Forgotten Favorites 02.05.09: Raw 2004 – Chris Jericho vs. Christian

Welcome back again for more of the matches that somehow got lost along the way in wrestling history. Just so you know what you’re getting into here, my job is to recall particular matches that for one reason or another have been passed over and not given their proper recognition. Whether they’ve been neglected on WWE’s career DVD retrospectives or just aren’t generally discussed anymore in the IWC, these are matches that are deserving of credit they haven’t fully gotten.

For the last few weeks I’ve been focusing on matches that haven’t made it onto WWE’s DVD compilation sets. As a few of you mentioned, last week’s match was a bonus on the Armageddon 2002 DVD. I, of course, did not know this. Since it may prove impossible for me to research every DVD ever released by WWE, I may have to change the rules of the column to something a little less strict.

Regardless, I’m fairly certain this week’s match hasn’t been released on WWE DVD. And if it has been … well, I’ll try again next week. Either way, it’s a hell of a match, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a treat.

Raw – May 10, 2004
Steel Cage Match
Chris Jericho vs. Christian

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Ah, love. The greatest of all human emotions. It gives us things like open bars at wedding receptions. And babies. But while love doth give, it also unfortunately must take away. In early 2004, Chris Jericho had fallen for his fellow Canadian Trish Stratus, and it was this case of puppy love that cost Jericho both a friend and tag team partner in Christian.

Chris Jericho and Christian won their first World Tag Team Championship in October of 2002. They formed a killer combination of Canadian treachery, bonded by a seemingly indestructible friendship forged on a shared love of evil-doing. Whether they were battling Goldust and Booker T in a hot title feud or denying ownership of Dudley-discovered Ass Cream, Jericho and Christian were a highlight of Raw. While both men moved on to focus on singles competition for most of 2003, they still crossed paths for the occasional tag match. They led the charge in the war on Stone Cold’s position as Co-GM, fighting on Team Bischoff at Survivor Series 2003 and “ending” (for a moment) Austin’s career. Triple H and his Evolution running buddies may have been booked as the top heels on Raw, but Jericho and Christian were just as over on the all-important heel scale of douchebaggery.

Back then their longer hair made them predisposed to evil

Now it came out last year that Oscar-worthy actor Freddie Prinze Jr. was brought on board the E’s creative staff. However, I have it on good authority that Mr. Jr. was secretly submitting scripts to Raw’s writing team as early as 2003. Don’t believe it? Perhaps I should refresh your memory.

By December of ’03, Jericho and Christian had grown tired of proving themselves in the ring. Since they considered themselves the best on Raw, each man could not find better competition than in his own tag team partner. Rather than settle the question of who’s better with a match, as is usually the case in the wrestling world, these two suave gentlemen decided to settle their dispute out of the ring. With one whole Canadian dollar riding on the outcome, each man bet the other that he could knock the boots with a particular Diva before his tag partner could. Jericho set his sights on fellow Canadian Trish Stratus, while Christian focused his efforts on the hardly-promiscuous Lita. Whether they were helping the girls out in their matches or, uh, greasing the wheels backstage, these two put on the charm as only two guys called Vitamin C could. Unfortunately for them, Trish would overhear the two of them discussing their noble bet, and the jig was up. On an episode of Raw shortly ater, Lita and Trish, breathing the fire of feminine betrayal, stormed the ring to beat Christian and Jericho with the same bouquets the guys had brought out as a peace offering. And it seemed that was the end of it.

But then, amazingly, Jericho began to feel remorse! I can’t explain it, as things like shame and decency are best avoided with women, but Jericho thought otherwise. He sought out Trish backstage, offering gifts and apologies, seeming to be genuinely sorry for his actions. Trish, understandably, kept the Sexy Beast at a distance, but over time she began to warm up to him again. Being a woman, Trish obviously enjoyed Freddie Prinze Jr. movies, and she obviously knew that when a douchebag makes a bet to get laid he ends up falling in love and changing his ways. Duh.

But with Jericho and Trish getting closer together, where would that leave poor old Christian? Lita had become a non-factor by this point, so most of the time it was Jericho chasing Trish, with Christian being awkwardly stuck in the middle. When the relationship began to take its toll on Christian and Jericho’s success as a team, the Creepy Little Bastard called out his partner on his lack of focus, suggesting that Jericho rethink his priorities. And when Jericho refused to listen to reason, Christian did the only logical thing: He tried to bang Trish. He would make passes at her when Jericho wasn’t around, dropping hints of his interest here and there. But when Trish refused to yield, Christian took matters into his own hands. On a night when Jericho was absent from Raw, GM Eric Bischoff, apparently harboring a grudge against Jericho from 1998, set up a match between Christian and Trish. Before the match, Christian insisted on not wanting to hurt Trish, claiming that he’d lay down for her and give her the victory. But when it came time for the match and Trish made the cover, Christian kicked out at two. Pure evil then made its presence known on Christian’s face, and Trish found herself trapped in the Walls of Jericho! Oh noes! Not her lover’s best buddy using his OWN finishing move! That wasn’t in *insert lame Prinze movie that I can’t name*!

