The Shoot #48
January 19, 2010
By: Joshua Piedra of WrestleView.com
-The First Shot-
Hello everyone and welcome to your 48th edition of The Shoot. Again, I must thank each and every one of you that participated in the 2009 Year End Awards. It was my pleasure to host them in place of Anthony Valvo in order to help lighten up his load. Had I gone and went with normal columns over the past five weeks, it would be been time for a Wrestler Spotlight as I promised to do one about every eight columns. I decided to make the winner of the Tag Team and the Singles Wrestler of 2009 the focus of the next two spotlights, which I am going to deliver back to back, but that just means that we?ll go for a long stretch without another spotlight column.
But the spotlight isn?t the only thing I have for you this week. We have your customary quick shots, some PPV Prediction results and thoughts, and this week in Culture Shock I am going with a certain cheeseburger review that I think you?ll get a kick out of.
So sit back, strap yourself in and get ready for a column packed full of facts and things you?ve always wanted to know about two of your favorite wrestlers.
-Quick Shots-
I stopped by the Ring of Honor boards and there was a post on there that made me shake my head. They are bashing ?American Dragon? Bryan Danielson because he was being billed in FCW as ?International Superstar? Bryan Danielson. While the nickname is a little on the generic side, it is, kind of, speaking the truth? and that is IF and ONLY IF that is his nickname. Could it possibly be that since he has toured the world, that they are promoting him as such to try and get him over? Another interesting fact is that he is also being billed as a WWE Superstar and not an FCW wrestler, but the ROH fans cannot accept this because the world has to come to an end just because he wasn?t called ?The Best Wrestler in the World? or ?American Dragon? on the FCW flyer. Oh yeah? they are also bitching and complaining about wrestler, on the ROH boards, who doesn?t even work for ROH anymore! My God? GET OVER YOURSELVES!
WWE released Eric Escobar?. Moving on.
The Rock stated that he is pretty much slated to be a future host of Monday Night Raw. He said that things were about to fall into place, but he was booked down in Mexico to promote his movie at the time that the WWE wanted him, but he stated that he is still working something out with Vince McMahon and that when he does host Raw, it will be something special. I, personally, cannot wait. I know that a lot of people kind of crapped on The Rock to pursue a movie career, but look at it this way? what else could The Rock do? He’s won pretty much everything in the WWE and if he was there today, he?d probably still be feuding with HHH, Shawn Michaels, or any other big name that was there about eight years ago when he was, but I digress. The Rock being in front of a WWE crowd once again would be amazing and I would definitely tune in for that one.
Tommy Dreamer has Evolved?. Moving on.
That’s about all that interested me this week? another dry week in professional wrestling with nothing really major going on. Sigh?
-The Big Shot: Wrestler Spotlight “Jerishow”-
THE BIG SHOW
Ok? so if you missed last week’s column and are wondering ?Wait? didn?t you do a wrestler spotlight on Chris Jericho?? The answer to that is Yes! Now? in a possible ?Cheap? move, I am going to copy and paste that column into here, right after I do The Big Show. Last week, I stated that I was going to just post a link to my column? BUT? I am too lazy to dig through the archived links of Wrestleview.com to find it, so it?ll be easier to just copy/paste.
PLUS? if you MISSED my wrestler spotlight on Chris Jericho (if you did.. FOR SHAME!), this will save you some searching and you?ll get it all right here in one column! With that being said? let’s get talking about the largest athlete on the planet!
Paul Wight made his professional wrestling debut in 1994 after being discovered by Jim Strauser, owner of a Karaoke distributorship, Wight was originally viewed as a potential NFL prospect, but Wight showed little interest in Football. Wight did, however, expressed interest in professional wrestling. Jim Strauser then contacted Danny Bonaduce, who hosted a Chicago radio show, and arranged for the meet up between Paul Wight and Hulk Hogan. Wight trained at Larry Sharpe’s Monster Factory for about seven months and then signed with World Championship Wrestling in March 1995. He polished his wrestling skills at the WCW Power Plant, where at one point he possessed the ability to perform a moonsault. He then made his debut shortly at the 1995 Bash at the Beach PPV under the name The Giant. He was claiming to be the son of Andre the Giant and blamed Hulk Hogan for killing his father (which reminds me? friends don?t let friends drink and book).
This led The Giant to join the Dungeon of Doom and pursue a storyline with Hulk Hogan that would culminate in one of the WORST gimmick matches in professional wrestling history. At WCW Fall Brawl, The Giant attacked Hogan while Hogan was wrestling against Kevin Sullivan. The Giant then went and proceeded to destroy Hogan’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a monster truck. This lead to the Monster Truck Challenge at Halloween Havoc where two monster trucks driven by Hogan and Giant, would try to push each other out of a circle like a Sumo Wrestling Match? AGAIN.. friends don?t let friends drink and book!
