Profile of Chris Jericho on Famous Like Me

Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known as Chris Jericho, is a musician, media personality and (currently inactive) professional wrestler, best known for his stint in World Wrestling Entertainment from 1999 to August 2005. Jericho was born in Manhasset, New York was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father Ted Irvine is a former NHL player. Contrary to popular belief, Chris Jericho's stage name was not inspired by the ancient city of Jericho, but by a Heavy Metal album bearing the title "Walls of Jericho" (which became the name of Jericho's finishing move) by the German band Helloween.

Early career

Jericho trained at the Hart brothers' pro-wrestling camp in Calgary, Alberta from June to September 1990. Between his professional debut on October 2, 1990 and the summer of 1996 he worked for many small wrestling companies, including Bay Area Wrestling, the World Wrestling Association, the Catch Wrestling Alliance, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (where he was briefly involved in a tag team called "The Thrillseekers" with Lance Storm) and Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he briefly held the ECW World Television Championship. He also wrestled at one time for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, the oldest promotion in pro wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling

In August 1996 Jericho made his first appearance with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and on September 15 of that year he appeared at his first pay-per-view show, in a match against Chris Benoit.

Jericho had much early sucess in WCW. On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time. He would win the title again on August 12, 1997 by defeating Alex Wright. Jericho won the title a third time, defeating Rey Mysterio Jr. on January 24, 1998 at WCW's second annual Souled Out pay-per-view by making him submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho continued an assault on Mysterio's knee by utilizing the metal ring steps to sandwich Mysterio's leg.

Jericho's feud with Juventud Guerrera culminated in a Title vs. Mask match at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998 in San Francisco, California. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Jericho carried the mask around for months and mocked Guerrera's nickname of "Juvi Juice" by referring to him as "Quasi-Juice."

In a feud with Dean Malenko, Jericho shamed Malenko by defeating him in a pay-per-view match. As a result, Malenko then "left wrestling" and stayed off camera for a prolongued period. Jericho constantly mocked Malenko and made jokes about the fact that he defeated him and ended his career. Jericho began calling himself "The Man of 1,004 Holds" to mock Malenko, The Man of a Thousand Holds. Eventually, Malenko returned and Jericho would lose the title to him. Jericho would later regain and lose the title for a fourth time.

On July 13, 1998, Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. to win the Cruiserweight Championship for an unprecedented fifth time.

Eventually, Jericho dropped the title and on August 10, 1998 Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the WCW Television Championship for his first time.

Jericho also feuded with Perry Saturn. This rivalry resulted in unorthodox matches such as a "loser must wear a dress" match that Jericho won and a dog collar match that Saturn won.

Jericho had a brief feud with rising WCW star Bill Goldberg, which was shortened with Goldberg's pursuit of the WCW World Championship.

Jericho also had a flunkie named Ralphus and a heel referee (Scott Dickinson) on his side before he left the company.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before his debut with the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment). The build-up to Jericho's arrival was a clock labeled "countdown to the new millenium.", counting down over the weeks prior to his arrival. On the home video Break the Walls Down, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in the post office. Vince McMahon gave him the green light to use it as his intro to WWE. The clock finally ran down on August 9, 1999 in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring doing a promo. Jericho, a heel, entered the arena and proclaimed himself "Y2J". The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption.

On December 12, 1999 Jericho won his first WWF Title, the Intercontinental Championship, from Chyna.

2000

This feud with Chyna lasted for many months including a controversial decision in which two seperate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title on January 3, 2000. As a result, they became co-owners of the title until Jericho attained sole ownership at the Royal Rumble in January 2000. He ended up dropping the title to Kurt Angle on February 27 at No Way Out.

On April 2, 2000 Jericho participated in his very first WrestleMania in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle with unique rules. Angle entered the match-up as both the WWF European and WWF Intercontinental champion. The first man to score a pinfall or submission would be declared Intercontinental Champion. The second man to score a pinfall or submission would be declared European Champion. Jericho was first pinned by Benoit and would pin Benoit later on in the match, making Jericho the new European Champion. Jericho, would lose the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on RAW.

On the April 17, 2000 edition of RAW, Chris Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner has made a fast count when Jericho pinned HHH, leading him to force the referee to reverse the decision and stop the title changing hands. Jericho's win was stricken from the record.

After the controversial decision, Jericho went on to feud with Chris Benoit. On the May 4, 2000 edition of SmackDown! Jericho defeated Benoit to become WWF Intercontinental Champion for the second time. Four days later, Jericho wrestled a total of three matches on RAW. One of which ended in defeat at the hands of Chris Benoit in which Benoit regained the Intercontinental Title. That same month, at the May 21 Judgment Day pay-per-view, Jericho lost a now classic Submission Match against Benoit.

