I truly hope chris jericho enjoyed his reign...

[Guest Downhome]

First off let me say this, there is no way in #### HHH Vs. Jericho should have been the main event. Why was it placed as that in the first place? Hogan Vs. Rocky was billed as the ME ever since the match was annouced. Eh, I suppose it was just the fact that HHH wanted to win the world title in the Main Event of WM, because there sure as #### wasn't any other reason it should have been the Main Event (Not even the fact it was for the title changes that, so please don't go there).

 

Jericho, I've enjoyed it while it lasted, and I hope you did also, because from here on out it's pointless feuds against such guys as Kane and Edge for you, at least for a while. Look at Kurt Angle Jericho, and you'll see what I'm talking about...

 

...HHH, you can go to #### also. You are not officially my least favorite wrestler at the moment, and that says A LOT as I DESPISE Rikishi and Edge.

 

Ok, I don't think Jericho will fall into the abyss of mid-card, but he ain't touching the main event for a very long time now. Everyone, prepare yourselves...

 

...the "year of HHH" is about to begin, or as I'll call it, "the year of the f*ck hole".

 

Please, just don't put Jericho in the same "group" as HHH, I want them far away from each other, Jericho is above working with the now slow and worthless HHH...

 

..the ONLY thing that will improve HHH is if he turns heel, and that isn't enough to make me like him being the champ...

 

...WMX8, the night Jericho was robbed, and the night he was officially "demoted". Eh, at least look at the positive of this...

 

...at least Kurt Angle has some company now.

 

What do YOU think happens to Chris Jericho now!?

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest goodhelmet]

Jericho will spiral back to the midcard never to be mentioned by HHH or Steph again except in references to Lucy. Actually, on BetweenTheRopes, they had mentioned that Jericho's contract expires in August so look for a devaluing of Jericho so they can either get him on the cheap or let him go with as much fanfare as Eddy Guerrero.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

the main event scene is HHH, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Rock and Austin

 

the midcard scene is RVD, Angle, Jericho, Booker, Edge, Christian, DDP, Perfect, Storm and soon: Benoit, Awesome, Kanyon, Rhyno and Raven.

 

In truth...I hope that Austin gets demoted too...that way the midcard will be the greatest thing ever.

[Guest J*ingus]

Who knows if Hall or especially Nash are staying around too long, especially if their total jobbing-out tonight was any indication.  (Hogan, on the other hand, will probably be here for a while.)

[Guest goodhelmet]

Yeah, I don't see the Outsiders sticking around long after Summerslam. The Austin-Hall match was pathetic. Speaking of Austin, I don't think he'll be around long either. People who disagree with Vince usually see their careers evaporate ala Mick foley and Chyna. Nice knowing you, Austin!

[Guest Downhome]

the main event scene is HHH, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Rock and Austin

 

the midcard scene is RVD, Angle, Jericho, Booker, Edge, Christian, DDP, Perfect, Storm and soon: Benoit, Awesome, Kanyon, Rhyno and Raven.

 

In truth...I hope that Austin gets demoted too...that way the midcard will be the greatest thing ever.

You have a point there, so I guess we do get some positives out of this. The current mid-card/upper mid-card is indeed the greatest of all time if you ask me. The key now, is to simply do something with it!

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Jericho will spiral back to the midcard never to be mentioned by HHH or Steph again except in references to Lucy. Actually, on BetweenTheRopes, they had mentioned that Jericho's contract expires in August so look for a devaluing of Jericho so they can either get him on the cheap or let him go with as much fanfare as Eddy Guerrero.

If the WWF let's Jericho walk it would be one of the dumbest moves ever. Plus I don't see Jericho wanting to leave, or the WWF wanting him to leave. He also didn't mess up twice like Eddie did.

[Guest goodhelmet]

He probably won't leave but I guarantee you the WWF will lowball him. They'll blame the ratings on him. They'll point to his tepid fan reaction during the title reign. And they'll completely ignore the fact that Steph is the head writer and that he was merely a puppet in the Steph-trips soap opera and he was the friggin champion!!!!