Despite falling off the roof, he showed up on Monday Nitro at the side of Kevin Sullivan and challenged Hulk Hogan to a match for the WCW World Championship. Hogan accepted and The Giant won via disqualification after Jimmy Hart interfered. What is unique about this match? Well, this was actually Paul Wight’s first official pro-wrestling match? and it was for the WORLD TITLE. Now THAT?S how you make a debut in the world of professional wrestling! Well.. minus the whole monster truck thing?
However? Mr. Mouth of the South had a plan.. He stated that the contract Hogan signed said that the title would change hands on a DQ and that Hart intentionally caused the DQ and because he had done so? The Giant was the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The title was then held up because of the horrible booking.
It wouldn?t be until about a year later that The Giant would regain the World Title. He tried twice against Hogan in the mean time, but couldn?t get the job done. It wasn?t until he defeated ?The Nature Boy? Ric Flair that he would gain his second world title. Bash at the Beach 1996 rolled around and Hogan formed the New World Order. Hogan would then go on to unseat The Giant at WCW Hog Wild. Twenty-three days later, The Giant ended up joining the nWo. He then sparked a feud against Lex Luger and The Four Horsemen.
After the feud culminated, The Giant was thrown out of the New World Order in December of 1996 by asking Hulk Hogan for a world title shot. The began a feud against the New World Order? this time, his partners would be Sting and Lex Luger. With Lex Luger, he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions.
In 1997, The Giant started a feud with Kevin Nash. This would culminate at the 1998 Souled Out PPV where the infamous Jackknife Powerbomb botch would injure The Giant’s neck and put him on the shelf. Shortly after this, Kevin Nash defected from the New World Order and formed the Wolfpac. When The Giant was healthy enough to return, he did so by re-joining the nWo Black and White. During his second run with the nWo, he won the WCW World Tag Team Titles two more times? once with Sting and once with Scott Hall.
On October 11, 1998, The Giant had one of the most memorable matches in WCW history when he wrestled Bill Goldberg. The match was incredibly short, just clocking in around the two minute mark, but Goldberg hit the spear after shrugging off The Giant’s choke slam and then proceeded to create a moment in wrestling history. In an incredible display of power, Goldberg held The Giant up in a delayed vertical suplex hold before NAILING an earth-shattering Jackhammer. It was the most glorious defeat in his career.
In 1999, the two New World Orders merged together and Hulk Hogan declared that there was only room for one giant in the organization. This basically set up a match between Giant and Nash. Giant lost the match after interference from Scott Hall and Eric Bischoff. With that, The Giant’s career in WCW was over.
In February of 1999, at the WWF St. Valentine’s Day Massacre PPV, Paul Wight made his WWF debut as a surprise member of Vince McMahon’s Corporation by breaking through the ring during the cage match between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. At that point, he served as McMahon’s personal bodyguard and was billed as ?Big Nasty? Paul Wight. This only lasted for a couple of weeks until he was billed as ?The Big Show? Paul Wight. That lasted only for a little while longer until he finally became just The Big Show.
The Big Show as tossed into a feud with Mick Foley’s Mankind character. At Wrestlemania 15, he wrestled Mankind for the right to referee the main event of the PPV. Show incapacitated Mankind, but ended up getting disqualified in the process. Foley was ?taken to the hospital?. McMahon was upset over Show’s performance and slapped him. Show retaliated by punching McMahon. Shortly after, Show’s feud with Mankind culminated with the famous Boiler Room Brawl. After that match, Show turned face and ended up joining Mankind along with Test, and Ken Shamrock to form The Union. The Union group would then go on to feud with Vince McMahon’s Corporation and then later, Vince and The Undertaker’s Corporate Ministry.
Pm June 7, 1999, The Big Show got his first shot at the WWF Championship by challenging The Undertaker. Undertaker went for a top rope clothesline and Show caught him with a chokeslam that sent Taker through the ring. This caused an end to the match meaning that The Undertaker retained the WWF Championship. Oddly enough, even though they were opponents, they later became partners. Undertaker and Big Show went on to win the WWF Tag Team Championships twice and ended up feuding with X-Pac and Kane. Rumors of Kane joining DX plagued the internet? and even some photoshopped pictures of Kane in a green outfit surfaced? one of the most hilarious rumors that I remember.
