[dave 1981]

I have only just watched Chris Jericho's DVD called Breaking The Code: Behind The Walls of Chris Jericho which i have to say may be my favorite WWE DVD after Shawn Michaels Heartbreak and Triumph. It really did a great job of going through the majority of his career from Mexico to Germany to Japan through to wrestling in America but watching it helped me remember his career in WCW and made me wonder exactly how the hell Chris Jericho didn't become the star in WCW that he became in WCW.

Now the obvious answer would be because of The New World Order had monopolised the main event scene with Hollywood Hogan the worst offender by far but after watching Chris Jericho's DVD i also find it hard to see how Eric Bischoff couldn't want to push him as he was a great heel and also was involved in two great storylines and angles as a heel that should have seen him become a star. After becoming a great in ring worker as a face and having some of the best matches of the year in 1997 against Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Eddie Guerrero and the rest of the Cruiserweight division WCW turned him heel which was such a great move.

The first great storyline/angle they pushed with Chris Jericho was the feud with Dean Malenko and which brought us the great "the man of 1004 holds" character and saw some great moments and matches. Not long after that WCW pushed a storyline which was similar to Cena/Miz in their first feud a couple of years ago where Chris Jericho was chastising Goldberg on a weekly basis and much like The Miz did with John Cena we saw Chris Jericho wearing t-shirts saying "Jericho 2 Goldberg 0" and that storyline saw Chris Jericho get HUGE heat as a heel.

Working with Goldberg in the summer of 1998 when Goldberg was the biggest star in the whole company should have been what saw Chris Jericho pushed as a legitimate top level heel because it was clear to see how good he would become and he also worked well with Goldberg as well. There was still people like Sting, Diamond Dallas Page and Bret Hart who could have worked with Chris Jericho after the feud with Goldberg and even in losing that feud he was given a HUGE rub which WCW should have capitilized on just how hot of a heel Chris Jericho had become after the feuds with Dean Malenko and Goldberg.

 

[Frozen Inferno]

Idiots at the top of the company is all that needs to be said.

 

[Len Hughes Presents]

Too small.

 

[austinrockera]

He details it pretty well in his first book. They reluctantly let him run the one man feud with Goldberg, and it got over. They reluctantly let him run the Malenko feud, and it got over, then all that stuff with Ralphus was gold.

Jericho basically did a whole lot with nothing in WCW. WWE saw that, and gave him a real chance, and he became a top star. Simple as that.

 

[Certified G]

Yep, people in power positions held him back. First off they (people like Kevin Nash and Hogan) didn't want to give their spot at the top away to young wrestlers (if they did, WCW might've been alive today, or atleast live longer). Second, people backstage thought he was too small to main event, just like Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and people like them in the mid-card.

 

[P.Smith]

He wasn't 6 foot 5 300 pounds.

 

[kobra860]

Looking back, it was probably best that Jericho didn't become a star in WCW. If he became a star in WCW and came to WWE after it folded, he would have been treated badly just like the other former WCW stars. He wouldn't have been the first Undisputed Champion and would have been denied many of his other current accomplishments.

To answer your question, they thought he was too small and there were too many huge egos.

 

[dave 1981]

He details it pretty well in his first book. They reluctantly let him run the one man feud with Goldberg, and it got over. They reluctantly let him run the Malenko feud, and it got over, then all that stuff with Ralphus was gold.

Jericho basically did a whole lot with nothing in WCW. WWE saw that, and gave him a real chance, and he became a top star. Simple as that.

I haven't read the book but that makes me actually furious that Eric Bischoff could be so fucking stupid, if someone who hasn't been in the business for a long period of time and isn't as such a major star can do what he did with such little support and made it great to watch then then WCW should have seen that had a HUGE star in the making. By 1998 it was becoming very clear to everyone that The New World Order had become stale and uninteresting and then Chris Jericho is around and getting HUGE heat of his own making but yet isn't pushed and even worse allowed to leave and go to WWE when they were beginning to get all the momentum in the ratings battle.

For me letting Chris Jericho leave was the worst mistake of the lot in the wrestler's they let go ahead of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, The Big Show and even Stone Cold Steve Austin as it was clear that Chris Jericho had gotten over HUGE and was well on his way to becoming a top heel for WCW but needed just a couple more feuds with top faces like Sting or Diamond Dallas Page to cement himself. If Chris Jericho could hang with Goldberg who at the time was probably only behind Stone Cold Steve Austin as the most popular wrestler in the world then he could have done it with anyone, wow i hate Eric Bischoff with every ounce of my being right now as i was always WCW over WWE since a kid in the late 80's.