At that year's King of the Ring pay-per-view, Jericho defeated Test in the first round and Edge in the second round but lost to Kurt Angle in the quarter-finals because of interference by Stephanie McMahon.

One month later at Fully Loaded, Jericho attained another opportunity to acquire a win over Triple H, this time in a Last Man Standing match, which ended in a loss for Jericho.

At SummerSlam on August 27, Jericho was handed another loss by Chris Benoit in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match.

In the Fall, Jericho would go on to feud with his old WCW rival X-Pac. This feud would culminate in a cage match at WWE No Mercy which Jeicho won.

Following this feud Jericho would feud with Kane, who defeated Jericho at November's Survivor Series and December's WWE Rebellion pay-ver-views. However, Jericho would defeat Kane in a Last Man Standing match at WWE Armageddon.

2001

At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho and Chris Benoit had another classic match. This time it would be a ladder match and Jericho would be victorious, in effect capturing the WWF Intercontinental Championship for a third time.

At WrestleMania X-Seven, successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it three days later to Triple H. At WWE Backlash, Jericho and Regal would face off in a "Dutchess of Queensbury" Match, which Regal won. However, on May 5, at the Insurrexion pay-per-view, Jericho defeated Regal in a "Queen's Cup" match.

Fifteen days later, at the Judgment Day pay-per-view Jericho and Benoit would join forces to win "Tag Team Turmoil" and gain an opportunity to face Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on RAW the next night. Benoit and Jericho would win the match and Jericho became WWF Tag Team Champion for his first time. The duo would lose the titles one month later to the Dudley Boyz on June 19, 2001.

Undisputed Champion

In the following months, Jericho would become a major force in the "Invasion" storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho would remain on the side of the WWF and retain his status as a face. However, slowly signs of a heel turn became obvious as Jericho would begin to show jealousy toward fellow WWF member, The Rock. Jericho would defeat The Rock for the Rock's WCW World Heavyweight Championship. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team titles from the Alliance's Dudley Boyz. After they lost the titles, they continued their feud as The Rock regained the WCW Heavyweight Championship from Jericho. At Survivor Series, Jericho would almost cost the Rock and the WWF victory in their Elimination matchup.

On December 9, 2001, at Vengeance, Chris Jericho defeated both The Rock, for his WCW Heavyweight Championship, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, for his WWF Heavyweight Championship, on the same night to become the first-ever WWF Undisputed Champion. This is considered a tremendous accolade and is arguably Chris Jericho's greatest accomplishment. He not only united the WCW and WWF title, but did so against two men who were arguably the best wrestlers of that period on the same night.

Jericho successfully defended his title at two pay-per-views, against the Rock and then against Steve Austin.

Jericho finally dropped the championship to Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X-8. After this loss Jericho became a member of the SmackDown! roster and continued his feud with Triple H when Jericho cost Triple H the title in a match-up against Hollywood Hulk Hogan at the following month's Backlash pay-per-view. Four days later Jericho defeated Triple H to win an opportunity at the championship against Hogan the following week. Triple H cost Jericho that match. The rivalry culminated on at Judgment Day, as Triple H defeated Jericho in a Hell in a Cell match.

2002

Following this feud Jericho would begin a brief rivalry with rookie, John Cena. On the July 4 edition of SmackDown! John Cena slapped Jericho. Jericho, angered, demanded a match with the newcomer. Jericho defeated Cena and after the match, offered him a handshake. Cena returned the gesture but received a punch from Jericho. The two would have a few more matches until the July 21 Vengeance pay-per-view in which John Cena scored a pinfall over Jericho.

Jericho got drafted back to RAW and would go on to begin a rivalry with Ric Flair by attacking him with a steel chair at the end of the July 29 edition of Raw. At the August 25 SummerSlam pay-per-view Flair defeated Jericho by making him submit to the figure four leg lock.

Jericho would go on to tag team success with Christian capturing the tag team titles from Hurricane and Kane on October 14, 2002.

On November 17, at Survivor Series, Jericho participated in the very first Elimination Chamber match along with Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels won.

At Armageddon on December 15, Jericho and Christian finally lost the Tag Team Championship to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four way match also involving the Dudley Boyz and Lance Storm and William Regal.

2003

Jericho started a rivalry with Shawn Michaels in 2003. On January 13, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble. Wishing to prove himself as good as Michaels, Jericho selected number one, however, he was informed that Michaels had already selected number one and, instead, chose number two. At the Rumble, Jericho eliminated Michaels after bloodying him with a steel chair, before being eliminated by Test. At that year's No Way Out event, Jericho defeated Jeff Hardy, whom Michaels was attempting to mentor, via the Walls of Jericho. On March 3, Jericho knocked Michaels out cold with a steel chair and challenged him to a match at WrestleMania XIX. The next week, Shawn Michaels delivered his Sweet Chin Music to Jericho and accepted his challenge. On March 30, at WrestleMania XIX, the two faced off with Michaels coming out the victor.