At the 1999 Survivor Series, The Big Show was given Steve Austin’s spot in a triple threat match for the WWF Championship since Steve Austin was run over by a car. The Big Show pinned Triple H in that Triple Threat Match (which also featured The Rock) to win his first WWF Championship! After this, Show started a feud that was pretty distasteful. The feud was against The Big Bossman and it even went as far as to having Bossman crash Big Show’s funeral for his father and end up dragging his coffin as it was tied to a car. FRIENDS DON?T LET FRIENDS DRINK AND BOOK!
After retaining his title against The Big Bossman and ended that HORRIBLE storyline, Show was rewarded for enduring that crap by dropping the title to Triple H on the 1/3/2000 edition of Monday Night Raw. In order to try and regain his title, The Big Show participated in the Royal Rumble in which he was eliminated by The Rock, but Show used footage showing that The Rock’s feet hit the floor first before him. To settle this, a match between Rock and Show was set up at No Way Out in which Show won after Shane McMahon interfered and hit The Rock with a chair. This set up the Fatal Fourway match at Wrestlemania 2000 involving him, Mick Foley, Triple H, and The Rock. Show was the first one eliminated from that match.
After this, Show turned face and began to do a comedy act where he would come out and mock different personalities. Some of those personalities included Rikishi, The Berzerker, Val Venis, and even his mentor, Hulk Hogan. This began a feud with Shane McMahon who voiced his disgust for the comedy acts. Shane then defeated Show at Judgment Day after run ins from Test, Bull Buchanon, Albert, and Big Bossman. However, Show ended up turning heel and joined Shane in his Conspiracy group which consisted of him, Shane, Edge, Christian, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle.
The Big Show was then ?written off? television by being thrown through a table by The Undetaker. This was to send Show to Ohio Valley Wrestling in an effort to lose some weight.
Show returned at the 2001 Royal Rumble where he was quickly eliminated by The Rock. He then went on to feud for the WWF Hardcore Championship, but found no success there. Soon after, Vince McMahon began the WCW Invasion since he had purchased his competition. Despite his roots in WCW, The Big Show remained loyal to the WWF.
In 2002, the WWF initiated the brand split where he was drafted to Monday Night Raw by Ric Flair. Also, in 2002, Vince McMahon had signed Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall to the WWF. With this, the New World Order was reformed and The Big Show ended up rejoining his mentor in the revitalized stable, but after Wrestlemania 18 when Hogan and The Rock did a double turn thanks to the crowd, the New World Order storyline was scrapped.
In late 2002, there was a brand trade and Big Show was traded to Smackdown where he started a feud with Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. At WWE Survivor Series, Show defeated Lesnar to become a two time WWE Champion, but he lost the title to Kurt Angle just one month later at Armageddon (which I saw LIVE!). It wouldn?t be until late 2003 where Show would win his next singles title where he defeated Eddy Guerrero for the WWE United States Championship. Show then formed an alliance with Brock Lesnar, but that alliance broke apart right before Wrestlemania XX, in which he lost the US Title to John Cena. After this, Show declared that he would quit the WWE if he couldn?t defeat Eddy Guerrero. Show lost the match and ended up leaving the WWE for several months.
Show returned in 2004 and ended up interfering in a lumberjack match. He got to choose who he wanted to face? Eddy Guerrero or Kurt Angle. Show chose Angle and ended up turning face. Show ended up winning the match. While this was a lackluster feud, Show did move on to one of the more interesting feuds that the WWE had set up.
In 2005, The Big Show was written into a feud with sumo champion Akebono. This set up a scripted sumo match between the two of them at Wrestlemania 21. However, Show ended up losing the match at Wrestlemania. If anything, it was cool to see Show push over a jeep to show his strength!
Show was then drafted back to Monday Night Raw and just ran through the jobbers and mid-carders of the roster. He was then put into a lackluster feud with Snitsky, in which Show won every match they were placed in. After that, Show was in a poll for a WWE Championship match at Taboo Tuesday. He didn?t win the poll. Show finished off this lackluster year by taking part in a Battle of the Brands. 2006 seemed like it may have been a new leaf for Show, but he ended up losing an Elimination Chamber qualifying match, which took him out of the WWE title hunt for the time being. That title hunt would start again with the Road to Wrestlemania storyline which culminated in a triple threat match with Show, Triple H, and Rob Van Dam. Show lost the match when Triple H pinned RVD.
While he didn?t win the big one, Show teamed up with Kane and ended up defeating Carlito and Chris Masters to win his first WWE Tag Team Championship. This reign was very short-lived as they lost the titles the very next night on Raw to the Spirit Squad. In a rematch, Kane snapped and turned on Show which lead to a match between them at Backlash which ended up in a no contest.