Jericho don’t play that game, and the next week on Raw a returning Y2J gave Christian a piece of his mind. And fist. In defending Trish’s honor, Jericho had officially turned the corner as a face and had earned the support of the crowd. The two former partners were scheduled for a collision course at WrestleMania XX inside Madison Square Garden. The two guys didn’t disappoint, putting on the kind of see-saw high-impact you’d expect from a couple of world class athletes. The ending of the match saw some Trish-erference, although it seemed innocent enough as it was happening. Jumping onto the apron to cheer her man on, Trish is pulled into the ring and thrown down on the canvas by the heartless Christian. Jericho is able to take Christian out of the picture for the moment and check on his lady friend, although the alleged lady proves to be anything but, elbowing Y2J in the face. A stunned Jericho is rolled up from behind and three seconds later Christian is the winner. But wait, there’s more! Trish, whom we might assume thought she was elbowing Christian, looks devastated as she apologizes to Jericho. But, shockingly, Canadian apologies end in SWERVETASTIC SLAPS! After getting bitchslapped twice by Trish, the heartbroken Chris Jericho is pulled into an Unprettier by a grinning Christian. And if stealing his best bud’s woman wasn’t enough, Christian further proves his dominance by attempting to eat Trish’s face in what can only be described as a moment of heartwarming passion.

And so with this turn of events, the Jericho-Christian story was set on a new path. For this most heinous offense, the fully-face Chris Jericho was on a mission for revenge. The following month at Backlash, Christian and his new girlfriend Trish Stratus (who had, by this point, become a JR-certified jezebel) took on Y2J in a Handicap match. Jericho earned a measure of revenge that night, pinning Christian with an Inziguri, but the feud was not over yet. A one on one rematch took place the next night on Raw, a match which Christian won with the assistance of a debuting Tyson Tomko. Now with a slutty evil girlfriend and a monstrous bodyguard, Christian’s wall of defense against Jericho seemed impenetrable.

But a desire for revenge goes a long way, kids. Chris Jericho was determined to right the wrongs done to him, and he was given his opportunity one month later. This time was going to be for good. Because of the repeated interference in their matches, there was only one option for the stipulation in this blowoff match: the Steel Cage.

The match itself: Part One

The match itself: Part Two

WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

I think we’re all familiar with the reason Christian left WWE in 2005. Despite having the necessary physical tools, personality, and crowd support, he was never pushed further than enhancement talent for the main eventers. After his split from Edge in 2001, he reigned briefly as the Intercontinental Champion, proving the company saw value in him as an individual competitor. But once Edge defeated him and regained the IC strap, Christian floundered in midcard obscurity. His reign shortly after as European Champion (however meaningless the title was at this point) again proved that WWE recognized Christian’s potential as a singles star, but the company never got behind him. It was only after playing second fiddle to the other UnAmericans and, later, Chris Jericho, that Christian seemed to finally have momentum going. After winning a Judgment Day Battle Royal in 2003 that crowned a new Intercontinental Champion, Christian seemed ready to finally break out, boasting a new title and a fresh new haircut. But after a bizarrely booked title feud with Booker T, Christian was again playing Jericho’s lackey by the end of the year.

Yet another irrelevant IC Title reign

Then we had Christian vs. Jericho. For the first time since the IC Title win a year prior, it seemed as if WWE was actually taking Christian seriously on his own. By the time he had both Trish and Tomko by his side, Christian looked like a legit star who was bound for the main event. Unfortunately within a matter of months he’d be stuck stalling in the midcard yet again, oftentimes losing to “bigger” stars. Of course since 2004 Christian has proven his worth to the wrestling world, capturing multiple World Titles in TNA, but at the time of his feud with Y2J he didn’t have many strong singles encounters to brag about. It wasn’t until this feud, and this match in particular, that Christian was able to truly shine as an individual talent. WWE’s booking thereafter may not reflect it, but this is the match that marked Christian’s true potential as a main event player.

And if Christian’s rise to greatness isn’t enough to warrant this match’s memory, remember, this was on free television. It isn’t often that WWE will blow off a several-months-long feud in a steel cage on free TV, but they threw fans a hell of a bone this time. Sure, the fact that it happened on Raw and not on PPV has kind of hindered this match’s legacy, but hot damn, it was exciting as hell not to pay for this. Like I said last week, matches like this one are proof that the E will deliver on TV when they feel like it, and they sure as hell felt like it this time. Jericho and Christian put on not only one of the better cage matches on TV, but one of the better cage matches in recent history. This was the end of a blood feud and the cage made it feel damn real. There’s no better ending than the good guy leaving his archenemy in a pool of blood inside the steel cage, and this time fans were treated to it for free.

