Chris Jericho (real name Chris Irvine) is a
professional wrestler.
He was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada; his father was a professional
hockey player with the
New York Islanders. He stands around 6'
and weights 231 pounds.
After becoming a professional wrestler, he went to work in independent
federations in the United States and also did some tours of Japan.
He was a participant in the 1995 Super J-Cup competition in Japan, which
is considered by many to be one of the best wrestling cards in history.
His great performance there (including a spectacular match against Chris
Benoit, known then as the Pegasus Kid) led to him being signed with Extreme
Championship Wrestling right afterwards.
He spent only a few months in ECW before being picked up by World
Championship Wrestling in 1996. Initially a babyface, he slowly
turned heel after a few months. He'd mercilessly make fun of opponents,
calling them by the wrong name, hiring midgets to impersonate them, and
generally being a complete prick. Fans loved to hate him. But,
because of the wonderful backstage politics typical of WCW at the time,
the more heat Jericho got, the more they tried to bury him to protect the
upper players' spots from being threatened. Disillusioned by realizing
he'd never be able to break through the glass ceiling into the main event,
he did not resign with WCW when his contract expired in 1998.
After taking a few months off while the no compete clause of his old
WCW contract played out, Jericho debuted in the World Wrestling Federation
in the summer of 1999 after being hyped for months. He immediately
established himself as a heel, moving into feuds with Ken Shamrock,
X-Pac, and other midcarders. He slowly turned face, more because
the WWF just couldn't ignore the positive reaction he was getting than
because of anything else.
His popularity soared in early 2000, when the addition of Kurt Angle
and Chris Benoit to the WWF roster gave Jericho two terrific technical
wrestlers to work with. Jericho feuded with the two of them, on and
off, for months on end, culminating in a terrific three-way match at Wrestlemania
2000 with the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship
both on the line.
That summer, he was moved into a main event feud with HHH, who was
the WWF Champion at the time. Jericho briefly "won" the title on
Raw is War, although the decision was reversed twenty minutes later.
They continued to have great matches throughout the summer, even headlining
a Pay-Per-View with HHH during that period.
After a few stupid feuds with Kane, William Regal and others, Jericho
was again pushed into the main event in early 2001, when a highly successful
teaming with Chris Benoit led to the two of them being given the WWF
Tag Team Championship and elevated into the stratosphere by working
a series of matches with HHH and Stone Cold Steve Austin. After
HHH suffered a (real) crippling leg injury and was forced out of the storyline,
Benoit and Jericho continued to pursue Austin, most recently headlining
the 2001 King of the Ring with the three of them wrestling a three-way
match for the WWF Championship.
WWF Career Highlights
-
WWF Champion (decision later reversed)
-
WWF Intercontinental Champion (4 times)
-
WWF European Champion
-
WWF Hardcore Champion
-
WWF Tag Team Champion