On June 7, a battle royal took place between Raw, Smackdown, and the newly branded ECW. Show won the match by taking off his Raw shirt to reveal an ECW shirt and eliminated Randy Orton. Show then appeared at WWECW’s One Night Stand attacking Super Crazy, Tajiri, and Little Guido.
On July 4, 2006, The Big Show made wrestling history. Big Show defeated Rob Van Dam to capture the ECW Championship. At that point, The Big Show became the first and only wrestler in history to hold the WCW, WWE, and ECW World Championship titles. Show would defend his title against all comers including Kane, Ric Flair, and Batista.
Show went on to lose to The Undertaker in the first ever Punjabi Prison Match where he replaced The Great Khali. At Cyber Sunday, there was a Champion of Champions match where the WWE Champion, World Champion, and ECW Champion would participate. Booker T’s World Title was voted to be the title on the line in the match. Booker T ended up retaining his title after Kevin Federline attacked WWE Champion John Cena.
Show continued to hold onto the ECW Championship until the December to Dismember PPV where he lost the championship to newcomer Bobby Lashley. Following the loss, it was announced on WWE.com that Big Show would be taking time off from the WWE to allow nagging injuries to heal.
In 2007, Wight replaced Jerry ?The King? Lawler at the PMG Clash of the Legends event when the WWE pulled Lawler out of his match against Hulk Hogan. Wight (billed as Paul ?The Great? Wight) wrestled Hogan and the ending of the match was a mirror to Hogan’s Wrestlemania 3 match against Andre the Giant. Hogan won the match after a body slam and a leg drop, brother!
A much slimmer Show returned to the WWE in 2008 at No Way Out where he tried to attack Rey Mysterio, but ended up in a feud with Floyd Mayweather Jr which lead to a match between them at Wrestlemania 24. Show lost this match after Maywether used a knockout shot with the assistance of Brass Knuckles. After this, Show had a lackluster feud with The Great Khali which ended with Show beating Khali with a choke slam.
Show then ended up winning a Singapore cane match against Tommy Dreamer, CM Punk, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero. This gave Big Show the number one contendership to the ECW Title where he faced Kane and Mark Henry in a triple threat match at Night of Champions. Show lost that match.
After this, Show had a feud with The Undertaker after his sided with Vickie Guerrero in a love story. Show lost every match he had with The Undertaker and his push seemed to be gone the way of the evening newspaper. There was a glimmer of hope at Wrestlemania 25 when he was booked in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship alongside Triple H and John Cena. Cena ended up winning that match.
After this, Chris Jericho and Edge became the unified tag team champions. Edge then suffered an Achilles Tendon injury. Chris Jericho then picked Big Show to be his new partner? thus the tag team Jeri-Show was born.
CHRIS JERICHO
AS I STATED: THIS IS A COPY OF MY PREVIOUS COLUMN.
After graduating high school in 1988, Christopher Irvine began setting up wrestling rings one year later, however, in 1990, he would begin his official training for professional wrestling by enlisting in the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling. While there, he met a man named Lance Evers, better known to the wrestling world as Lance Storm. Irvine trained for two months and made his debut in October of 1990 where he wrestled Lance Storm to a time limit draw. After their Draw, Irvine would become a tag team with Lance Storm called Sudden Impact (which later became the Thrill Seekers in 1994). It was here where Chris Irvine became known as Chris Jericho as he derived his name from the Helloween album, ?Walls of Jericho?.
As a tag team, the two of them toured through Manitoba, namely in the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance and, in 1993, Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling where the duo became the first pair to win their North American Tag Team Championship. They would win these titles on two separate occasions. From 1994 to 1995, the tag team split and Jericho ended up feuding with Lance Storm over the CRMW Junior Heavyweight Championship, which Jericho won once. Jericho would then move up and win the CRMW Heavyweight Championship, having a single reign with it as well.
However, before departing for ECW in 1996, Jericho traveled to Mexico where he wrestled for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion. In December of 1993, he won the NWA Middleweight Championship and had an impressive eleven month reign. In 1994, Jericho also traveled to Japan to Wrestle and Romance (Later Wrestle Association R which closed its doors in 2000) where he feuded (and later teamed) with Gedo. His teaming with Gedo lead to a WAR Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship reign. Jericho also won the WAR Junior Heavyweight Championship, where he lost it later to Ultimo Dragon. WAR also sponsored the Super J Cup in 1995 which Jericho also took part in where he lost the tournament after being defeated by Chris Benoit.
In 1996, Chris Jericho had a short stint in Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling. In June of 1996, Jericho won the ECW World Television Championship, but his reign would be short lived as less than a month later, Jericho lost the title to Shane Douglas in a fatal fourway match at ECW Heat Wave. Despite his short reign, his talents and wrestling abilities caught the eye of Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling and in August of 1996, Jericho jumped ship from ECW to WCW.
