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ninealevyn · 08-07-2012, 02:35 AM

As you can see by my sig I'm a Jericho fan, but his debut is held in high regard for a number of reasons. One is he's one of the few people that could mo word for word with The Rock and in retrospect he's one of the biggest stars in history. So, any debut that's not corny would look better. He's clearly had a better debut than The Rock or even Austin.

But as Jericho said in own book, his debut hurt him in many ways. His facial expressions as the Rock verbally berated him didn't go over too well with McMahon. Also, he struggled adapting to the WWE style as was quickly moved down the card.

Jericho was in line for a big push. Early WM16 posters even had them on it. It's funny how he was to be pushed as a main eventer when he never even reached the upper midcard before, but McMahon liked he work prior to WWE. He was getting severe heat from DX because they didn't think he could work and he thought he was some hot shot. At one point every match Jericho would have he had to go over with Sean Waltman. This is why after his big debut he went to wrestling with Chyna. Eventually, his push got reinstated, but his debut and first year in the company was NOT as good as it looks in retrospect.

tducey · 08-07-2012, 08:11 AM

It does get a bit over-rated (In that people call it a top 5 promo of all time) but it was still a tremendous speech and it's the way you debut a wrestler.

dave 1981 · 08-07-2012, 08:12 AM

It was a very good debut and the whole countdown clock thing was very original but i don't think the debut of Chris Jericho had a major impact because he didn't really do anything of real note until the three way feud with Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle many months later on in early 2000. I've heard a lot of people say that Vince McMahon was scared of Chris Jericho's popularity at a time when Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were white hot as well as Triple H killing his momentum because Kevin Nash didn't like him but either way the debut didn't have the impact of The Undertaker in WWE in 1990, Ric Flair in WWE in 1991, Hulk Hogan in WCW in 1994, Scott Hall or Kevin Nash in WCW in 1996, Kane in WWE in 1997, The Big Show in WWE in 1999 or Brock Lesnar in WWE in 2002 in my opinion.

**GOATse** · 08-07-2012, 10:16 AM

It was awesome then, and still is. I was a huge Jericho fan in WCW, and to see him go from being criminally underutilized (except for Ralphus...Ralphus will always be awesome) in that company to making a big entrance in the WWF was fantastic. Not only was there the joy of finally having hope for Jericho's future, but he also go to debut in style opposite The Great One himself.

Fantastic debut.

Senor Ding Dong · 08-07-2012, 10:24 AM

The debut had a massive impact imo, watch it back on Youtube and listen to that pop, it's huge, rivalling anything the upper card got around that time. The problem was that Jericho ran into political trouble backstage and by his own admission took time to adapt to the WWF 'style' of wrestling. That killed off Jericho for a few months but that debut and when he interrupted The Rock and Mankind squabbling were gold and went over brilliantly.

If you want to blame anyone for Jericho's start, look at Jericho himself because he took time to adapt to the WWF off the mic and HHH, who for some reason spent most of the late 90s/early 00s burying Jericho every time he got the opportunity, even before Jericho's obvious chemistry with Steph made itself apparent.

Coffrey · 09-24-2012, 01:13 AM

Jericho is Nostradamus. But in all seriousness, was Jericho supposed to be the heel and the rock the babyface? Maybe I suck as a person because I liked jericho in that segment more than the rock