WHY IT ISN’T REMEMBERED

Well let’s get the obvious reasons out of the way. Barring any Bonus Match treatment on PPV DVDs (which I’ve yet to discover, but I could be wrong), this match has not been released on DVD by WWE. Bloodbath: Wrestling’s Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches was released in October of 2003, months before the Jericho-Christian rivalry even began. Since then we’ve seen Ladder Match and HIAC DVDs, but as of yet there has been no extra attention given to the Cage on DVD. Also, to date, Chris Jericho has yet to have been featured in his own DVD set. A minor retrospective was released on VHS shortly after Jericho’s WWE debut, but this was long before his war with Christian. And due to WWE’s inability to remain in support of Christian’s singles career, it should come as no surprise that Captain Charisma was never given a WWE DVD set either. This match’s only opportunity to make it onto a compilation would’ve been The Best of Raw, and sadly it was overlooked. Instead, WWE insists we remember the best of 2004’s programming as Eugene’s musical chairs and Randy Orton’s miserably booked face turn.

Another reason that’s incredibly obvious but still requires acknowledgment is Christian’s past few years in TNA. A WWE return is imminent, and thus Christian’s WWE history is bound to be given proper attention once more, but for the past couple of years it’s been a different story. It’s not that WWE has been avoiding mentioning his name, but they weren’t going out of their way to make sure fans remembered him. And from a business standpoint, this makes sense. TNA made Christian into one of their top stars, and TNA is (in name) the competition. Vince McMahon didn’t feel it necessary to bury Christian’s name after his departure, but it would’ve made no sense to do TNA a favor and highlight their new acquisition. And while Christian has been featured sparingly in WWE DVD releases since jumping to TNA, it’s not as if he’s been completely written out of history. Not like a certain other Canadian, at least.

And so we come to another reason, one that is more speculation than anything else: Was Christian the original Rated-R Superstar? And if so, is WWE purposely avoiding acknowledgment of it? Go back and watch the match from WrestleMania XX. Watch the looks on Christian and Trish’s faces after the swervetastic finish. Watch the evil heel tonsil hockey at the top of the stage. You may notice that it all looks incredibly familiar. During their time together, Christian and Trish were not very subtle about their, uh, desire for one another. Christian was the stylish, lust-driven, hot-tempered bad guy and Trish complemented him perfectly as his seductive, cold-blooded girlfriend. A full year before Lita would turn on Kane and align with Edge, Trish Stratus and Christian were Lita and Edge. Of course Lita and Edge would provide their own take on the characters, but the foundation was there in Christian and Trish. Given that Edge took the Rated-R gimmick to the top of WWE, Christian’s 2004 singles run may have been put on the backburner simply because it was too damn similar. Nevermind the fact that Christian did it first; it was Edge who was able to take the character to the top. And up until this point it wouldn’t have benefited WWE in any way to remind fans that one of their current top gimmicks first belonged to one of the competition’s top stars. Again, this is all speculation, but I think I’m hitting on some truth here.

Rated-Are you sure Edge didn’t steal this gimmick?

WILL IT BE REMEMBERED?

Yes, undoubtedly. That’s why I’m jumping on this match now while I can. Christian’s return is likely going to result in a whole lot of revisiting his earlier WWE days, and this match and feud certainly stand among his great singles accomplishments in the E. If his return proves to be successful, we can pretty safely bet on a Christian DVD at some point down the line.

Also let’s not forget that 2009 marks the ten year anniversary of Chris Jericho’s WWE debut. And with an amazing 2008 now under his belt, it seems an absolute certainty that a Jericho DVD will hit stores before the end of the year. Aside from his feud with Christian and partnering with Benoit against Evolution (and we know the latter’s chances of DVD recognition), Jericho didn’t enjoy an incredibly significant 2004. So when looking back at this time period on DVD, they have to highlight this feud, and considering Jericho came out on top in the Cage, this match is a perfect choice.

I’m also not ruling out another Steel Cage compilation at some point in the near future, but we’ll have to wait and see. A Jericho DVD release is the most certain at this point, and this match would be a natural choice for inclusion.

Feedback! (or, Proof That The World Knows I Exist!)

Great choice! This is my 2nd favorite WWE free TV match ever. Benoit cut an awesome promo (the only good one of his career?) before the match talking about how much the world title meant to him. He beats Eddie. Then a jealous Eddie screws him. THEN you get a super hot match with Angle and Edge busting out everything before Angle busts out the rare (at the time) Super Angle Slam to finally put away his nemesis, Edge. Just a fabulous match from a great era in wrestling.

