In case you missed it, Chris Jericho had a controversial return to Raw last night and can be viewed in the video above. If you are any kind of professional wrestling fan, the NOTION of Y2J returning to the WWE should be very appealing to you. That’s what makes what he did last night so interesting. There is tons of negative feedback pouring out from all corners of the internet. Not necessarily directed at Jericho himself, more in response to how Jericho’s return was handled by the WWE. Our pal Scott Burress from Operation Sports (the worlds biggest sports video game website) had some very strong opinions:
Burress is a former guest of The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show and a life long WWE supporter. Clearly he wasn’t pleased and likely speaks for a large number of wrestling fans. At this point, you have to agree with his complaint about the “It Begins” video campaign leading up to Jericho’s return. As of right now? They don’t fit.
Perhaps a slow burn is indeed planned and in a month, all will be made clear. For now, it looks like the slapped an Undertaker/Stephanie McMahon viral promotion on Jericho’s back and pushed him through the curtains.
Not everyone was so down on the return of the first undisputed champion in WWE history. Former champion John Layfield weighed in on Chris Jericho’s debut and seemed to take a “big picture” approach:
Unless JBL sits in on the writers meetings, I’m not sure he could see how this storyline is going to end up with the information we currently have. If the goal was to immediately turn Jericho heel and create a stir online? Mission accomplished. However, the skeptics have a right to question the WWE during this series of events. With all the re-writes and story changes reportedly happening sometimes hours before Raw, it’s tough to believe this is all planned out to perfection.
The viral campaign was well executed . Slipping the links to youtube videos randomly into the show. ”Breaking in” to video packages to show clips of the two spooky kids discussing our doom? Great stuff. But now that we know? And Jericho is here? It doesn’t add up.
Make no mistake, the WWE is a better place with Chris Jericho on the roster. I just hope JBL is right and this is all part of some larger story arc. Unfortunately, history would tell us that is most likely not the case. Let’s cross our fingers.
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The Virals were perfectly done. he’s coming back for something- whether is the title of “best in the world” or the title or even back to save us from boring announcers- The point would be that he took to Twitter to throw us off and the Videos through us off somewhat as well. For a moment I speculated that it could have been Brock all along but It is better that we start off the year with Monday Night Jericho. I’ll be spending tons of time looking at each video to extract the Y2J out of it I’m sure.
I think his reaction after coming out fit the videos. The vids have been about the beginning of the end and the destruction of all. Yet when he comes out the whole place cheers and hollers. Who cheers the end of the world? Jericho by just running around like an idiot was mocking the WWE Universe and their inability to realize when sh*t is about to hit the fan. Jericho is the end of days for the WWE Universe and they welcomed him with open arms. He then mocked them by being a jackass and not giving a promo. Looking forward to seeing where it goes next week.
This reminds me a lot of WCW Chris Jericho. This was parody. It was innovative in its nothingness. Think back to the push he got leading up to the Goldberg debacle. It was weeks of tongue-in-cheek ridiculousness that was only made more fun by the fact that he hated the way he was being treated backstage and knew Bischoff would probably screw him in the end, anyway. So, he had fun, instead. He won over the fans with wit and personality that was sorely lacking from most of the roster at the time. It made his segments appointment TV.
So here we are with another big mystery comeback form Y2J and what does he give us? Crowd work with no payoff. A premise with no punchline. A parody of every comeback, minus the yakkity-yak on the mic. The real payoff won’t even be with his angle right now. It will be when someone else comes back, or even debuts. The lights go out, the music hits, the crowd goes nuts, the star soaks it in and then cuts a promo. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Chris isn’t making fun of anyone in particular, but of the format, itself. He’s pointing out that the whole thing is stale. It’s been done before. For 10 years, every time the biggest stars make their return it always looks the same. Chris Jericho’s character is bored with the same old thing over and over again. He’s always been that way. He likes to do things differently and begs others to do the same. This is just another example of Jericho screaming into the street that the Emperor has no clothes.
Very interesting, Gabe. I like your rational. The current state of wrestling might be something Jericho would just mock as a whole. Isn’t that CM Punk’s shtick right now?
I completely agree with Scott, I love seeing Jericho back. At first I thought it was his call not to talk judging from the look on his face I think he thought his pop would be way bigger and he was taken aback by what I would call a subdued crowd. I don’t know where the WWE is going with this but if Jericho is on the Rock’s schedule or only being brought back to put over some characterless chump then we riot
*Love seeing him back but annoyed and confused by the angle
The videos were absolutely inexplicable. It would not surprise me if the WWE implemented them before they even knew Jericho would come back. It’s like they said “Lets throw some totally bizarre video clips that will get people curious, they we introduce a new star or re-sign an old one, or if we cannot sign anyone worthwhile in time we just let it fade away like the whole Anonymous Raw GM angle.”
I think people are overlooking the content of the video. I think Gabe is on, to a degree, but I think it’s bigger than that. Jericho said he wouldn’t return unless he could do something new… last night was certainly something new. You don’t make a return without a promo… nobody does that. It doesn’t happen anywhere. Jericho left us with far-more questions than answers. When Taker/H returned last year, we knew what was going to happen. Here, we have no clue at all.
Where I see this going, personally, is “she” has a greater role than we suspect. Any Doomsday prophecy all throughout the world talks of one coming back for another… a sacrificial lamb of sorts, who can garner the affection of the masses… and then swoop the rug out from underneath everyone. Perhaps Jericho is playing the pawn right now to “she”… whoever she may be. It’s at this point I get a little disappointed because we know “she” will be a white girl, so there’s no chance it could be Kharma, which would have been extraordinary. But who is “she”? Jericho’s got a LONG, storied relationship in kayfabe with Stephanie… and that could be the perfect take on how to jump back into the mix with everyone. It shouldn’t go without saying that Steph taking over WWE.com and the interactive-media initiative should be forefront on many people’s minds right now when thinking about the angle playing out.
Literally and figuratively, the end has only “just begun”…