 

As for the Eddy Guerrero comment, substitute Foley, Chyna, Road Dogg, or anyone else that was a big player in the Attitude Era. Only Foley was allowed to say goodbye in a roundabout way.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The thing with Road Dogg was he was given numerous times to clean up his act, and Chyna thought she should be paid at the same level of Stone Cold and the Rock. If Jericho does something like that than Vince should get rid of him.

[Guest goodhelmet]

You're right but Jericho will probably be asked to take a major paycut once his contract expires. If he doesn't accept their first offer, he will probably be cut with as little FANFARE as the others (which was my main point). Don't expect him to hold any titles in the forseeable future.

[Guest Brian]

I don't think he's demoted yet, with the development in the NWO angle this is what BackLash looks like:

 

Outsiders vs. Hogan/Rock

Austin vs. Angle

HHH vs. Jericho

 

Those are just my guesses. I think they are going to turn HHH (align with Steph) sooner or later, and then we end up with HHH vs. Austin. They'll realize that Triple H the bad-ass heel drew as a face, and as a heel. People loved to hate him, they wanted to see him get his ass handed to him, and they bought his stuff.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I think Jericho is getting demoted down a bit, and actually I feel Angle is going to get pushed back up into a feud with HHH, since they seem to mesh more naturally in the ring and as rivals outside of it. Not to mention the fact that Angle is easily the most over heel in the WWF. I see Rock-Hogan vs. Outsiders and HHH-Angle at Backlash.

 

And here's another thing: even if he does get "demoted" from the main event, what does that mean exactly? The "main event scene" in the WWF has gotten so bloated with guys that it takes up half the show, so where does the main event end and the midcard begin? Is Angle a main eventer? He's main evented many PPVs over the last year, frequently in title shots, and is often in the main event on TV. How about Flair and the Undertaker? Kane? How about The Rock? He often fights in midcard matches/feuds, such as his TV feud with Test and his later feud with the Undertaker. To me, the test for whether or not a guy is a main eventer is this: if he started a feud with the champ tomorrow, would he look like a credible opponent? And if he took the title off of the champ, would it be believable? I think that Jericho fits both of those qualifications, and wrestling in the 5th quarter hour of RAW for a few weeks or months won't change that.

[Guest converge241]

I agree with Hogan Made Wrestling.

The "main event level club" is pretty large these days and not as exclusive. He'll still be a top guy in the split.

[Guest Human Fly]

Remember how bad Angle's run as a face champ was last year? If Triple H bombs like that, screwing the bosses daughter or not, they'll take the title off of him. I don't think Jericho will fall to far, I also think rotation is good. So if Jericho had to lose the title then someone else should get their run. It sucked that he had to lose though.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

"Speaking of Austin, I don't think he'll be around long either"

Oh Vince wouldn't do that to his best employee. I mean this is a guy that was loyal to Vince and carried the company on his back! Vince wouldn't do that......

*watches tape of Montreal incident*

I stand corrected....

[Guest teke184]

Vince won't get rid of Austin because Austin is one of the few wrestlers who can be released and IMMEDIATELY find investors who want to put money into a new wrestling federation.  Since Austin can both draw AND wrestle, he's the perfect wrestler for something like the WWA that wants to compete in the wrestling business.  

 

On Jericho,  his new contract will depend upon the size of his old contract and Vince's ideas of how much he can cut the payroll.  If Jericho is released, there's a good chance he can go to Japan and make good money because he can wrestle that style and his status as a WWF champion will help him out.

 

As for Angle, his face run as WWF champ was sabotaged by either Austin's refusal to put him over cleanly (the Benoit-Sid finish from Souled Out 2000 didn't legitimize Angle as the champion) or the booking of his title reign.  Ratings tanked when he was champ because Austin disappeared for two weeks, which almost NEVER happens the night after a WWF title change, unless it's a special situation like Bret being screwed or HBK being so f*cked up that he can only show up for 1 night after losing the belt.

 

In addition to Austin's no-showing, Angle only defended the belt against Booker (who had no credibility) and Shane-O-Mac (who isn't even a f'in wrestler).  He also lost a non-title match to RVD, which didn't help either.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Does anyone know how the WWF handles contracts. It's possible Jericho could have an extension worked out.

[Guest]

No way Austin is demoted...