August 26, 1996, Jericho made his WCW debut and wrestled to a No Contest against Alex Wright. Jericho finally got his opportunity in June of 1997 where he defeated Syxx (WWF’s Xpac) for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Two months later, he would win it for a second time by defeating his debut opponent, Alex Wright. On January 24, 1998, Jericho would win the championship for a third time by defeating Rey Misterio Jr at WCW Souled Out. This was the beginning of Jericho’s heel persona as he attacked Rey’s knee with a toolbox after winning the championship.
After turning heel, Jericho feuded with Juventud Guerrera. The feud ended in a match that placed the WCW Cruiserweight Championship against Juventud’s mask. Jericho defeated Guerrera and forced him to remove his mask. After this, Jericho started one of his biggest feuds in WCW, the feud against Dean Malenko. During this period, Malenko was known as ?The Man of 1,000 Holds?. To get under his skin, Jericho became to call himself ?The Man of 1004 Holds?. Jericho refused to wrestle Malenko until their eventual match at Uncensored in 1998. Jericho defeated Malenko which lead to Malenko taking a Leave of Absence from wrestling. Prior to WCW Slamboree, JJ Dillon announced there would be a Battle Royal to see who would face Jericho for the Championship. ?Ciclope? won the Battle Royal and then unmasked as a returning Dean Malenko where he defeated Jericho for the Championship.
This began the Conspiracy Theory portion of Jericho’s WCW career. Malenko ended up vacating the championship where Jericho would go on to defeat Malenko for the vacant title at The Great American Bash. He would go on to lose the title to Rey Misterio Jr only to regain it from him during a presentation of the title to Misterio by JJ Dillon. Jericho would finally lose it to Juventud Guerrera before moving on to another championship.
In August of 1998, Chris Jericho defeated Stevie Ray for the WCW World Television Championship. Although Booker T was the official champion, Stevie Ray stepped to defend the title for his brother. This lead to Jericho calling out WCW World Heavyweight Champion, the undefeated, Bill Goldberg for the 1998 edition of WCW Fall Brawl. At Fall Brawl, Goldberg did not show up, instead, a midget dressed up as Goldberg came out to roman candles, wearing a homemade foam title belt. After making short work of the midget, Jericho claimed to be 1-0 against Goldberg. A few of these matches occurred and Jericho claimed to be 4-0 against Goldberg when it was all said and done. The storyline didn?t really go anywhere and Jericho eventually lost the TV Title to Konan.
Jericho wrapped up his WCW career by feuding with Perry Saturn which lead to Saturn wearing a dress. This lead to a dog collar match between the two where Saturn got his redemption by defeating Jericho. I guess wearing a dress is better than having a relationship with a mop!
In 1999, the WWF began to run a ?Countdown to the Millennium? clock on their Monday Night Raw program. The time on the clock would expire on August 9, 1999, which was a Monday Night. On that night, The Rock came out to cut a promo when the Millennium Clock appeared and ticked down to zero. Chris Jericho came out to proclaim that this was ?Raw Is Jericho?. From this point on, ?Lionheart? Chris Jericho was dead and ?Y2J? Chris Jericho was born.
Jericho began a feud with Chyna for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. He lost to her at the Survivor Series, but later won the championship at WWF Armageddon. The feud even saw the two of them partake in a controversial finish where two referees each proclaimed that Jericho and Chyna won the match. Therefore, they were co-champions until Jericho became the decisive champion at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Jericho lost the title one month later to Kurt Angle, who was also the WWF European Champion. This lead to a Triple Threat Match at Wrestlemania 2000 where each fall would decide a different championship. Chris Jericho walked out of that match as the new WWF European Champion, however, the title reign lasted less than 24 hours as he lost the title to Eddy Guerrero the next night on Raw.
By this time, there was much clamor on the internet about how Jericho should be the WWF Champion. The fans rallied behind Jericho and posts and opinions were everywhere citing the fans? wishes. On April 17, 2000, on Monday Night Raw, Chris Jericho wrestled Triple H for the WWF Championship. The storyline at the time showed that referees, namely Earl Hebner, were tired of physical abuse and when Triple H got in the face of referee Earl Hebner, Hebner shoved Triple H and Jericho capitalized with a Lionsault. After a fast 3 count, Jericho was the new WWF Champion, resulting in one of the loudest pops in Raw history. Triple H then convinced Hebner to reverse the decision, stating that he would never assault him again. Hebner did so and Triple H was awarded the title. The WWF wrote the decision off from their record books as a result.
