(9/12) Best Matches Series: The Best Matches of Chris Jericho (Season 5 Episode 9)

joshandstupodcast
Sep 2, 2020
2 min read

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 and The Rock, to his late WWE career, his time at New Japan etc. 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

Next, we look at Chris Jericho's epic ladder match with Chris Benoit at Royal Rumble 2001 for the Intercontinental Championship.

Season 5 Episode Nine

Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit Royal Rumble 2001 • 21st January 2001

Now that is an epic ladder match and I can understand now why this is considered one of the greatest Intercontinental title matches of all time. The innovation with the ladder by both of these men was so unique and awesome, I thought I’ve seen it all in a ladder match haha.

These guys know each other very well and the pace is fast and action-packed. I love that they just used one ladder as sometimes feels underwhelming when they used multiple ladders. Also, they loved that they didn’t really climb the ladder to get the title until the end, as they wanted to beat the hell out of each other first.

The spots in this match were insane and I can’t name them all, but dam that infamous suicide dive spot, when Jericho hits Benoit with a sick mid-air steel chair shot, was awesome in so many ways haha. Overall, I loved every minute of this match, the storytelling, the action, the unpredictability of what they would do next was outstanding.

I can’t praise this match enough, 2001 was Jericho’s best year in the company and matches like this you can see why they pushed him to win the world title at the end of the year. But if you want great action, innovative offensive and two men beating the hell out of each other for a title then this is the match for you.

Verdict: 10 out of 10

Watch The Full Match on WWE Network (Go to 22 minutes 54 seconds into the video)

https://watch.wwe.com/episode/Royal-Rumble-2001-11802

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