 

As far as for Jericho, he's fucked. Hard.  He'll be made to look like a fool tonight on RAW, guaranteed.   Having the World Title was what his whole character was based on.  Now, Jericho has nothing, and he'll probably start bitching like Christian.

 

Jericho is below Angle on the heel chain, so that means Jericho is probably demoted to the IC division, again.  I would like to see him feud with RVD, but I would rather like to see someone regularly on top than just the Big 3.

[Guest cabbageboy]

You have something there.....why not a Jericho/Christian whiny bitch tag team?  I'd prefer them with the belts over Billy and Chuck.  

 

If Jericho goes to the IC title level, RVD hands him his ass.  It's that simple.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

what about a stable that unites all the underpushed candians

not i said underpushed

so sorry, Test

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Hey, if Austin is released maybe he can join Jeff Jarrett's new organization?

[Guest Loss4Words]

It's truly a dark day for wrestling. Chris Jericho was the bridge to the future and the bridge has been destroyed so Vince can go on his nostalgia kick and push a lot of people that aren't drawing flies just because they're "big names"? Sound like WCW yet? Huh? And don't say "but they sold out Sky Dome" because that building was sold out long before any matches were even announced, which means they could have thrown any card out there and the crowd size would have been the same regardless.

 

It's raining where I am right now, and that feels very apropos since tonight was the official final step toward returning to the dark ages. Chris Jericho was set up to fail in the grandest way possible over the past five months by HHH, who pushed for him to be in main events all that time only to go on public shows and talk about how he doesn't have what it takes to be in his spot. Jericho will now be known as a laughingstock who had an abomination of a title reign. It's very, very sad.

 

Don't blame Jericho. I don't see anyone doing it, but really, DON'T BLAME JERICHO. He did everything, and more, that he could have possibly done with the opportunity he was given. No heel in their right mind could have gotten over with that kind of booking. Yeah, they did the same thing to Flair in '88, but the NWA also closed shop that year and Flair was already established enough by that point. Jericho has done awesome promos, hasn't blown a single spot, has sold like a champ, has wrestled like a champ, has portrayed a heartless and egotistical jerk extremely well and has been the most consistent worker this side of Kurt Angle for the past six months or so.

 

This was truly HHH's greatest political play yet. All along, he knew that if he could talk his girlfriend, the head booker, into elevating Jericho that he could bury him in that position so badly that no one would ever buy him at that level again. So have fun in the midcard, Chris. Now that you've gone from upper midcard babyface who is highly marketable and madly over to directionless heel with no credibility who has no heat, I hope you can salvage something out of the heaping pile of shit you've been given. Good luck because you'll need it.

 

HHH can go fuck himself. Steph can even scream since she's the only person who reacts to his roided ass anymore.

[Guest Tony149]

I don't want to turn this thread into something else, but isn't this why it isn't good for the head writer to date a wrestler? Before anybody says "Vince has final say!" HHH has all week/every day to change Steph's mind for any storyline. For all we now last week he could of said "Steph, the World Title match should always go last.", etc.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It sure didn't seem like the title match was going to be last.

 

And I agree with every single word that Loss said.

[Guest]

Do any of you honestly think about your responses before you type them? I've never read such ridiculous drivel in my life. The most ridiculous being from L4W, normally a poster not so ignorantly biased on any situation. Even he has now fallen into the pits of redundancy.

 

Well, to put this thread back on track, let me be a voice of reason here. Let me enlighten those that are blinded. This Jericho vs. HHH feud was set to fail from the beginning. Why? Because Jericho was a horrible undisputed champion. Whatever meaning those titles had has been sucked away by the most tepid, botched, and utterly pathetic heel run I have ever witnessed. At least 60% of the blame lies on the WWF's shoulder's for horrible booking and the rest is on Jericho's. The fact of the matter is is that he was not ready.

