WWE Elimination Chamber: Why the Punk/Jericho Feud Needs to Be More Exciting

Chris Jericho has been known worldwide as one of the best performers in wrestling for many years. But with Jericho turning 42 in November, he is now officially one of the oldest guys active on the WWE roster.

You wouldn't know it by his rock-star ego, over-oiled six pack and frosted hair but he is one of the members of the older generation now. This is not a bad thing though—it is actually great for several reasons.

For a long time I have thought of Jericho as one of the top guys, but now I am starting to view him as one of the previous generations wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.

This means he is now one of the established vets on the roster who can help the younger guys carve a future out of the business. By feuding with Punk he is somewhat passing the torch he has held for a long time.

Jericho is one of the last truly seasoned vets—by that I mean the kind of guy who travelled the world honing his skills with wrestlers from Japan, Mexico, Europe and beyond.

This is a much less common path to take these days, but WWE has a few guys who have travelled that path and are now leading the company.

CM Punk is someone who wrestled all over the place for years before making it to WWE and some might even say he is the modern-day Chris Jericho for a lot of reasons.

Let's take a look at their similarities.

They are both wrestlers he use a variety of mat-based moves, high-flying spots and submission finishers. They even both have a non-submission finisher which ends up with their knee connecting with their opponents face.

Neither of them have ever been the biggest dog in the fight but they both have their diehard fans who will cheer them no matter who they are up against.

They both began their career in WWE with long hair and cut it short eventually. Both men wear trunks with boots and kick pads.

Now WWE is taking advantage of the fact that they both used catchphrases containing the words "Best in the World" and using it as a catalyst for Jericho to claim everyone has been copying him while he was away.

Jericho has a point. Most guys in his position would view it as someone trying to emulate them out of respect but having Jericho be bitter about it makes his heel character that much more unlikable.

While Jericho and Punk bring a similar skill set to the ring, they have vastly different styles which makes it so they mesh well together. Jericho is like a hair band to CM's punk rock band.

The fact that this could be the next big feud on WWE makes me think they need more sizzle to go with the steak. I am sure they could go out and put on a five-star match, but the feud itself had to match up in order to be a selling point for WrestleMania 28.

So far we have seen little to no interaction between the two outside of a couple scheduled matches, which Jericho has only had a handful of since returning, and a couple in ring promos.

They need to step it up and make this feud more violent. Not bloody, but personal and realistic.

Kane and Cena's feud is great because of the anger and tension they portray on screen. Jericho and Punk need some of that.

Just having two amazing wrestlers go out and put on a great match is not what WWE is all about. They like to have a backstory that pulls you in leading into the match and so far the only reason they seem to be feuding is be cause Punk stole Jericho's catchphrase.

WWE needs to have these guys start talking more trash and beating the hell out of each other every chance they get. Jericho is great at being a vindictive, intelligent heel and so far he has come off as whiny to me.

I am starting to think that having Jericho "troll" the audience for all those weeks made it so they missed the boat on making this feud epic before WrestleMania rolls around.

I am sure that whatever WWE ends up doing will not live up to the potential of the actual match these guys could have. But I hope it at least gets better than a "Stop copying me" feud before WrestleMania 28 rolls around.

The recipe for success is right there, WWE just needs to add something to make it pop and they will have a money making feud on their hands.

What do you think WWE could do to make the feud between Punk and Jericho better?