Crud is Jericho?

[HarmonicGenerator]

Continuing the popular 'crud' series started with Mick Foley last year.

 

So, Pitcos posted this in the Daniel Bryan thread and it's caused people to talk about how they've gone off Chris Jericho.

 

Chris Jericho's turned heel on his most ardent fans.

 

"Look, like I've said before, if you're going to give someone a shot, give them a shot. There've been tons of guys who when they've been put in the main event at WrestleMania might not have been quote unquote ready. Who's to say who's ready and who's not? Let's see how the crowd reacts when they get there. But all I know is that Roman Reigns was everybody's favorite guy until the Royal Rumble. And then everyone turned on Roman Reigns. It's so funny how two days before, and the year before, everybody loved Roman Reigns. Everybody. All the fans did. And don't tell me that you didn't because they were all saying 'Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns ...what? Daniel Bryan didn't win the Royal Rumble? We hate Roman Reigns! Boo!' And meanwhile, ever since then - I mean, we did house shows in Calgary and Edmonton and it was like Beatlemania. They were going nuts for him. And that was a week after the Royal Rumble.

 

So I think that he is ready, as much as anyone can be ready in this day and age. So let's see how it goes. I mean the match he had with Daniel Bryan at Fastlane was incredible. And you can't tell me that it was all because of Daniel Bryan. Really? Because I always heard in the business that it takes two. And I think I've proven myself to be a fairly decent worker, so if I'm telling you it takes two, I think every fan should shut the hell up and listen to what I'm saying. He did a great job of living up to his end of the bargain and he'll do the same thing at WrestleMania. They will leave no stone unturned to make that a great match. They will get all the benefits. All the bells and whistles. And as long as they can hold it together, I think it's going to be great."

 

It seems from some of the posts that followed that people are falling out of love with Y2J. Jerichoholism is being rehabilitated, a coup has overthrown the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah, and so on.

 

Have you gone off Jericho? When, why, how? Or are you still a big fan?

 

I liked Jericho for ages. He was one of my favourites in 2001 and I liked him as champion, I loved the Michaels match in 2003, the Christian rivalry, I met him in 2005 when he was over for a Fozzy tour. He had an awesome Simpsons tshirt on, and was really pleasant and nice to everyone.

 

That said, I did buy a Fozzy tshirt and album to get signed, so that will have helped. I listened to it the next day on the bus. It wasn't very good. But it was cool to meet him (and in a Lost-style coincidence it turned out a work mate I wouldn't meet for another 9 years was also at that signing.)

 

Anyway, I loved save_us.222, loved the Steamboat matches, loved the Mysterio matches, loved his first book.

 

Read his second book. Didn't really like it. The first one was so great because it was all about his passion for wrestling. Book 2 was a lot more about his passion for everything that wasn't wrestling and it all felt a bit ... I don't know, it just didn't click. His most recent returns have been disappointing too, apart from the light up jacket, I can't remember being fussed to see him for a few years now. But I think it's the Internet that's probably put me off him. Any fragility of ego, any self-importance Jericho had has been intensified massively by his online blogs, tweets and so on. If you avoided them you might be unaffected, but I haven't... That said I reckon another (good) return and quitting the Internet would convert me back, and make me a fan again!

 

Your stories, thoughts, opinions, reviews, condemnations and defences of Jericho welcome.

[Scott Malbranque]

I quite like Jericho, for some reason.

He can be very overbearing at times, and harbours ludicrous delusions of grandeur (especially when HBK was on his podcast), but I do think he's a good soul for the most part.

His punctuation in his novels disgusts me, however.

[TheShowOff]

At the end of the day he is a bit of a salesman. He hypes himself up too much at times. But as above, he does seem to have a good soul. If anything I'd say it's a case that he has over exposed himself lately what with all of the podcasts, books, wrestling returns, music shows... He does PR for all of this leaving us with a lot of Jericho. Perhaps too much. But he'd still be somebody I imagine you could neck a beer at a bar with and it be super fucking cool.

[NorthSeaTiger]

I agree with Show Off....all wrestlers are carny salesmen at the end of the day. Some can carry their confidence in an unassuming way, like Daniel Bryan or Sami Zayn, others batter you over the head with it, which Jericho tends to do.