 

When Jericho won the UC, I was among the people who said this would end horribly. But, many of the smarks didn't look at the situation in the long term, they just creamed their pants because the WWF had given the title to Chris "The Future" Jericho. I knew the situation reeked of desperation.  Jericho was a tweener in a high profile feud with the Rock at this time. And not many people have given the Rock credit for it, but had it not been for him putting Jericho over time and time again, in interviews, skits, and in the ring, Jericho would have had little momentum going into his reign. The odds were already stacked against him as the fans really didn't want to see Jericho win the title at this point. The wanted Austin, The Rock, or even RVD with the title. They were just happy with Jericho slowly climbing that ladder to the top. Of course Jericho won the title. Mistake number 1.

 

Now many say Jericho was booked horribly as the champ. Now, may I refer to one Rock and one Kurt Angle? The Rock was jobbed out to the Bossman and Mark Henry, booked weakly against Mankind and Steve Austin, yet remained a strong heel presence while he held the title.  Jericho on the other hand was put over the Rock FIVE times and every other credible main event/upper mid-card face the WWF could throw at him. Yet, he struggled to draw heat and make the UC mean anything.

 

Let's take a look at Kurt Angle, his four month reign was booked horribly as well. He was basically a lame duck heel champion and I must say that while his reign meant nothing, the title did and he was still able to draw good heel heat. Jericho could not keep the titles meaning anything and his promos were forced and downright pathetic attempts to draw the cheapest heat possible. Im my opinon, Jericho's reign was booked better than heel Kurt's reign because the title was a focus of the show, but because of who wore the title, it was unover. With Kurt, the he and the title were over, but they were rendered meaningless by other feuds at the time.

 

Now, to January 7th 2002. HHH came back to the WWF 3x more over than any face in the company. The crowd ate it up when they teased an Austin/HHH confrontation. They even were eager to see a HHH/Kurt angle confrontation. Especially now that Angle had gotten his heat back by interrupting a HHH return speech, the fans wanted to see Angle get his ass kicked and they wanted to see HHH do it. Of course, the WWF being the WWF they decided why do that when they can have HHH in a program with unover heel champ Chris Jericho? And so they did.

 

Now before I continue, let me say this. HHH should not have been put in a program with anyone sans Kurt or Austin without another face along with him. Face HHH was unproven, yet HUGELY over at the time of his return so the WWF thought that he could maintain that HUGE heat by himself. They should have had him team with the Rock so he could get more comfortable in his face role and feud with the Rock's Opponent of the Week. But hindsight is 20/20.

 

Now, I guess the WWF's logic was that HHH would somehow get Jericho some extra heel heat. And in a way, that's what happened. But, it took alot longer than the WWF thought and it happened in a way I'm sure they didn't imagine.

 

Now some may call Test a heat leech, but Jericho is the real heat leech. HHH's pops didn't start to decrease significantly until he was programed against Jericho. Jericho's heat started to INCREASE when he was programed with HHH although this took time. Then Jericho got a real Godsend in the form of Steph and his heat increased exponetially. He was now getting the reaction the UC champ sould get. Of course, by then it was too late. HHH was the 3rd most over face in the company and Jericho had already ruined the titles. The fued was dead in the water.

 

And now I see all of you blaming old HHH for the whole thing. But really, HHH has gained nothing from this. He was booked badly just like everyone else in the company yet he's fucking the "head booker." What's wrong with this? In fact HHH came out looking the worst in all of this. Let's take a look at what everyone gained from this fiasco.....

 

HHH

-The only thing he gained was the UC title, but that's worthless after Jericho's abortion of a heel reign. Basically HHH was booked as weak in this fued hurting his long term credibility. He didn't really have any dominance in the feud until he won the titles last night. But as I said they're basically nothing right now.

 

Jericho

-Basically dominated the fued

-Stole HHH's girl

-Beat up HHH on numerous occasions leading into the biggest PPV of the year.

-Humiliated HHH

-Came out looking stronger in the fued.

 

Steph

-Got to be the top heel.

 

So really, who's worse off? I can't put any of the blame on HHH. He basically did all he could do with a bad storyline and a medicore champion to feud with. I do blame Jericho because he could have done better, but he did try very hard. Most of the blame goes to the WWF creative and booking staff.

 

Here's what should have happened....

 

-Steve Austin should have stayed heel and won the UC title.

-Jericho turns heel and feuds with the Rock

-HHH feuds with Austin upon his return.

-HHH wins title at WM

-Jericho in the meantime is in a hot feud with the Rock and/or Hogan while teaming with the NWO.