On October 27, Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam by submission to the Walls of Jericho in order to capture the Intercontinental Championship but then Co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin ordered a rematch on the same night. Rob Van Dam won the rematch, a cage match, and regained the title.

Beginning around this time, Jericho developed a crush on Trish Stratus. Eventually, on the November 10, 2003 edition of Monday Night Raw, Jericho finally get a date with Trish. Eventually, it was revealed that Jericho and Christian had made a bet for one canadian dollar to see which one of them could sleep with a chosen diva first. Jericho's diva was Trish while Christian's diva was Lita.

At Armageddon, Jericho and Christian defeated Lita and Trish in a "Battle of the Sexes" match. The next night, a rematch was scheduled but was stopped by Chris Jericho. As a result, he was forced to face Kane and was attacked by Christian later that night.

2004

On January 5, Jericho and Christian reunited and Jericho attempted to apologize to Trish. One week later, Jericho ran in to make the save as Trish was being assaulted by Jazz but was attacked himself by Jazz's stable-mate Mark Henry. Later that night, Christian convinced Jericho that he was wasting his time with Trish. Jericho conceded not knowing that Trish was looking for him.

On January 26, Trish was scheduled to face Kane in a match-up. However, Chris Jericho, having one and only one favor that he could ask of General Manager Eric Bischoff after helping Bischoff eliminate Steve Austin as Co-GM, asked that the match be cancelled. Trish approached Jericho and told him that they could be "really good friends." On the February 9 edition of Raw, Jericho teamed with Trish to take on Matt Hardy and Molly Holly. Jericho and Trish won with help from Christian. It seemed as if Christian had finally come to accept Jericho's affections for Trish.

Jericho would be out of action due to a knee injury for the next couple of weeks. Eric Bischoff scheduled a match between Christian and Trish Stratus for RAW on February 23. Backstage Christian told Trish that he would lie down for her and allow her to pin him. However, once in the ring, Christian delivered a clothesline to Trish and applied Jericho's Walls of Jericho submission onto her. She was taken out of action for several weeks and Christian gloated over his actions.

Jericho returned furious and attacked Christian on March 1. A match was scheduled for WrestleMania XX on March 14. The match saw Trish double-cross Jericho and reveal that she had associated herself with Christian instead.

The following night on Raw, Stratus revealed on how she had never forgiven Jericho for the Canadian dollar bet, how her feelings of sadness and hurt ate away at her for months as she plotted her ultimate revenge. The feud would continue through the spring and into the summer with Tyson Tomko eventually joining Trish and Christian and would ultimately end at Bad Blood on June 14, 2004 with Jericho defeating Tomko.

Jericho's feud with Christian began again on August 30 when Christian made his return to RAW. On September 12, Jericho defeated Christian in a ladder match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. Jericho lost the title at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin and lost a rematch with Benjamin the next week. Jericho displayed his approval of the younger Benjamin following the rematch.

2005

In February of 2005, Jericho began making it known that he wanted to leave an impact at WrestleMania 21. Eventually, he came up with the idea of a ladder match. This would develop into the "Money in the Bank" ladder match. Jericho entered in this match against Shelton Benjamin aswell as Chris Benoit, Edge, Kane, and Christian. Edge would go on and win the match.

Following this, Jericho targeted Shelton Benjamin and the Intercontinental Championship. This came to a head at Backlash where Shelton Benjamin again defeated Jericho to retain the title.

Jericho, once again, showed signs of turning heel by caring less about wrestling and more about his career as a musician. This affected Shelton Benjamin the most as Jericho often abandoned Benjamin in tag matches and allowed him to be attacked due to prior engagements.

Jericho made an appearance at ECW's One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 12, 2005. He was defeated by Lance Storm with help from Justin Credible.

In 2005, Jericho turned heel once more by turning on WWE champion John Cena. Cena retained his championship against Jericho and Christian at Vengeance in a triple threat match. Jericho, continued to feud with John Cena. The two were then booked to fight for the championship at Summerslam. On the July 25, 2005 edition of RAW, Jericho and Cena were supposed to face each other in a "Battle of the Bands," pitting Jericho's band Fozzy against Cena, Trademarc, and Bumpy Knuckles. Cena and his partners performed Cena's latest single, "Bad, Bad Man" to a great reaction from the fans, but Jericho refused, thinking the fans in Cleveland, Ohio would be biased and said he'd wait to perform at Summerslam.

On August 21, Jericho finally faced Cena at SummerSlam in a match Cena won. the next night on August 22nd edition of RAW, Jericho got a rematch against Cena in a "You're fired" match, after being unable to beat John Cena, Eric Bischoff "fired" a pleading Jericho, who was then carried out of the arena by security.