What’s my choice for greatest WWE free TV match? Why that would be Benoit vs. Brock from a December 2003 SD. An idea for next weeks column perhaps?

Posted By: Guest#0263

That Benoit-Brock match is a genuine classic and one of my personal favorites as well. I’d love to cover it in the future (and probably will), but I don’t want to over-do it on the Benoit matches just yet. I felt kind of like I was copping out by covering one of his matches last week, since it stands to reason that all of his matches will be forgotten by WWE.

Talking about it being released on dvd ,Don’t know if you know or not but this is on the Armeggdon 2002 dvd. if you did then sorry

Posted By: Dark Leviathan

I did not know this. I’m debating changing the rules of the column, as I talked about earlier, considering it’s gonna be impossible for me to check up on every WWE release. Damn those PPV DVD bonus matches. Damn them all.

it won’t be remembered because there were tooooo many good matches during the smackdown six era.

say you want about Heyman, but he has tendency of giving a lot on free tv and dissapoint on the ppvs (survivor series 2002 is an example).

Posted By: sssss

This was one of the biggest criticisms of Heyman at the time, being that he gave away so much for free. It’s an arguable point, since I don’t necessarily feel that PPV showings of the SmackDown Six were disappointing. The TV matches set high standards, but the guys were so talented that their ring work canceled out any potential booking errors.

I actually discovered this match on Youtube a few years ago, as I stopped being a regular viewer of wrestling around the time this match originally took place. This was a fantastic match in a fantastic era and it just goes to show you that the most valuable free agent in wrestling is Paul Heyman (sorry RVD fans).

Posted By: Guest#1142

I wouldn’t say he’s the most valuable, but he’s definitely one of them. WWE would greatly benefit from having him back on the creative staff, considering the dude is actually, y’know, creative. As opposed to the current creative staff, who seems to only go through the motions in an effort to appease the McMahons.

“There are a large number of fans who even (for some unknown reason) defend Benoit, suggesting he was just a sick dude who lost control and that his legacy shouldn’t suffer for his actions.”

Mis-use of the word ‘just’, I think.

Posted By: Corporal MDV

Maybe so. I just personally get ticked when I see these guys who unashamedly still worship the work he did. Or guys that suggest we should take it easy on him because he had mental and emotional issues. Benoit was far from looney tunes for most of his life. He appeared to be a perfectly normal guy to even the closest of friends. He wasn’t some nutjob with a split personality who could not be contained. The only people who know what really happened in the Benoit home that weekend are unfortunately no longer with us, but the circumstances suggest that Benoit made a deliberate choice over a couple of days to murder his family. He was not consumed by a heated moment of craziness. But that’s just my speculation.

I find it difficult to complain about anything involving Dawn Marie in her lingerie.

Posted By: Jake Fury

Normally I’d agree. But Al’s acting (and near-nudity) makes me think otherwise this time.

2002-2003 was probably the worst period in wrestling history. The Pay Per View’s sucked out loud, enemas took place, underwear weddings, Scooby Doo angles, crappy necrophilia story lines, and oh yeah, the horridness that was Goldberg.

The Smackdown Six was on of the few highlights that took place during a dark time in wrestling history.

Posted By: Fan

Not so sure I agree with you. Granted, we did have all the crap that you mentioned, but we also had some excellent wrestling. To say that it was the worst period in Raw history may be slightly more accurate, but I still wouldn’t even go that far. In the midst of the supposed worst period in wrestling, we got a star-studded WrestleMania 19, the glory of the Angle-Lesnar feud, and returns from Stone Cold, The Rock, and Hulk Hogan. HHH’s dominance of Raw didn’t cancel all of that out.

Excellent article, I was a huge fan of the Smackdown Six and thought that was a successor to the golden age of wrestling. It really is a shame that this match and countless others like it won’t be featured for obvious reasons. Its also a reason as to why we’ll never get a good Jericho DVD since a good portion of his early singles career in the ‘E involved feuding with the Rabid Wolverine. However for those who have seen it they have seen wrestling at its finest and for fans nowadays that really is hard to come by.

Posted By: Captain_Charisma

It’s truly a shame that today’s fans will miss out on so many great matches simply because they involved Benoit. I originally wanted to write this week’s article about one of the many badass six man tags involving Evolution that took place on Raw in mid-2004, but nearly all of them feature Benoit. WWE’s avoidance of Benoit hurts not only the Crippler, but all the other guys who had some of their best matches with him involved.

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Another week, another column. Sorry I couldn’t get to all the comments this week, but time has not been my friend lately. Hopefully I can return to form and respond to all you guys next week. As always, keep the wrestling conversation going and, uh, don’t smoke crack.