(1/12) Best Matches Series: The Best Matches of Chris Jericho (Season 5 Episode 1)

joshandstupodcast
Jul 8, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Jul 13, 2020

Welcome to Season 5 of my Best Matches series: where I look at the best matches of a certain wrestler. This season I look at one of the best wrestling reinventors of all time (my opinion, of course, haha) and distant family member Chris Jericho (no proof of that, just that his real-life surname is Irvine so you never know haha).

I'll look at his time in WCW, his battles in the 2000s with the likes of Triple H, The Rock, etc., his late WWE career as well as his time in New Japan. If you want to look at my previous series then click on the link below.

(These posts will be once a week and not every day as in the previous series. So every Wednesday at 1 pm (UK Time) these reviews will be up)

Check out the last four seasons:

Kenny Omega (Season 1)

https://joshandstupodcast.wixsite.com/jswrestlingpod/post/all-posts-from-season-one-of-best-matches-series-kenny-omega-in-njpw

Becky Lynch (Season 2)

https://joshandstupodcast.wixsite.com/jswrestlingpod/post/all-posts-from-season-two-of-best-matches-series-the-best-of-becky-lynch-s-in-nxt-wwe

Stone Cold Steve Austin (Season 3)

https://joshandstupodcast.wixsite.com/jswrestlingpod/post/all-post-from-season-three-of-best-matches-series-best-matches-of-stone-cold-steve-austin

Eddie Guerrero (Season 4)

https://joshandstupodcast.wixsite.com/jswrestlingpod/post/all-posts-from-season-four-of-best-matches-series-eddie-guerrero

So to kick this series off, we look at Chris Jericho's battle with The Rock for the World Title at Vengeance 2001.

Season 5 Episode One

World Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. The Rock Vengeance 2001 • December 4, 2001

A battle between two of the greats here, with Chris Jericho controlling most of the match with The Rock being unable to get any momentum as Chris kept cutting him off. I love the way they made Chris Jericho feel like he is a credible challenger and that his attitude may lose him this match, this heel version of Jericho is the best version of Jericho and it shows here.

That announce table spot was awesome and, the moment when both The Rock and Chris lock in the sharpshooter that was cool and the crowd love it also (even if they both can’t lock it in right haha). The introduction of Vince near the end felt off as in my opinion it wasn't needed and ruined Jericho's big win. But I loved that Chris beat The Rock with his own rock bottom, which totally worked with his character.

Looking back Jericho was the right choice to win this match, and as everyone knows it led him to win the undisputed title (Yes, the first one, not Randy Orton haha) by beating Stone Cold thanks to Booker T. But a great match that I wish had more time.

The ending with Vince getting involved wasn't needed and with how good Jericho is at being the bratty heel I just wish this win led to a better title reign (hindsight is a beautiful thing haha). If you want to see a great example of how good Jericho can be as a heel then check out this match, it's one of his best with The Rock.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

Watch The Full Match on WWE Network (Go to 2 Hour mark in the video)

https://watch.wwe.com/episode/Vengeance-2001-11097

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