In May of 2000, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit for his 3rd Intercontinental championship, but lost it back to him four days later on Monday Night Raw, but Jericho would get his revenge and defeat Benoit for his 4th IC title reign at the 2001 Royal Rumble. Jericho would successfully defend the title at Wrestlemania 17 against Regal, but lose it to Triple H on Smackdown. This was when Triple H and Steve Austin formed a team and became known as the Two Man Power Trip. Former rivals teamed up as Jericho and Benoit defeated Triple H and Austin to give Jericho his first WWF World Tag Team Championship reign.
In 2001, Jericho’s former employer, WCW, was purchased by Vince McMahon. During this time, several WCW wrestler contracts were assumed by the WWF and a WCW Invasion angle started with Shane McMahon claiming that he bought WCW from his father and would use it to compete with the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF, but The Rock questioned Jericho’s abilities during this time. At the time, The Rock became the WCW Champion. He faced Chris Jericho at No Mercy where he lost the belt to Jericho, however, they put their differences aside and defeated The Dudley Boyz to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. After losing the belts to Booker T and Test, they ended their partnership and The Rock defeated Jericho in a grudge match to regain the WCW Championship.
During this time The WWF decided that it was time to merge the WWF and WCW Championship titles into one single title called the WWF Undisputed Championship. At WWF Vengeance, Chris Jericho made wrestling history by defeating The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in two different matches to unify both championship belts.
Jericho would hold the Undisputed Title until Wrestlemania 18 where he would lose the championship to Triple H. Jericho was then drafted to Smackdown during the brand split where he continued his feud with Triple H, even going as far to cost him the championship. Jericho would then go on to feud with Edge until he was drafted back to Monday Night Raw where he would win the IC title once again from Rob Van Dam. Jericho would then go on to team with Christian to win the Tag Titles from HurriKane.
At the Royal Rumble in 2003, Jericho selected the #2 entry into the Royal Rumble match in order to wrestle Shawn Michaels. This would culminate at Wrestlemania 19 where Shawn Michaels would defeat Chris Jericho in a match of the year candidate. After the match, they went to embrace to show respect and Jericho low blowed Michaels.
Ironically, after this, Jericho started a rivalry with Goldberg. The feud was based off of Jericho’s 1998 stint in WCW where Goldberg was called out, but the match never happened. At WWF Bad Blood, Jericho and Goldberg finally hooked up and as expected, Goldberg defeated Jericho. After this, Jericho and Christian held a competition so see who could sleep with who. Jericho pursued Trish Stratus which Christian pursued Lita. Christian ended up putting Trish in the Walls of Jericho which lead to match against Jericho at Wrestlemania 20 in which Christian won when Trish turned heel on Jericho and sided with Christian. Jericho would later gain redemption by defeating them in a handicap at Backlash one month later.
This would not be the last of Christian that Jericho would see. Jericho would go on to defeat Christian at Unforgiven for his 7th Intercontinental title, but that, too, would be short lived as he lost it to Shelton Benjamin at Taboo Tuesday.
Jericho’s next big opportunity was at Survivor Series. Jericho teamed with Randy Orton, Maven, and Chris Benoit to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Snitsky where the winner who scored the pinfall would become the General Manager of Monday Night Raw. Chris Jericho won the match to become Raw GM. As General Manager, he stripped Triple H of the Championship and threw himself into the Elimination Chamber match for the newly vacated title, but Jericho would end up being eliminated by Batista. Jericho would then move on to Wrestlemania 21 where he competed in the first ever Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but ended up losing that as well to Edge.
By this time, ECW had been purchased by the WWE and thanks to some motivation by Rob Van Dam, Vince McMahon decided to put on an ECW Pay-Per-View. They even booked it from the Hammerstein Ballroom for that authentic feel. Jericho resumed his old ?Lionheart? nickname for the event and wrestled his first ever opponent, Lance Storm, in what was believed to be Lance Storm’s final match in his wrestling career. Lance Storm ended up defeating Jericho with help from Lance Storm’s former ECW Tag Team partner, Justin Credible. Despite being under the Lionheart gimmick, Jericho still used the Walls of Jericho on Storm during the match instead of the Liontamer. The ECW die-hard fans booed heavily at the move. There is a slight difference in the moves as the Walls of Jericho is a simple Boston Crab where the Liontamer is an elevated crab where Jericho would place his knee into the opponent’s back instead of turning them fully to sit down with the move.
By June of 2005, Jericho’s contract was just about up with the WWE. Jericho partook in a feud with John Cena which culminated in a match where John Cena would face Jericho in a ?you?re fired? match on Monday Night Raw. Cena won the match and Eric Bischoff, the then Raw GM, came out and ?fired? Chris Jericho. Despite signing a contract extension, on August 25, 2005, Jericho announced that he was stepping away from wrestling. After fifteen years and never once taking a break, he was mentally burnt out and needed some time away from the business.