-HHH and Rock form occasional alliances to battle NWO and Jericho.

-HHH and Jericho start program in the spring.

-HHH drops title to now mega-heel Jericho at SS.

-Jericho drops title to Rock at WM.

 

Oh well. So much of that. You know what's ironic? The first time the WWF books a smark favorite to take the ball and run with, it turns into an abomination. Perhaps the community is not as smart is it makes itself out to be. Who knows.

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

Booking a smark favorite to run with the ball is one thing.

 

Booking a smark favorite to be a lackey for your opponent's wife and not going over anyone clean, while said opponent was going over everyone clean 2 years prior and actually given a confident run while being the focus of the company (after 2 failed attempts), is another.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Thank you Best Buy for those wise words. I just love posters that act like they know more than everyone else. Saying shit like "let me enlighten people". You enlighten people, it's your fucking opinion. Don't act like what you say is right, and what everyone else says is crap.

[Guest Loss4Words]

Jericho DID NOT dominate the feud. HHH beat his ass every single week until the final week when Jericho was finally allowed to get some heat, accompanied by some massive "Jericho Sucks" chants mind you.

 

And how can anyone justify HHH pushing backstage for Jericho to be elevated but burying his main event worth on talk shows? If the WWF didn't have the confidence in Jericho to headline Mania, then why the #### didn't he drop the title before the event so they could focus his character more for a future run? I'll tell you why.

 

HHH wanted Jericho to fail on the grandest scale possible. If you don't get over as a midcarder, you have nowhere to go but up. If you fail as a main eventer, you have nowhere to go but down.

 

I will say I'm optimistic about next week's main event because either Jericho gets his belts back or Stephanie is off TV. I can't lose.

 

Anyway, HHH has been trying to sabotage Jericho for three years now and has successfully ruined him to a point where it'll take at least two years for him to rebuild his character after all the hard work he put into getting as over as anyone in the company from 1999-2001.

 

Jericho came in to the WWF with tons of fanfare while HHH was trying to get over. Jericho was massively over from the get-go. That's where the jealousy started. HHH finally got over as a heel when Jericho started to get bigger pops than the Rock as a face. That's when the problems escalated. Jericho maintained his heat when the bookers jobbed him out for a year and a half. That's when action had to be taken to make sure that little Canadian ball of charisma and workrate was crushed so he wouldn't steal HHH's thunder like he had been threatening to do for years prior.

 

If you can't see that, I'm not sure what to tell you because you're incredibly naive if you think the WWF has ever given Jericho a completely honest chance of making it big without alterior motives in his booking.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

I wonder if Jericho was tempted at any point during the match to get a little stiff on HGH's leg.

 

I know I would have been

[Guest humongous2002]

Jericho could've been the one to take the WWF to he next level just like Austin did in 98 and HBK did in 96.HHH couldn't stand that a newcomer was getting bigger pops than him in less than a month while it took him 4 years to get any reaction from the fans, so he started plotting againts Y2J since his intro in the WWF back in 1999. First complaining that his style was too stiff and too quick for the wrestlers. Actually that's what caused an argument betwen Y2J  and Vince McMahon, when Vince told him to wrestle WWF style. Then Jericho jobbed to the then girlfriend of HHH for the IC title, but it backfired on HHH when Y2J started getting bigger pops than Chyna.There was an interview in WOW magazine were they had Y2J doing word association, when HHH's name came up Chris said that he didn't have nothing nice to say about him.

After jobbing and sometimes winning matches for 2 years, Y2J finally wins the big one(by using a chair)  but then losses the WCW title 2 weeks later.But it's booked to win the undisputed titles in december so he could be a transitional wrestler for HHH.Even though Y2J was made to be a weak champion he got to beat Austin and the Rock on the same night and later on in the Rumble and NO WAY OUT. But the shit hits the fan when Y2J joins forces with the billion dollar skank and losses all the heat he had before.By winning the belts at MANIA ,a "injured" Triple HGH beat a man who defeated 2 of the biggest superstars in the WWF .Now anyone who doesn't think that roided freak is not responsible for Y2J's pitiful title reign should have their freakin' heads checked.