WWE It Begins 2012: Chris Jericho and the Internet Spoiler Evolution of the WWE

The end of the world as you know it is here.

Or was here.

The wrestling world once featured tremendous returns and debuts, most notably during the Monday Night Wars as superstars bounced between companies, showing up unexpectedly as fans sat on the edge of their seats waiting to see who would appear next.  The element of surprise was a vastly underrated aspect as to what made Mondays so exciting in the late '90s and what WWE has been trying to recapture for 11 years now.

Chris Jericho’s three major Raw moments each chart an interesting point in how wrestling fandom has evolved ever since the Internet and wrestling became intertwined.

In 1999, rumors ran rampant as a millennium clock began counting down during that pre-millennial summer.  What or who was on their way to the then WWF? 

While Chris Jericho was a leading candidate among message boards, it was far from a guarantee. (There were rumors he was coming in as a character named “Excalibur” which should still be a Fozzy song someday.)  With no Twitter, no Facebook and camera phones, there were no spoilers through the day of his debut. 

There was educated guesswork but as the countdown clock struck zero, there was a strong visceral excitement over who would step forth from the curtains.  And once Jericho raised his arms, all spotlights in the arena bathing him in their light, one of the loudest pops in wrestling history was recorded and in five seconds, a genuine superstar was made.

2007 brought the first Jericho comeback as a series of Matrix-esque videos ran during WWE programming throughout the fall.  The then-unnamed WWE universe chanted “Y2J” throughout many shows but it wasn’t until mid-November that Jericho returned. 

The night of his reemergence, WWE cut to a backstage body shot of Jericho assaulting a Randy Orton crony just seconds before his return, confirming and spoiling the surprise themselves. 

Much like revealing Eric Bischoff a commercial break before his introduction from Mr. McMahon in 2002, WWE began to stop letting moments just happen in their storytelling and instead, felt a desire (cue Creed music) to overly control and telegraph “moments.” 

2012 was a different story altogether. 

While Jericho’s return onscreen played as a combination of the 1999 and 2007 events, it was what occurred earlier in the day that made it so interesting.  A fan was able to snap a photo of Chris Jericho arriving at a Nashville airport on the morning of 1/2/12 and post it to Twitter, much as someone had done with Kevin Nash’s Boston arrival for the Royal Rumble a year earlier.

I repeat, Chris Jericho flew into an airport literally three hours and 38 minutes away...221 miles.  And that still wasn’t far enough for the secret to be kept. 

In an era where kayfabe has been dead and buried for well over a decade, this is a new level.  For a company so desperate to be accepted by the mainstream, it’s having to cope with the same issues that have and currently are plaguing mainstream productions such as The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Breaking Bad and more.

This isn’t WWE putting up pre-taped show results on the main page of their website (as they did back in 1999 for the Mankind World Title victory on Monday Night Raw) nor is it WWE spoiling the dramatic effect of Jericho’s return as they did in 2007.  This is wrestling fans (or pop culture fans in general), demanding total control over the content before the content is even filmed.

Fans wanting to be the ones to break the news, wanting to be the ones to know the news, wanting to be the ones to discuss and evaluate the news publicly, even when the news has not officially broken yet. 

John Cena’s Royal Rumble 2008 appearance was such a shock because it wasn’t even remotely guessed at online.  The 2008 Royal Rumble match featured five mystery slots the day of the Rumble and Cena’s name was not rumored anywhere on the Internet. 

For a character who preaches being old school, it was the storyline twist that took Cena back to the '80s and '90s that night.  Every wrestling fan, “smart” or not, was completely surprised and allowed to be completely invested in the story free from expectations.  Surprise, for one night only, existed in its purest wrestling form.

While surprise was absent on Monday night, another wrinkle emerged.   The storytelling of Chris Jericho’s 2012 character played out onscreen nothing like anyone expected.  It raised a unique question for this day and age in pop culture.

Do spoilers matter if the story is unpredictable or told in an original way? 

As character returns, deaths, cameos and more are leaked online for movies and television shows, does it impact a viewer or fan negatively if the finished product onscreen is presented in a way that still manages to surprise?  Maybe not a “shock” surprise as wrestling fans grew accustomed to but more storytelling “that’s interesting” surprise. 

The end of the world was foretold in the promos leading to Jericho’s 2012 return.  In this TMZ society that the pop culture world finds itself living in, “advanced scrutiny” is the catchphrase of the hour.

In 1999, WWE was able to ignore the Internet to a point and still shock and delight fans.  In 2007, WWE couldn’t help itself and tried to wrest control of surprises away from its supporters.  In 2012, WWE trumpets social media beyond the storylines played out two hours at a time on its programming.  It is a 24/7 enterprise that extends way past the ring.

The end of the wrestling world as we knew it was confirmed via one Twitter snapshot this past Monday.   But much like Jericho’s return, we won’t know what it means for a while yet.

That is the true evolution of a wrestling surprise.  It’s no longer about the one moment of excitement.  It’s all about the subdued and intriguing nature of the followup.

For fun, here is some other wrestling plot points that could have been different had Twitter existed in their eras:

According to local real estate agent, Fabulous Rougeau Brothers have not relocated anywhere near the Memphis, TN housing market.  #stillcanadian #falsepatriotism

Ultimate Warrior practiced vomiting backstage at house shows all week in anticipation of Papa Shango angle to be taped next week.  Warrior yet to be informed of upcoming angle.  Quite insane.  #BeafraidShango

Here’s a picture of VK Wallstreet backstage at Nitro trying on nWo t-shirt, finding the right size.  VK turning on WCW tonight.  #4life  #wellmaybe4alittlebit