 

Saying that though, sure his actually drawing power/standing in the business may not be as big as guys like The Rock or Steve Austin, but for a time he was promoted as being up there with them, so I guess that validates his opinions that he should be mentioned in the same way. Whether he actually deserves to be is another debate, but I guess with the fact that he was picked by Vince, at a time before the old guy appeared to be going senile, to be THE MAN, in terms of title holding position, would again give him a fair reason to feel he is up there with the all time greats.

 

I like his 1st and 3rd books, his 2nd was a bit heavy on Fozzy stuff which I don't mind, but I'm interested in Jericho the Wrestler....I enjoy his podcast too as he clearly has passion and I find his talking to be engaging and enjoyable to listen to.

A lot of these guys seem to get caught out with the Internet nowadays, it seems like everyone has an opinion on everything, and when that opinion is different from others it gets shit on. But let's face it, the guys is a multimillionaire so he really shouldn't give a shit what some "nameless,faceless" ( see what I did there?!?) posters on the net say about him.

[tiger_rick]

While Jericho can't help dropping in a bit of self-adulation, he's spot on in that article.

 

As for the wrestler, I've never been a fan since he cut his hair and became angry wrestling heel 101.

[gadge]

He was relevant in his last little WWE run, which put him miles above the other comparable in and out guy, RVD.

 

I think Fozzy are awful, particularly because of Jericho singing, but the podcasts of his that I've heard have been entertaining.

 

I enjoy him in moderation, I think I would say overall.

[Guest]

His tattoos are shite

 

He's a cunt with a drink but thinks its cool

 

His fucking ( lack of) pecs

 

"Yeah me too man" to everything bar having given birth on his podcast

 

Probably 90% of everything since his first return I haven't taken to, was one do my favorites when he first came to wwe. Hasn't added anything significant to the shows in years for me

[ColinBollocks]

I sort of admire Jericho's drive to basically live out all his teenage dreams. Yeah, he maybe thinks of himself as a Metallica/The Rock quality star with great hair, while he's doing it, but it's pretty cool that he makes a living doing things he enjoys. He has a decent size audience for it all too.

 

In terms of his output, Fozzy isn't my thing, he's terrible at podcasts, his last book is filled with filler and he's been rubbish since his Punk feud. Yeah, so currently I don't care what he's selling me.

However, he was pretty bloody good back in the day and I thought his Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio and JeriShow feuds featured some of the best TV over the last 7 years or so.

 

He's a knob, but all will be forgiven if he starts producing good content again.

[FUM]

I never liked him when everyone loved him until I read his first book which I laughed my way through, he's alright as far as I'm concerned.

[Briefcase]

I think with Jericho he comes across as himself in podcasts so you kind of either love him or hate him, where as other wrestlers are different away from the ring so can be more likeable even if you don't like them. 

 

You could say Jericho is acting up to his character but not too sure myself, he just seems the same person in and outside the ring and given his whole big loud personality I can see why people he is a dick but also why people think he is a laugh, as said he is okay in small doses but I try to ignore to the social media, podcasts and things away from the ring, there's only so much Jericho you can take. 

[Supremo]

Loved Jericho as a kid. Absolutely loved him. His debut with The Rock was incredible and that night when he beat Hunter for the title only for it to be reversed is one of my favourite RAWs ever. I also thought his heel run when he cut his hair off and started wearing a suit was massively underrated, with both the Mysterio and HBK feuds being brilliant.

 

Fucking hell though. His podcast is absolutely dreadful, and it's done such a good job of revealing his true (shit) personality, that any good will I had towards him has been completely eroded. His fake laugh alone is genuinely bad enough to where I'm able to disregard his entire career.

 

It actually annoys me when he has good guests on, because no matter how much I'd enjoy hearing from his guests, it's never enough to where I'm able to suffer through his dog shit hosting and interviewing.

[Arch Stanton]

I think that he is massively irritating on his podcasts, but that's about as far as my ill will extends with him. I think he's one of the good guys really. 

[herbie747]

Someone on here described him perfectly the other day: "he's smart for a dumb guy".

[King Pitcos]

He's not done anything I've enjoyed much in about a decade, bar JeriShow and that time he did horror film vignettes and idiots got outraged that when he returned he didn't turn Raw into a Ringu sequel. The return before that as well, actually, when people "deciphered the code" and ended up demanding refunds because he didn't appear on some shitty B-PPV they'd convinced themselves he'd be at.

