2008 Woodie Awards
The Highlight of the Night
Ringside Seat
Mike Rohrssen
Issue date: 9/22/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Chris Jericho has been one of the WWE's biggest stars since his debut in 1999 when he claimed to be the new millennium in the wrestling world. Jericho, however, was not always the King of Bling Bling that he proclaims to be now. Chris was first recognized where many young superstars were at the time, across the world in Japan. Chris wrestled there under the name "Lionheart" against such future greats as Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. After making his first big splash and becoming a recognizable name, Jericho decided to head to where the big money was: the United States.
The three main companies in the US were the prime locations that Jericho wanted to perform in, and ultimately he traveled to Paul Heyman's ECW first. After an immediate success in ECW, culminating in winning the ECW Television title, greener pastures had come calling for Jericho.
In August of 1996 WCW's president Eric Bischoff gave Chris Jericho his first nationwide exposure on television. Jericho was very lucrative in the WCW for a long time, especially within the ranks of their highly competitive cruiserweight division. Jericho captured the Cruiserweight champion four times, even besting current WWE road agent Dean Malenko and WWE superstar Rey Misterio Jr. in the process. The height of Jericho's WCW career was when he defeated Booker T's brother Stevie Ray to win the now defunct WCW Television title. It was around this time, however, when Jericho became very disheartened with how Bischoff and the WCW suits were using him. Jericho kept teasing and taunting WCW's main attraction Goldberg to try and get a little higher on the WCW ladder but the match never occurred. So with the realization that Bischoff would never use him to his full potential, Jericho sought to fight somewhere else.
Weeks before June 30, 1999 fans of the WWF were treated to a countdown to the millennium. However, June 30th did not mark the arrival of Y2K but rather Y2J. Chris Jericho showed his face on the main stage of Raw right in the face of the Rock. Jericho had perhaps the biggest debut of the entire year and made an immediate impact in the WWE, and found himself right in the Intercontinental title hunt. Less than 6 months after his debut he had captured the IC title and began to show WWF fans why he was the self proclaimed Highlight of the Night. Jericho would lose the Intercontinental title to Kurt Angle in early 2000 but quickly got gold back around his waist when, at his Wrestlemania debut, he won the European title in a classic two-fall triple threat match.
The three main companies in the US were the prime locations that Jericho wanted to perform in, and ultimately he traveled to Paul Heyman's ECW first. After an immediate success in ECW, culminating in winning the ECW Television title, greener pastures had come calling for Jericho.
In August of 1996 WCW's president Eric Bischoff gave Chris Jericho his first nationwide exposure on television. Jericho was very lucrative in the WCW for a long time, especially within the ranks of their highly competitive cruiserweight division. Jericho captured the Cruiserweight champion four times, even besting current WWE road agent Dean Malenko and WWE superstar Rey Misterio Jr. in the process. The height of Jericho's WCW career was when he defeated Booker T's brother Stevie Ray to win the now defunct WCW Television title. It was around this time, however, when Jericho became very disheartened with how Bischoff and the WCW suits were using him. Jericho kept teasing and taunting WCW's main attraction Goldberg to try and get a little higher on the WCW ladder but the match never occurred. So with the realization that Bischoff would never use him to his full potential, Jericho sought to fight somewhere else.
Weeks before June 30, 1999 fans of the WWF were treated to a countdown to the millennium. However, June 30th did not mark the arrival of Y2K but rather Y2J. Chris Jericho showed his face on the main stage of Raw right in the face of the Rock. Jericho had perhaps the biggest debut of the entire year and made an immediate impact in the WWE, and found himself right in the Intercontinental title hunt. Less than 6 months after his debut he had captured the IC title and began to show WWF fans why he was the self proclaimed Highlight of the Night. Jericho would lose the Intercontinental title to Kurt Angle in early 2000 but quickly got gold back around his waist when, at his Wrestlemania debut, he won the European title in a classic two-fall triple threat match.