[Senor Ding Dong]

So I've just finished Undisputed by Chris Jericho and I'm left really confused with his Undisputed Title reign. It was around the time I actually stopped watching wrestling regularly (I can't even remember why) but I remember Jericho being totally over back then. Putting the title on him made perfect sense to me even if it was totally shocking that The Rock or Austin wasn't handed it. What really confuses me is the whole politics around the issue, in Jericho's book Vince doesn't even tell him he's going to be awarded it, he finds out elsewhere and when Vince finally does mention it, it's in a flippant off hand comment and that's all.

Then there is Jericho's title reign, which was totally buried once his programme with The Rock ended and HHH wouldn't run with the idea of Jericho having an affair with Steph. Once Jericho lost the title at Wrestlemania, he never came close to a title reign again for more than half a decade and was consigned to mid card hell.

So why the hell did the WWE award what at the time was a massive deal and historically still is (no one else will ever be the first undisputed champion) to a guy they then buried and never returned to the main event for years later? Did Jericho do something to annoy Vince or something? Say what you like about HHH but he always had great matches with Jericho, so I don't see why he'd want to totally destroy Jericho and consign him to the mid card.

 

[robertdeniro]

He was given the Undisputed Title to lose it to HHH.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Austin didn't want to job to Hunter.

 

[ddp]

could have easily given the title to angle and let him job/ not job to whoever they wanted. leave jericho to win the title afterwards you would have your next star. but what was worse was not giving him anything to work with anything afterwards. that was criminal.

 

[Phil_Mc_90]

I think it was that they wanted the belt on a heel for HHH to take off at Wrestlemania, Austin had only just turned face and there was no way the fans would have let Rock be turned at this point. That leaves two options; Angle and Jericho and I think it was maybe felt Jericho needed it more, Angle was a bigger star at this point and being the first Undisputed champion really helped Jericho's career.

As for why he didn't get close to it again for a while. I don't think the crowd was as into his reign as they had hoped and so it was felt the Jericho experiment had failed which is a shame because I think the major reason for the crowd being not great were the poor booking of Jericho in the reign and the fact that his Wrestlemania feud was always going to be overshadowed by Rock Hogan.

 

[Kratosx23]

It was supposed to go to Triple H but he was injured, they used Jericho purely as a means to drop it to Triple H because they didn't want to bury any of the others.

 

[Klee]

Jericho is the ultimate upper mid-carder that doesn't look out of place in the main event scene and is a credible worker.

His 9 Intercontinental title reigns tell you something.

Yeah, using him to transition the undisputed title (both belts at the time) to Triple Hn and then be proverbially shat all over by the WWE was terrible.

He receives some rewards for his hard work though, being aboe to come back and do what he wants to do. This fued with Punk for example.

I rate Jericho very highly.

 

[craig100]

I think he won as it was a easy way to put over Triple H plus it protected Austin and Rock from each other as they had big feuds set for WrestleMania. WWE wanted to unify the titles at the time but they needed someone to do it and Jericho was just at the right place at the right time.

 

[Senor Ding Dong]

Ah makes more sense now thanks guys. I still think that the company made a huge mistake by not keeping Jericho up at that level, the whole Rock/Jericho feud in the latter half of 2001 into the Royal Rumble was great. He really belonged up there and destroying his main event career for a while just for HHH is ridiculous, when they could have used Angle and reserved Jericho for a real push rather than the half hearted thing he got. Hell even if HHH had allowed Jericho to do what he wanted for their 2002 feud, it would have at least made Jericho more credible at that time. In Undisputed he constantly mentions how dissapointed he was at how the reign turned out after the Royal Rumble and it's hard not to agree with him that the WWE totally stuffed up. Even then they could have brought Jericho back for other reigns or at least challenges and the fact they didn't is just puzzling for me, he was a hell of a lot better than the likes of Lesnar (bleugh), old Hogan, Booker T, Big Show, JBL etc.

Giving some guy the unique accolade of first indisputed champion for nothing more than a holding pattern until HHH comes back is ridiculous aswell. They should have united the titles later and had Hunter as the first champion if they were had to, as much as he wasn't as deserving as Austin or The Rock at that time. That's the kind of thing they'll never be able to repeat again...well unless TNA stops sucking, gets good and then falls apart like WCW, thus offering another unification.

