chris come out of the match with his belt, his first career singles win at Wrestlemania.

The next day, a Jericho saved Trish Stratus from a Stephanie McMahon/William Regal attack. After this, Jericho began to ironically enough, allign with Benoit, who had been ousted from the Radicalz and was in the beginning stages of a face turn. On Smackdown! a few days after Wrestlemania, Jericho was booked to defend the Intercontinental title against Triple H, Regal's revenge for the Trish save on Raw. With Triple H's alliance with people like Austin, Vince McMahon, his wife, and Regal in place, it was too much for Jericho to overcome, and Helmsley left the show with the IC belt.

After losing the IC title, the WWF then moved to push Jericho and Benoit as a team, as they began to befriend each other, the angle was pushed slowly until Judgement Day 2001, when Benoit was named as Jericho's mystery tag team partner in a tag team turmoil match. The Canadian Connection won the match, which earned them a tag team title shot vs the champions HHH and Steve Austin the next night. It came, and it was one of the better TV matches in a while, HHH even tore muscles in his leg, yet continued. To the delight of the crowd in attendence, Jericho and Benoit were able to come out of the match the new tag team champions.

On Smackdown later that week, Vince McMahon, seeking to get the belts of Chris and Chris, booked them in TLC3, against the Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian. This, in my opinion, was the best non-PPV match in WWF history, it had a turning point when Benoit, who had done a broken rib spot earlier in the match, returned from the back and eventually was the man who climbed the ladder and grabbed the belts to retain them.

Vince was now livid, and the next Raw, in Benoit's home of Calgary, booked each of them in matches, Jericho's being against The Big Show for the hardcore title, with the most impressive of the two getting Austin for the WWF Title in the main event. Jericho beat TBS pretty handily on won the HC title for the first time, however, on his way to the back he was attacked by Rhyno, and with the HC Title's 24-7 rules, Rhyno pinned Jericho and won the HC Title, subsequently, Benoit was chosen to face Austin. A couple weeks carried on with Benoit vs Austin, Jericho vs Austin, and combinations of both. It wasnt until a June Raw when Linda McMahon forced Regal to book the main event for King of the Ring 2001 to be Austin defending the WWF Title against Jericho and Benoit in a triple threat match.

On the Smackdown! before KOTR, Jericho and Benoit hit a roadblock. With Austin's interference, they lost the tag team titles to the Dudley Boyz. So, on came King of the Ring. There was a rumor that if either Chris won, they would take the belt and defect to Shane McMahon's WCW. The match came, and it was a dandy. It included interference from WCW's Booker T, which derailed Austin a little. However, it was not Y2J's night, as when he was down, Austin rolled up Benoit for the pin.

That brings me to today. Jericho is now a semi-main eventer, and is closing in on being the most popular man in wrestling today. He has charisma, talent, and alot more. The WWF really has one of the best young superstars today to lead them into the new millenium.

Pat McGregor
Send feedback to patmcgregor@tpww.net

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