In 2006, Chris Jericho toured with his metal band Fozzy. On September 30, 2006, there was an incident at the Delicious Rox Music Festival when Fozzy’s opening act, American Head Charge, went on stage. A bottle was thrown and the lead singer threw it back and hit a girl in the head. She suffered a severe laceration. Jericho went out to visit the girl while she was being attended to by paramedics. The two bands then got into a heated argument but were broken apart. The concert ended when the director said that the show was being shut down due to the authorities stepping in.
The band has produced three albums with a fourth album in the works. Earlier this year, Fozzy has signed with Riot! Entertainment. Under Riot! They will produce their 4th album, Chasing the Grail, which is slated for release in 2010.
Due to the popularity of the internet and ?viral videos? the WWE used that type of campaign starting in September of 2007. A cryptic message kept displaying on the titantron asking the WWE Universe to ?break the code?. Phrases such as ?Save Us_222? and ?Second Coming? could be seen in the videos. In November of 2007, Randy Orton was holding a ?Passing the Torch? ceremony, mocking the lighting of the summer Olympics torch. During this promo, the screen decoded to Save Us_Y2J. Jericho made his return to the WWE and claimed that he was here to save us from Randy Orton and reclaim the WWE Championship.
Jericho debuted a new finisher on Monday Night Raw against Santino Marello called the Codebreaker. It’s basically a double knee chest buster. On the March 10th edition of Raw, Jericho would defeat Jeff Hardy to become an eight time Intercontinental champion. On June 9, 2008, Jericho turned heel by attacking Shawn Michaels, re-igniting their previous feud. At Night of Champions, he lost the Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston. He then held the final edition of his Piper’s Pit knockoff, the Highlight Reel, on July 28th where Chris Jericho underwent a complete transformation. He disowned all association with the Y2J moniker and started wearing a business suit, proclaiming himself as a self-righteous honest man.
After that, Jericho lost an unsanctioned match to Shawn Michaels at Unforgiven, but later entered the main event as a replacement for CM Punk and ended up winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho later defeated CM Punk in a Steel Cage Match to retain the title and then went on to defeat Shawn Michaels at No Mercy to retain once again. Jericho would lose the title to Batista at Cyber Sunday, but would regain it from Batista a week later on Monday Night Raw. Jericho would hold the championship until Survivor Series where he lost it to a returning John Cena.
WWE then announced the return of the Slammy Awards where Jericho won the Superstar of the Year Award. In January of 2009, Stephanie McMahon came out and ?fired? Chris Jericho, but rehired him one week later after he issued an apology. Jericho went on to feud with Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke over his role as Randy ?The Ram? Robinson in the movie The Wrestler. This began a bunch of segments where Jericho would call out a different legend and berate them for trying to hold onto the spotlight, much like Rourke’s character in the movie. This culminated in a 3 on 1 handicap match at Wrestlemania where Jericho faced Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, and Ricky Steamboat with Ric Flair in their corner. In the end, Jericho defeated all three of them.
After Wrestlemania, WWE held another Draft and Chris Jericho was drafted to Smackdown. Jericho then began a program with Rey Misterio Jr. Jericho ended up defeating Misterio for his ninth Interncontinental Championship. The feud escalated to a title vs mask feud, much like the previous feud with Juventud Guerrera in WCW. Jericho ended up losing the title back to Misterio at WWE The Bash.
During this time, the WWE decided that they would unify the Raw World Tag Team Titles and the Smackdown WWE Tag Team Titles. Carlito and Primo won and became the first ever Unified Tag Team Champions. However, Primo and Carlito’s reign would come to an end when they are defeated by the newly formed team of Chris Jericho and Edge. Edge received an injury to his Achilles tendon and it forced Jericho to pick a new partner. That new partner was the world’s largest athlete, The Big Show. Jerishow is still the current Unified Tag Team Champions despite the fact that they are split.
WWE’s newest PPV concept, Bragging Rights, places the Raw Roster against the Smackdown Roster. With Big Show being a Raw member and Jericho a Smackdown member, an argument ensued and the two will oppose each other in the 7 on 7 tag team match at the Pay-Per-View. On the October 19th edition of Raw, in order to promote the PPV, Chris Jericho once again faced his old rival, Shawn Michaels in which the match never took place as the two teams resulted in a giant brawl.
There you guys have it. The histories of The Big Show and Chris Jericho, YOUR 2009 Tag Team of the Year, 2009 Tag Team Champions of the Year, 2009 WWE Tag Team of the Year, and 2009 WWE Tag Team Champions of the year as voted on by you, the readers, of Wrestleview.com!
