Chris Jericho: Where Does He Stack Up in Wrestling History?

Hello, everyone. As always, thank you for spending a few minutes with me today.

Today, I would like to discuss something that I have been pondering lately.

What I am going to discuss is where Chris Jericho’s place in wrestling history will be when he decides to hang up the boots.

It is pretty safe to assume that Jericho will be in the Hall of Fame when he does decide to retire. To me though the WWE's Hall of Fame holds little weight.

I do have to say before I go any further, that I am an avid Jerichoholic. I have followed his career since 1997 and I can say without a doubt he is one of my all-time favorites.

With that being said, I am not a blind fan who thinks he is the best ever in the history of professional wrestling.

When you compare wrestlers it is a tough thing to do. You have to take in many different factors when you try to do this type of thing.

Some of the things you have to factor in are title runs, longevity, in-ring skills, and promo skills.

I think the most important thing you have to consider though is what kind of impact a guy makes in wrestling history.

Take, for example, a guy like Kurt Angle, while I can say with out a doubt he would rank higher than most in modern day history.

I wouldn’t be able to say he was a better then guy like Hogan, Flair, Thesz or Buddy Rogers, though.

Now, I know some of you are saying. 'what the heck is this guy talking about?'

Think about it for a minute though, while Angle is clearly the better athlete and wrestler than the names I just mentioned...

Can you honestly say Angle did more for pro wrestling than those guys? I don’t think so, and if you ask most wrestling experts I am sure they would agree.

When I look at Jericho’s career I will be taking in all the factors that I mentioned above, and I will apply them to him and see how he stacks up.

I will grade each category by stars.

First, let's take a look at Jericho’s title history. As it stands now, he is a nine-time IC champ, five-time heavyweight champ, and four-time cruiserweight champ.

He has won smaller titles over the years, also but those are his big three when it comes to title runs.

Lets start with the cruiserweight belts; he held these titles when the cruiserweight division was red-hot. He also defended the belt often enough against all the top competitors.

I would say these would be his more legit title runs in his history. I would say he should get 5 stars for these title runs.

Lets look at Jericho’s IC title runs now. He has won the title nine different times over his career.

While that number would look impressive on paper. If you dig a little deeper, it’s a whole other story.

During his nine runs as a IC champ he has held the title for over 300 days. That doesn’t even crack the top 10 on the leader board.

What stands out the most though is a majority of his title runs were when the IC title had little or no credibility at all.

You can say for sure he is one of the best IC champs, but to say he is the best IC champ in WWE history would be very inaccurate.

For Jericho’s run as IC champ, I will give him 3 stars.

Lets now see how Jericho stacks up as a heavyweight champ.

Chris Jericho is a five-time heavyweight champion. Again, while that seems like a decent number of title runs. If you dig a little it’s not a very pretty picture.

Two of Chris Jericho’s heavyweight title runs came as WCW champ. These were not only short runs, they were also not very credible.

He won these belts after Vince brought out WCW and they were passing around that title like it was bubble gum.

Two of his other runs came as the heavyweight champ. These runs wouldn’t even last two months when all is said and done.

His only real credible run would be in 2001 when he became the undisputed champ. This run would last roughly four months, and as anyone who remembers this run he was hardly made to look like a fighting champ.

For Jericho’s time as heavyweight champ, he gets only two stars.

I will give Jericho a solid three stars over all for his championship runs.

The next thing I would like to look at is Chris Jericho’s overall wrestling ability.

He scores high in my book here as far as my opinion is concerned. His ability to carry opponents to a good match is matched by very few.

He may not be Kurt Angle in the ring but he is certainly better then many wrestlers past and present.

He is an excellent ring general and knows how to keep him and his opponents safe in the ring. This carries a lot of weight for me when it comes to judging a lot of wrestlers.

He keeps himself in great shape and even though he maybe has lost a couple of steps, Jericho is still very quick and agile in the ring.

Jericho scores high in this category for me, so I will give him four stars.

The last thing I will look at is his ability to cut promos and entertain.

Ever since I can remember watching Jericho he was always entertaining. In his early years, he would play to the crowd and make him laugh.

This is what would build his legion of Jerichoholics. I can say for the record I am proud to be a Jerichoholic.

I will be honest though and say, I could never buy Jericho when he played as a face. That is not to say he was a bad face, he is credible but he isn’t great at it though.

Jericho’s bread and butter on the stick has been and will always be as a heel. I would go, as far to say he the best heels in the business today.

His ability to get an audience to turn on him is uncanny. He as only gotten better as his career has progressed, and when his career is done he could be remembered as one of the best ever.

No matter if Jericho played a face or heel, though, he was always among the top story lines. People would always listen when talks and that is very important in wrestling.

For Jericho’s work on the stick and as an overall entertainer, I will give him four stars.

Please keep in mind; this is how I am grading him today. He and others can go on and do more to make their legacy greater, but I am speaking about today.

Now that I have given my overall opinion on Jericho. The next question is how does he stack against the all-time greats?

I will break the list in to groups according to the alphabet just so it will be easier.

My "A" list wrestlers will be guys that have made the business.

My "B" list guys are ones that are great, but not considered the greatest of all time.

My "C" list guys are wrestlers that were almost great, but in the end fell a little short.

I would not put Jericho in my "A" list. I consider guys like Flair, Hogan, Inoki, Mascaras, and Bockwinkel; guys like these would make that list.

I also wouldn’t put him in my "B" list. Wrestlers like Sting, the Rock, Stone Cold, HBK, and Hart would fall into that group.

I can certainly put Jericho on my "C" list though. He is definitely up their with guys like HHH, Benoit, Dynamite Kid, and others along those lines.

If I were to do a top 100 Jericho would be any where from 90 to 100.

I think that is a fair unbiased score as to where Jericho stands amongst the all time greats.

If you disagree let me know as I have always said I am always up for a good rasslin' debate.

Thank you for taking the time to read.