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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: The Road is Jericho – Disc 2

March 15, 2015 | Posted by TJ Hawke

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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: The Road is Jericho – Disc 2

Jericho talks about the awful Europe trips. They used to fly in only for a weekend to film a PPV. That’s absurd.

Rebellion
Manchester, United Kingdom
November 3, 2001

Chris Jericho(c) vs. Kurt Angle [WCW Heavyweight Championship]

Angle cut a comedy goof heel promo backstage before the match. He was the owner of the WCW United States Championship at the time.

Jericho got control first. Angle struggled to slow Jericho down for a surprisingly long period of time. Angle finally cut him off with a hot shot. Angle worked him over for a while. Jericho made a comeback after hitting an enzuigiri. Jericho applied the ankle lock, but Angle got to the ropes. Jericho got the Walls, but Angle got to the ropes. Angle blocked the Lionsault. Angle went for the Angle Slam, but Jericho reversed it into a schoolboy: 1…2…3

Angle attacked Jericho after the match.

This was surprisingly cold for a big match in the UK. Both guys looked (and probably were) tired, and they didn’t seem to attempt to do anything special in the ring. They had a standard match that just went a little longer than usual.

Match Rating: **1/2

Jericho talks about working with The Rock. Jericho said they had great chemistry in the ring and on the microphone. He relishes talking about all the heel tactics he used to beat The Rock at their Royal Rumble 2002 match.

Royal Rumble
Atlanta, Georgia
January 20, 2002

Chris Jericho(c) vs. The Rock [WWF Undisputed Championship]

They went back and forth for a while. Jericho managed to get control, and he worked Rock over. This went on for a while. Rock finally made a comeback. Jericho hit two Lionsaults, which got a nearfall. Rock got a sharpshooter. LANCE STORM and Christian ran in. They failed at life. Jericho hit a Rock Bottom: 1…2…NO! Jericho called for the Elbow, but Rock tossed him to the floor. Jericho tried for a Rock Bottom through a table, but Rock reversed it into a Rock Bottom through a table! Back in the ring, Jericho got the Walls! Rock just got to the ropes. Ref bump. Jericho hit Rock with the belt: 1…2…NO! DDT from the Rock. The referee refused to count. Rock gave him a Rock Bottom. Spinebuster/People’s Elbow from Rock. Low blow, exposed turnbuckle, schoolboy, feet on the ropes from Jericho: 1…2…3! LOL

Original Review: Great heel finish. Jericho really would not find his main event voice until 2008, but he was still a great performer back then. Rock was on fire with everything he was doing in the ring by this point.

New Review: Wow, I now genuinely prefer this match to their No Mercy 2001 match, which is hard for me to believe. Jericho really found a great balance between over-the-top heel actions and great in-ring work here, and you can see he had the potential to be a great heel champion at this time. It obviously never came to be though, which is unfortunate.

Match Rating: ****

Jericho thinks he had great matches with Triple H because they didn’t really get along. Jericho smiles through gritted teeth as he talks about only beating Triple H once (and via roll-up). Jericho compares himself to George Harrison, because he was never as popular as Rock and Austin as a babyface.

WWF Smackdown
Peoria, Illinois
April 25, 2002

Chris Jericho vs. Triple H

The winner of this match gets a shot at Hulk Hogan for the WWF Undisputed Championship.

HHH went after Jericho’s left arm. Jericho got control and busted HHH’s forehead open. We saw The Undertaker walk in on Vince McMahon and Stacy Keibler backstage. Commercial break. Jericho was in control when we came back from the break. They started going back and forth. They avoided finishers until Jericho got the Walls. HHH got to the ropes. They started going back and forth some more. Taker showed up when HHH went for the pedigree. Jericho caught him with a schoolboy and a handful of tights: 1…2…3

Jericho and Taker attacked HHH after the match. Hulk Hogan eventually made the save. Hogan and Taker battled through the crowd.

I tend to avoid matches between these two when Triple H is the babyface and Jericho was heel, but this was solid all around. The finish was eye-rolling and counterproductive in every way. It’s to be expected though with Triple H.

Match Rating: **3/4

Jericho puts over Jeff Hardy HUGE as a wrestler and a star. “He was a dream to work with.”

