Jerichos return

Vince135792003

I was gonna add the word failure in the topic of this thread. Failure would be a bit too harsh (since it is still early days) but there's no doubt that his return just hasn't caught on and there's no great buzz about anything he's done since he has been back.


So the question is, how come his return has not caught on? I'll post my opinion later on but I think its alot of little things all rolled into 1.

Gerard.C

The save_us thing dragged on for too long?

Everyone (bar VR) knew it was him?

His first match was against Santino for free on Raw?

He looks a bit gay?

His promos are comedy based, therefore making him a slightly comedic act?


They're my guesses anyway

rossie1977

Simple really

he is not, never was or ever will be the huge superstar some people perceive him to be

Bubs101

His voice seems to have changed alot. Also, without the hair, he lacks a bit of charisma

Mr.Nice Guy

I think his return has been a failure and I blame it on three things...

1. Timing - The time to debut him was either at Cyber Sunday or the Raw following it when the interest in the Save Us videos were at their peak. Can you imagine if he had debuted at Cyber Sunday? The place was chanting his name in the opening segment so I'd say they would have gone ballistic for him appearing at the end of the PPV. Instead it dragged on just a bit too much and the crowd he debuted at were useless. A missed opportunity.

2. Positioning - Since his return he's been pretty much an afterthought. He should be regarded as a main event player but they have him wrestling matches against Santino, a mid-carder. Where's the logic in that? I don't think he should be wrestling at all until the PPV. When Undertaker returned at WM20 his susbsequent use on Smackdown was in main event positions. In fact the SD after WM20 he tombstoned Paul Heyman. It should be the same with Y2J. People will perceive him the way the WWE want him to be perceived. Shove him in a mid-card slot and you get a mid-card perception. Also the WWE seem more interested in having Orton overlook Jericho. One minute Orton's trying to get Ric Flair fired, the next minute he's trying to send a message to his former Evolution teammates. It's like he doesn't take Jericho seriously. So then, why should the fans?

3. Underwhelming promos - I wasn't a fan of his returning promo nor have I been a fan of his other promos. The whole 'Me Want Title Match' thing was lame in my opinion. Jericho vs Orton was a match I was excited about initially but the promos leading up to it haven't done anything for me. In fact, the way Jericho has been handled I'm not as interested in the match as I once was.

They are the three primary factors it hasn't worked in my view. I do agree with Bubs too that the short-haired look takes away from his character.

Can his return be salvaged? Well position him better and give him better stuff to work with and I think there can be an improvement but right now it seems the company is more interested in pushing HBK/Kennedy than Jericho/Orton and when the Rumble rolls around I don't think Jericho will be anywhere near the title frame.

It's a shame as I think he can contribute a lot but I've a feeling WWE will return to being the Triple H show soon enough. After all there's a Wrestlemania on the horizon...

ShaneU

his new finisher is lame too.

Vince135792003

Most people have covered alot of the points I was going to make. I think another point is that the audience the WWE has today is quite young and new.

The result of that is that alot of the audience may either not know Jericho or see him as a mid card guy because aside from his feud with Cena, he spent quite a period of time in the mid card before he left.

Also, just on his promos, they lack something. There's something about them that you can't buy into. Even when he tries to be serious, it doesn't seem to click.

MikeHoncho

I think it hasnt been as big a success for the same reason the 15th anniversery show wasnt. The WWE fan base has completly changed. All these new fans have very little recollection of Jericho. They dont remember any of the great stuff he did in WCW or WWE in the late 90's early 00's.

I have always been of the opinion anyway that Jericho is way better as a heel. He just comes accross a bit cheesy when he plays a face. The cocky heel persona works much better for him in my opinion.

chopperbyrne

Had he returned while there was a face champion he could have done just what he did on his original debut, get a huge face pop and then become heel in a matter of minutes.

Fozzy

MikeHoncho wrote: »

I think it hasnt been as big a success for the same reason the 15th anniversery show wasnt.

They got their biggest rating in a long time with that show, how was it not a success? There's a big audience there for WWE if they have something that appeals to those people

The only time in the past when I was a fan of Jericho as a face was when Trish turned on him for Christian. I feel pretty much the same way now as I did when he was a face before that, I just don't really like him. His promos have always been that silly sort of "me want title match" thing where it just comes across as childish. My opinion will probably change if he manages to have a great match with Orton

I think WWE are going to use this reception that he's gotten as reason not to have him in the main event, when really it's more their fault than his. I'd much prefer him to be on SD, he could feud with Edge as a face before turning heel and feuding with Rey, Matt Hardy, Taker and Finlay. That'd interest me more than this feud with Orton, I think I just want to see Orton and Michaels headline every PPV for the next while!

I finally figured out where I'd seen Jericho's new finisher before, he said in an interview that he stole the move from Marufuji. Marufuji puts more bounce into it though

Mr.Nice Guy

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Had he returned while there was a face champion he could have done just what he did on his original debut, get a huge face pop and then become heel in a matter of minutes.

That's what I was hoping for and considering Cena was the champion when the videos started, maybe that was their original plan. It would have made sense considering Cena was Jericho's last feud.

Raekwon

He was good in the WCW & in his early WWE days but it looks like he has run out of steam.

This is a clip of him from 10 years ago. I think its hilarious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W3_VdlXmQ0

Podge2k7

its good to see him back