Retirement

WWE's official website recently confirmed on July 28, 2005 that Chris Jericho signed a short-term contract extension to stay with the company after his long-term contract expired, which presumably ended after his loss to Cena on August 22nd. It is currently unknown when Jericho will return to wrestling. Further speculation as to his future plans came when, days after his "firing," a picture of Jericho's trademark pose in front of the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) logo appeared on his official website.

On August 25, 2005, Jericho announced his departure from WWE in a statement on (and later pulled from) his official website, saying that after 15 years of wrestling he was mentally burnt out and no longer challenged by wrestling at that point in time, noting that he has done everything he has ever wanted to do in the business. He said that the "You're fired" match with John Cena was his last match "for now," but said he wasn't done with wrestling or WWE, and that if he returned to wrestling, it would be with WWE. On his offical website he added a press release saying he is touring with Fozzy, acting, hosting his XM Radio show, The Rock Of Jericho and appearing on VH1's The Best Week Ever.

It is important to point out that Chris is not indefinitly leaving the WWE and that a comeback is possible after a well deserved break.

Personal

Jericho is married to a woman named Jessica, with whom he has a son, Ash Edward Irvine.

Jericho was inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame on September 25, 1997. On July 5, 2004, Jericho was awarded The Order of the Buffalo Hunt in a ceremony held in Manitoba for his achievements in wrestling and his continual commitment to working with underpriveledged children. The award has previously been given to Pope John Paul II, Chicago mayor Richard Daley, Desmond Tutu and Mother Theresa.

Besides being a professional wrestler, Jericho has a degree in journalism and is the frontman of the heavy metal group Fozzy. He also writes a semi-regular column for Metal Edge magazine.

Jericho also started his own weekly XM radio show, in March 2005, called "the Rock of Jericho."

Jericho is a contributor to the VH1 pop culture show Best Week Ever.

He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and Tampa, FL.

He was in a Nestle Crunch Radio Commercial to promote Nestle's free unlimited Napster downloads sweepstakes. This can be heared on the American Top 40, TRL Weekend Countdown and the Weekend Top 30.

In wrestling

Previous managers

• Ralphus
• Chyna
• Mr. Curtis Hughes
• Stephanie McMahon
• Trish Stratus

Catchphrases

• "Would you please shut the hell up?"
• "Assclown..."
• "I'm a sexy beast!"
• "I'm the king of the world!"
• "I am a larger than life living legend."
• "You filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding trash bag ho."
• "I am the Ayatolah of Rock'n'Rolla"
• "Hit the bricks junior ."
• "Lets take a look at the insanely expensive JERITRON 5000 "
• "Roll the tape, monkeys. "
• "RAW...is...Jericho!"
• "Never....e-e-e-ever be the same a-gain!!!"

Finishing moves

• The Walls of Jericho / Lion Tamer (Elevated boston crab)
• Lionsault (Springboard moonsault)
• Running enzuigiri
• Flashback (Sleeper slam)
• Breakdown (Full nelson facebuster)

Signature moves

• Lionbomb (Double underhook powerbomb)
• Spinebuster
• Jericho Spike (Frankensteiner)
• Double powerbomb
• Missile Dropkick
• Double underhook backbreaker
• Springboard dropkick to an opponent on the ring apron
• Single-hand bulldog
• Jumping forearm

Nicknames

• Lionheart
• Y2J (parody of Y2K)
• The Millenium Bug
• The Living Legend
• The King of the World
• The King of Bling-Bling
• The Man of 1,004 Holds
• The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla
• The Sexy Beast
• One Bad Mamma Jamma
• The Human Highlight Reel
• The Highlight of the Night
• The Epicenter of Excitement

Theme songs

• "The Days of My Life" WCW production song, Instrumental version of "Evenflow" by Pearl Jam Made by "The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart (maybe entitled "One Crazed Anarchist" or "One Crazed Anarchrist")
• "Break Down The Walls" by WWE's Jim Johnston
• "King Of The World" written by WWE's Jim Johnston & performed by Saliva
• "Dont You Wish You Were Me" sung by Jericho himself

Championships and accomplishments

1. In a three way match against Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit.
2. The decision was revsersed later on the same show because of a fast count by the referee.
3. Jericho wins both titles on the same show and unifies them. The title is known as the WWE Undisputed Championship from then on.
4. RAW Co-GM Stone Cold Steve Austin forced the newly crowned IC Champion, Chris Jericho, to immediately defend his title in a cage match because of RAW Co-GM Eric Bischoff's interference in the previous match.
5. Jericho won the vacant title in a ladder match against Christian.

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 109 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• Chris won the 2002 PWI Most Hated Wrestler Award.

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