 

[BennyBackBreaker]

All I know is he looked like the man carrying both the belts around. I remember him cutting a promo in a pool with the belts on a lilo type thing, it was immense.

 

[WhyTooJay]

They needed someone to feed to HHH at Wrestlemania.

 

[AmWolves10]

Jericho will always be a better man than HHH.

 

[Vyed]

It was suppose to be Austin but austin refused to drop the title to HHH (as he ALWAYS did), so they went with Jericho instead and made him the first undisputed champion.

Jericho even wrote in his book how he overheard Vince saying "WWE is going to the dogs when jericho is becoming Undisputed champion of the World".

Vince always preferred Austin over pretty much anyone else.


The title was going to Taker one way or the other though. That was always the plan and it did in the end.

 

[Starbuck]

It was suppose to be Austin but austin refused to drop the title to HHH (as he ALWAYS did), so they went with Jericho instead and made him the first undisputed champion.

Jericho even wrote in his book how he overheard Vince saying "WWE is going to the dogs when jericho is becoming Undisputed champion of the World".

Vince always preferred Austin over pretty much anyone else.


The title was going to Taker one way or the other though. That was always the plan and it did in the end.

Fucking hell. Harsh much, Vince?

 

[HankHill_85]

It was suppose to be Austin but austin refused to drop the title to HHH (as he ALWAYS did), so they went with Jericho instead and made him the first undisputed champion.

Jericho even wrote in his book how he overheard Vince saying "WWE is going to the dogs when jericho is becoming Undisputed champion of the World".

Vince always preferred Austin over pretty much anyone else.


The title was going to Taker one way or the other though. That was always the plan and it did in the end.

That's a little out of context. Jericho didn't overhear Vince say it, Vince said it to his face while talking to the Undertaker. And Vince wasn't being 100% serious when he said it, it was done sarcastically with that McMahon "yuk yuk" laugh of his. Then Taker gave Jericho a pep talk and told him to make the most of that night. Yeah, not a great vote of confidence from the boss, but Vince can be a harsh prick. You just gotta prove him wrong and make him eat his words.

Interesting how Taker was arguably Jericho's biggest supporter during his Undisputed Title run. After the main event of WM18, Taker met Jericho right behind the curtain to congratulate him and shake his hand.

 

[Vyed]

^ And in two months he was the Undisputed champion. Fucking LOL.

 

[the modern myth]

It was supposed to go to Triple H but he was injured, they used Jericho purely as a means to drop it to Triple H because they didn't want to bury any of the others.

Triple H had been out with an injury for seven months by the time Chris Jericho won the title, though. I mean, Jericho won it only a couple of weeks before Triple H finally returned. At what point was it supposed to go to Triple H instead of Jericho? It just seems unlikely.

 

[Senor Ding Dong]

That's a little out of context. Jericho didn't overhear Vince say it, Vince said it to his face while talking to the Undertaker. And Vince wasn't being 100% serious when he said it, it was done sarcastically with that McMahon "yuk yuk" laugh of his. Then Taker gave Jericho a pep talk and told him to make the most of that night. Yeah, not a great vote of confidence from the boss, but Vince can be a harsh prick. You just gotta prove him wrong and make him eat his words.

Interesting how Taker was arguably Jericho's biggest supporter during his Undisputed Title run. After the main event of WM18, Taker met Jericho right behind the curtain to congratulate him and shake his hand.

Although Vince wasn't being serious when he said it, it was still a bit harsh as that was the only time that he actually talked to Jericho about him winning the title. None of the traditional bringing the star into the office when he wins the biggest title in the federation. Just an off hand comment and that was it. It was always clear that Vince didn't seem to have much faith in Jericho despite poaching him from WCW and Jericho's popularity.

 

[thaKEAF]

I thought it was because they didn't want either Austin or Rock getting it at the expense of the other. To be honest, I was totally shocked it was given to Jericho

 

[Mike Zybyszko]

So why the hell did the WWE award what at the time was a massive deal and historically still is (no one else will ever be the first undisputed champion)

He isn't the first undisputed champion unless you only count WWE. George Hackenschmidt is generally regarded by historians as the first undisputed champion (WWE claims the WH title lineage all the way back to this on their DVD of its history). Lou Thesz unified all the important titles of his time which formed the NWA title. This made him the first undisputed champion of the territorial era.