 

His actual comebacks now are proper diminishing returns. That's on him as well as WWE. He's just another shitty midcarder, but he looks worse than most. As someone said above, though, he's not as bad as RVD.

[air_raid]

I've always been a fan of Jericho as a reliable hand bell to bell (which is funny, because he thinks "good hand" is a curse) but with the knowledge that someone once told him he's good and should be a main event player, and like Marion Cotillard in Inception the idea has taken root so deeply that it completely took over his mind and became the bedrock his personality is built on. I started going off the character as soon as he started referring to himself as "the best in the world at what I do" because I knew that it was based on how he actually felt about himself, and rather than think "deluded heel, brilliant, can't wait to see the babyface beat you" it actually became "Piss off Jericho, you're not as good as you think you are, I'd rather watch cartoons than listen to you drone on any more."

 

It's hard because sometimes he seems like an alright sort with his heart in the right place and you get the impression he knows how to have a laugh, but having recently sampled his podcast for the first time, he comes across very much as that guy in his 40s that's laying it on super-thick with the funny voices and weird slang to try and convince the early 20 somethings that's he's still cool, or perhaps to convince himself. He can still occasionally be funny but it's more when he just comes out with a quickfire comeback but when he's really trying to be funny, it's rather forced and over the top at times.

 

Ultimately I view the guy with almost a 50/50 mix of "like" and "ridicule" because at best he's overbearing, at worst he's an egomaniac crybaby who kicks off when other people don't agree with how awesome he is. I posted this meltdown to The Internet vs Wrestling from the wake of King of the Ring 2002, and it needs repeating here, as it's Chris' thread :

 

 

Hello Jackoffs...

 

All right, I've had it. You want a war? Now you've got one. I'm suffering from a bout of Insomnia, so I decided to go on the web and check out the reviews of the King Of The Ring from tonight, more specifically on the PW Torch website. After reading what all of you "Smarks" (and believe me, you are all still marks) had to say about my match and the show, I am furious.

 

Everybody has the right to an opinion and here's mine. I am sick of all you holier than thou, pompous jackasses. That's it. That's all. Baby goes to sleep now. I had one of my best matches of the year tonight with RVD, that featured 20 minutes of tremendous action, innovative false finishes and an absolutely tremendous crowd. It was everything I could've asked for in a match and it was in my opinion, an off the charts performance from RVD and myself, match of the year calibre .

 

Well if you didn't like my match tonight, then you are out of luck if you're a Jericho fan, cause it was the best you're gonna get, jerky. That was CJ at his finest. Wrestling at it's finest. A great 4 1/2 star performance with an tremendous build, a great crowd and an awesome match. If you didn't like it, then stop watching me and stop watching the WWE and take up bowling, cause you will never like anything we give you. I'm the first one to admit when my performance is not up to snuff, or when something was bad and I'm the most self critical person on the WWE roster, but tonight's performance was me at my finest. Didn't like it? Get the F out then and good riddance to you. For all of you that enjoyed my match I say thanks. For those that didn't like it, I don't care cause I'm through with you.

 

I am now finished with the internet and I'm finished with this sight (sic) because I hate what you marks are doing. You've spoiled it for me. You're negativity is ridiculous. You all come off like a bunch of bitter know-it alls, who won't be happy with anything we give you. Nothing is ever good enough and quite frankly I'm over it. You are the same people that are saying that Attack of the Clones is boring, analyzing every little detail, instead of allowing yourselves to be entertained.

 

It seems that all of you wish the wrestling business would dry up and die, because some of you dislike EVERYTHING we do. Is it always good? No, but we are killing ourselves to try and entertain you and if you don't respect that then kiss my ass. I want the business to be around forever and I am doing my part to keep it great and I did that tonight, no matter what any of you think.

 

Alot (sic) of the boys pander to you on their websites, asking for your input and your thoughts and I used to be one of them. Guess what? I'm not anymore. Think what you want. I don't care. Do what you want. I don't care. Respond how you want too as well, because I won't be reading. I don't give a damn about what you think anymore...

 

One of the best wrestlers in the world and one of the performers in the best match of the night and match of year candidate from the KOR,

Chris Jericho

 

Nothing like giving your Internet critics ammunition by throwing your toys out of the pram over something two or three people said on the Internet.....