WWE Raw
Los Angeles, California
February 10, 2003

Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy

Jericho missed a Silver King dive, and Jeff then hit him with an Asai Moonsault. Jericho eventually crotched Jeff and then worked him over. Jeff finally started to come back after Whisper in the Wind. Jeff later hit the Swanton, but Jericho got his leg on the ropes. Jericho got the Walls. Jeff had to tap out. It looked like Jeff tapped by accident forgetting that by slapping the mat, he was tapping out.

This was yet another solid if unspectacular match. Jeff was not really a big deal by this point, and the crowd never seemed to rally behind him. I’m assuming these two had better matches at some point in 2009 but no specific ones are coming to my mind.

Match Rating: **3/4

Jericho thinks he and Edge had great chemistry (they didn’t), but that he doesn’t consider him one of his best opponents because they never had an extended storyline.

WWE Raw
Raleigh, North Carolina
March 7, 2005

Chris Jericho vs. Edge

Both men were scheduled to be a part of the first Money in the Bank in a month, and this was the standard uncreative way that WWE builds up ladder matches with lots of people.

Jericho hit a pescado as they went to a commercial. After the break, Edge stopped Jericho’s momentum with a superplex. Edge then worked Jericho over. Jericho made a comeback after a bit. He started going after Edge’s injured left arm. Edge kicked Jericho into the ref to avoid the Walls. Edge got the decorative ladder, but Jericho avoided the ladder shot. Jericho got a phantom pinfall with a Lionsault, but Edge then hit him in the crotch with the ladder. Edgecution: 1…2…3?

The lack of substantive issue between the two took away from this one. Both guys were at their best when there was a feud to play off of. There was nothing of that going on here, and we got a rather pedestrian (albeit solid enough) match as a result.

Match Rating: **3/4

For some reason, the talk in the limo turned to what one looks like in High Definition. Kennedy Kennedy was randomly buried for using fake tanner. I guess this subject came up because between Jericho’s first and second runs in the company, they switched to HD.

Moving on…Jericho says his ladder match with Shawn Michaels is probably his favorite match of his ever. He also liked the (very weak) last man standing match between them in London.

WWE Raw
Manchester, UK
November 10, 2008

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels [Last Man Standing]

I watched this a few weeks ago for the first time since it originally happened. It was very eh.

This was a non-title, Last Man Standing match. Jericho was the World Heavyweight Champion at the time.

Shawn was generally in control for a while. Jericho seemed only vaguely interested in this match, which makes sense considering he has no real incentive to work hard. They did some “nearfalls” on the ramp. Jericho got control after a modified bulldog on the ramp. Shawn fought back. Jericho ended up applying a Boston Crab on the roof of a London cab. Shawn came back by throwing Jericho off the stage. He even used a camera crane to hit him for a nearfall. Solid spot. They made their way back to the ringside area, and Shawn brought a ladder into play. They’ve been sprinkling some “nearfalls” during all of this by the way. None of them have seemed especially believable though. Shawn put Jericho through a table with an elbow off the table. It was not a particularly impressive-looking spot, but they used a camera angle that mostly disguised that. Both guys almost got counted out. Bradshaw tried and fail to ambush Shawn. That allowed Jericho to hit Shawn with his world title though. Shawn just barely answered a ten count, and he immediately caught Jericho with a superkick. Bradshaw hit Shawn with a chair to the head. Both men were down. Jericho was able to answer, but Shawn was not.

I was not impressed by this one in the slightest. They had a lot of things going against them. The feud basically had two major PPV matches in the previous two months, and both of them seemed like feud-enders. There was really nowhere left for them to go unless Shawn was going to win the title here. They’re also overseas and likely tired from those (apparently) brutal foreign tours.

With that in mind, I found there to be virtually nothing memorable or impressive about this match. There were a few decent spots with the stage (which I’m a bit of a mark for), but this just felt lifeless.

Match Rating: **1/4

Watch this match here.

Watch some Chris Jericho matches for free!

Chris Jericho & Christian vs. Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy vs. Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley vs. Kane [Great TLC Match]

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels [Last Man Standing]

Chris Jericho vs. John Cena

Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan

Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk

Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy

Chris Jericho vs. Hulk Hogan

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels

Chris Jericho vs. RVD