wrestling / Columns
The Piledriver Report 01.12.12: The Brilliance of the Return of Y2J
Brilliant or annoying? That’s what comes to mind when I first viewed Chris Jericho’s return to the WWE on Monday Night RAW a couple of weeks ago. Like most fans, I couldn’t wait for Chris Jericho to make his return to the ring. When the lights dimmed, and the crowd at the arena started to chant “Y2J! Y2J!,” I found myself waiting in anticipation for the man that coined himself as “the best in the world at what he does” during his last stint in the WWE.
HE’S BACK
More than any other wrestler, Chris Jericho really knows how to make an entrance. I still think his WWF debut in 1999 when he got into a verbal battle against The Rock was the greatest introduction in the company’s history. After following the WWE’s viral campaign hyping up “someone’s” return, I couldn’t wait until January 2nd. With the lights turned down, seeing the lite up outstretched arms, while “Break the Wall Down” screamed over the PA system brought back those memories of his first night in the World Wrestling Federation many years ago.
When the lights turned back on to officially reveal that Chris Jericho was back, the only thing that was left was the money promo to be delivered by Mr. Y2J himself. With the crowd cheering his name, Jericho started to milk the reaction, ala Triple H when he returned from his torn quad injury in 2002. First thought to come across my mind was that with the reaction Jericho was getting, I guess he’s going to be a face. As the crowd noise started to die down, everyone was ready to hear Jericho speak. Instead, the former “Lionheart” decided to rile up the crowd to have them throw more accolades at his direction. He continued to do this over and over. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
After what seemed like an eternity of nothingness coming out of the mouth of Chris Jericho, I was getting frustrated. I was actually hoping for some heel to show up and attack Jericho. Something, anything to make the segment entertaining. I thought that Jericho’s return was dying a slow, torturous death. After pandering to the fans some more, and hamming it up to the camera, Jericho started to head back up the ramp. It was at this point that it hit me. Jericho just turned himself heel.
JERICHO, THE GENIUS
Chris Jericho did the inevitable. By being away from the business for so long, the only reaction that Jericho would receive would be a huge face pop. When he last left the company, Chris Jericho was an awesome heel, probably the best bad guy in the company at the time. However, absence make the heart grow fonder, and the fans couldn’t wait to embrace Jericho upon his return to the ring.
Chris Jericho did the impossible during his return two weeks ago. He got the fans to start to boo him at the end of the segment. After realizing what Jericho was doing, it was really fascinating to watch. All of us fans couldn’t wait to see Jericho return, our attention was fixated on what was about to be Jericho’s every word. We craved to hear what pearls of wisdom that Jericho would bestow upon us. Instead, like any good heel, Jericho didn’t give us what we wanted. He left us feeling like the rug was pulled out from under us. It felt like we just wasted twenty minutes of our lives watching this ass clown do nothing more than jump around and scream “YEAH!”
He was annoyingly brilliant. I’m not sure if there was anyone else in the business that could have pulled this off without getting shit on. There heat, and there’s a “get off of my TV” reaction. By the end of the segment, Jericho started to get a smattering of heel boos, and zero “get off of my TV” heat. I believe that any other wrestler that tried this would have gotten the “boring, this sucks” treatment.
This past Monday night, Chris Jericho was at it again. His routine was basically the same as the week before. The crowd went nuts with applause, and Chris Jericho ate it up. Then, Jericho changed things up a bit, as he started with the crocodile tears to show how emotionally overwhelmed he was at the crowd’s reaction to his return. Once again, he ended the segment without giving the fans what they wanted. By the end, Jericho received some boos again.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Eventually, the fans are going to catch on to Jericho’s gimmick a lot sooner than they have been thus far. That’s when Jericho will be greeted with heel heat as soon as he does his exaggerated appreciation to the crowd. Once Chris Jericho feels that the fans have finally turned on is act, that’s when Jericho will strike with his long awaited promo.
Chris Jericho will probably talk about how the fans loved him, and cheered so wildly for him that he couldn’t deliver a promo for weeks because the building was so loud. Then, he’ll probably lower the boom on the fans, and say how he fooled them and doesn’t care about them or what they think. The thousands of cheers that he received on his first night back will now be replaced by thousands of boos instead. The heel Jericho will be back. All that will be left is to bring on CM Punk at WrestleMania to see who truly is the “best in the world at what he does.”