-One Extra Round: TNA Genesis PPV Prediction Results-
TNA Genesis is in the books and it was an odd, yet, interesting show. Let’s see how I did with those picks.
Sean Morley vs. Daniels
WINNER: Sean Morley
PICK: Daniels
0-1
Thoughts: This was a pretty nice match. Morley made Daniels shine out there. It actually looked like a pro-wrestling match rather than a spotfest. I actually liked how this one turned out.
Ken Anderson vs. Abyss
WINNER: Ken Anderson
PICK: Bobby Lashley
NOT COUNTED
Thoughts: For us who likes to do predictions, I hate it when a wrestling company does this, but it was a nice way to set up Ken’s debut into TNA, but you could tell that Abyss carried him in that match and when you say that a normal hardcore wrestler, carried Ken Anderson in a non-hardcore match? that’s pretty damn sad if you ask me.
Desmond Wolfe vs. D’Angelo Dinero
WINNER: Desmond Wolfe
PICK: Desmond Wolfe
1-1
Thoughts: This was another good wrestling match between the two of them. Nigel can make anyone look good. Dinero sold the body work quite well and really set up the finish nicely. This was another nice WRESTLING match.
Beer Money Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) vs. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash
WINNER: Beer Money Inc
PICK: Beer Money Inc
2-1
Thoughts: Another change by switching Scott Hall with Syxx-Pac. To make this less confusing, they should have just booked this as Beer Money vs The Band. The ending was quite? weird. Scott Hall attacked a plant in the audience which got Syxx’s attention.. then Nash got a Jacknife reversed and Beer Money got the pin. Really weird ending. Match was kind of blah, though.
ODB (c) vs. Tara
WINNER: Tara
PICK: ODB
2-2
Thoughts: I thought that ODB would hold onto the title for a little longer, especially after just winning it back, but I guess that wasn?t in the cards tonight.
The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez
WINNER: Morgan/Hernandez
PICK: Morgan/Hernandez
3-2
Thoughts: A lot of people went with the British Invasion on this one, but I just had a weird feeling that Morgan and Hernandez would wind up with the gold since they have been featuring them quite a bit as of late? glad my gut feeling paid off.
Amazing Red (c) vs. Brian Kendrick
WINNER: Amazing Red
PICK: Amazing Red
NOT COUNTED
Thoughts: We decided not to count this since the opponent was not revealed ahead of time. Kendrick did put on a hell of a match tonight. It reminded me of an old WCW Cruiserweight match.. probably because TNA is WCW Jr.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kurt Angle
WINNER: AJ Styles
PICK: AJ Styles
4-2
Thoughts: Wow? this was a fantastic match and an even better finish. AJ as a face was stale? and yes, I can say that after just a couple of months. There was that big pop with him getting the title, but it wasn?t really going anywhere. Siding with Ric Flair will breathe new life into the AJ character. This is one of the things TNA has done right in a quite a LONG time. I?m actually interested to see where this ends up.
-Culture Shock-
As aforementioned all the way up top at the start of the column, I have a couple of things to throw out there for this week’s Culture Shock. The first being wrestling related.
Did anyone know that Hulk Hogan had his own line of cheeseburgers? Well, it’s true? it’s DAMN true. The Hulk Hogan Hulksterburgers were these frozen ?hamburgers? that you could supposedly find at Wal-Mart. I went to my local Wal-Mart and did not end up finding them there so I can?t really comment on how bad they are, but one man, Mike Mozart, did comment on them.
Mike Mozart normally reviews fail toys as he is an actual toy designer, but he took the time away from that to review the Hulkster Cheeseburger. The burger is pretty much Melt, and Tofu w/ beef and water. And in a taste test against McDonald’s double cheeseburger, his dog chose McDonald’s over Hogan’s. The review is a little on the corny side, but it is also down-right hilarious. Check it out for yourself over at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiksF6YfZqI
Of course, it wouldn?t be Culture Shock without something Japanese. This week, I urge you to check out Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook. It’s the opening theme to the anime Durarara!! And even though only the TV Size version is out (1:30 long), it is still an AMAZING song. I cannot wait for the full version of this. Also, on the subject of that show, they full version of the ending theme, Trust Me by Yuuya Matsushita just dropped. If you want to hear what club/pop music in Japan sounds like.. check that one out.
-The Final Shot-
That’s going to do it for me this week. If you would like to submit anything as far as column feedback, wrestling discussion, culture shock topics, anything? you can do so by using any of the methods below.
E-Mail: syscrash2002@hotmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/itoshinojjp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joshuapiedra
Until next week?
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