 

[SportsEntertainer]

I seem to remember him starting a feud with Goldberg, but it just being dropped. And though I guess he was never a real "main eventer", I usually enjoyed the "mid car" stuff in WCW more myself. Him reading his list of 1004 holds he knows. Throwing tantrums after losing each match when he had his losing streak. Ralphus. Purposely mispronouncing the name of the town that they're in ("Terry Hut").

He also had a tag match (I think w/Eddie vs. Benoit/Malenko) where both legal guys got counted down for the 10 count. I think that's the only time I've actually seen that happen.

 

[Chismo]

 

[jonoaries]

The nWo basically prevented people from getting huge...the nWo were supposed to be the top heels, they couldn't let some cruiserweight becoming bigger than them.
I think he could have gotten some of the bottom upper card guys to work with him (DDP or Lex Luger for instance) but he was too small to be taken seriously even by them.

 

[HeatWave]

He wasnt ready..Simple as that..

Yeah the NWO was on top and didnt get out of the way, but still, guys like DDP, Booker T, Goldberg and a few others got to the top eventually..Jericho simply imo was not there yet..He needed more time, I mean if Jericho left WCW 2 years before he did and went to WWE, I doubt he would've been any bigger in WWF at that time than he was in WCW

 

[Ph3n0m]

I'd have thought everyone basically knew the reasons behind this by now - but ignoring the politics and all that bullshit - let's look at it realistically from another angle. He was never a HUGE star in the WWF. He was a big star, yes, and he rolled with the main event when necessary - but he was never HUGE.

His first proper title reign (I'll do what he does and not really count his WCW title reign during the Invasion angle) flopped and after that he was involved in the middle of the card mainly. When he returned he got a few title reigns as this new heel persona which was great - but it was born out of necessity - and even then, you could never compare his run as a heel Champ to that of someone like HHH's.

So yeah, if he couldn't become huge in the WWF/E, what chance would Jericho have had in the shark infested waters of WCW?

 

[wcw4life2006]

He details it pretty well in his first book. They reluctantly let him run the one man feud with Goldberg, and it got over. They reluctantly let him run the Malenko feud, and it got over, then all that stuff with Ralphus was gold.

Jericho basically did a whole lot with nothing in WCW. WWE saw that, and gave him a real chance, and he became a top star. Simple as that.

This is all right, and it sounds like me at my previous job and the possible new one that I'm about to get

 

[Hotdiggity11]

A combination of politics, circumstances, being small, and more politics.

 

[Gunner14]

Chris Jericho is what a wrestler should do. Zack Ryder is trying it now. Nobody is going to hand you a main event spot you need to get yourself over. Jericho fought his way to get airtime on Nitro and got himself a successful WCW midcard career. He managed to stay away from the NWO which was a big factor for him. Most midcarders did so much then got swallowed up by it. Jericho was very smart.

 

[layeth87smack]

too small, and not a washed up vet

 

[hardcore1982]

He was one of the vanilla midgets and would never draw a dime....
Well that's what people like Nash, Hogan and Bischoff thought.

 

[game3525]

I'd have thought everyone basically knew the reasons behind this by now - but ignoring the politics and all that bullshit - let's look at it realistically from another angle. He was never a HUGE star in the WWF. He was a big star, yes, and he rolled with the main event when necessary - but he was never HUGE.

His first proper title reign (I'll do what he does and not really count his WCW title reign during the Invasion angle) flopped and after that he was involved in the middle of the card mainly. When he returned he got a few title reigns as this new heel persona which was great - but it was born out of necessity - and even then, you could never compare his run as a heel Champ to that of someone like HHH's.

So yeah, if he couldn't become huge in the WWF/E, what chance would Jericho have had in the shark infested waters of WCW?

This.

Politics played a part, but Jericho was never going to be this huge star like most of the IWC believes. He was always an upper mid-carder at best that could hang with the big boys from time to time, but could never stay there throughly IMO.

 

[Kratosx23]

Basically everything that needs to be said has been covered, but I agree with Ph3n0m's assessment.

Chris Jericho is what a wrestler should do. Zack Ryder is trying it now. Nobody is going to hand you a main event spot you need to get yourself over.

Yeah, nobody hands you a main event spot...have you seen WWE over the last year? Miz is really the only guy the WWE has pushed that worked for it (unless you're counting Kane but I don't since I'm talking about new guys). Barrett, Swagger, and especially Sheamus and Del Rio didn't, they just got catapulted out of nowhere. Barrett and ADR were good enough and Sheamus and Swagger weren't, but that's another issue.