WWE: Chris Jericho is the mystery return man on Jan. 2, 2012 Raw
by Sergio Hernandez on Jan 2, 2012 10:40 PM EST
in WWE
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After weeks of speculation, Chris Jericho showed up tonight (Jan. 2) on WWE Raw and re-introduced himself to a fanbase who hadn't seen him since September 2010.
After two more videos aired throughout tonight's episode of Raw, the lights in the arena went out as the Memphis crowd began to chant "Y2J." A symbol appeared on the TitanTron before a huge fireworks display went off and Jericho's all-too familiar entrance theme hit.
Making his way to the ring to address the WWE Universe, he took some time to hug those ringside. The huge smile on his face was a clear indicator that Jericho was indeed home.
From that point, the former champion spent more time playing to the crowd than the combined running time of each of the videos hyping his return. He dropped the microphone and made several laps around the ring, making sure to slap the hands of every fan who was in the front row. Continuously screaming, "yeah!" to incite the crowd, he then made his way up the ramp on the right hand side only to run back down to go up the left hand side. Not a single fan's hand was left unslapped.
The segment was beginning to drag and a smattering of boos became audible. Jericho, standing at the top of the ramp, stood for a moment and his smile began to fade. He then turned around and made his way backstage without saying a word.
Very sorry to disappoint fans of The Undertaker and those hoping Shane McMahon would make his return tonight. "The Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah" has returned! But what does his first appearance back mean exactly? The videos promised "the end of the world as we know." How does that tie into Jericho running around the ring for five minutes and then leaving without so much as an explanation?
Well, at least the creepy kid with the thesaurus can get some rest. Someone buy him cold medicine, orange juice and a new video game, that little chap deserves it.
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He's back...
But he isn’t doing anything, what purpose does this serve other than to boost ratings for tonight’s show?
Is he gonna be heel or something?
I think the staling might be apart of it, to make everyone get tired and bored?
The videos were such a waste and unneeded for Jericho.
He could have just done something a little more simpler and this could have been used to get someone else over, tsk tsk
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Jan 2, 2012 10:44 PM EST reply actions
I don’t think those videos could have gotten anybody over that isn’t already a big time star. Fans were expecting something big. You give them an unknown wrestler and people are like who the hell is this. Then the guy has to work twice as hard to overcome the initial disappointment.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Jan 2, 2012 11:13 PM EST up reply actions
It was a pretty big mystery
Until like this afternoon even, nobody could say for sure who was going to come out. If Undertaker came out, I wouldn’t of been surprised.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest | 1st place- 2012 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 2, 2012 11:23 PM EST up reply actions
Not really
The only real surprise would’ve been anyone BUT Jericho/Taker.
Gillberg...Gillberg...Gillberg...
by GoForthAndDie on Jan 2, 2012 11:35 PM EST up reply actions
Until Jericho actually came out
People were all equally convinced it was going to be Jericho/Undertaker/Stephanie McMahon/Shane McMahon/probably someone else I forgot. Even when we say pics of Jericho at the airport in Memphis earlier today, no one was 100% sure that it was going to be Jericho. Look at the comment blog.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest | 1st place- 2012 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 3, 2012 12:10 AM EST up reply actions
I've been reading the comments for days
Just like everyone else. Nobody else made sense IMO. If “people” didn’t see it coming, that’s on them.
Gillberg...Gillberg...Gillberg...
by GoForthAndDie on Jan 3, 2012 12:53 AM EST up reply actions
That was pretty lame and kind of creepy
I would hope he impacts the main event some how to make things up
"I guess I can’t do anything if you’re just irrational, but to point it out and move on."
- fundamentallysound
by J Theory on Jan 2, 2012 10:49 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Do not know i feel....
He better stay around… If not this is dumb.
I think this is some sort of swerve, duno why.
"with a good physique and explosiveness anybody can perform a takedown"
-RoBerto
by Lesnar's striking coach on Jan 2, 2012 10:53 PM EST reply actions
I kept waiting for him to drop the smile
and call everyone a bunch of sheep and/or assclowns. But… nothing happened.
He did drop the smile before he left
and that may have been the point?
Fish Stripes, a Florida Marlins blog
Author, Baseball Prospectus Fantasy
by Michael Jong on Jan 2, 2012 11:41 PM EST up reply actions
Jericho wins Rumble
sets up Punk Jericho for Mania..
Agree or disagree?
Which means i dont think we see Jericho
again until the Rumble..
Ohhhh-key that was… weird.
Are they going with some sort of Jericho was brainwashed by the “she” from the video thus explaining the odd behaviour? If they wanted him to come back as a heel they would/should have had him come out as vintage Jericho only to call the crowd hypocrits and sheep after soaking in the return love.
I’m confused.
If you've followed Jericho
you know that his goal is to always do something different and not rely on being the same character as always. If he came out and called everyone sheep and sycophants, it would have been the Jericho from before and as great as that is, this was way better.
1 of two things occurred tonight
Either the WWE had no idea what to do with Jericho and this left them just saying to go out there and play up to the crowd or….or it’s a way to have him go back to being a heel but I think the real question is what kind of heel will he portray? We’ve already seen the suited up Jericho declaring him self the best in the world at what he does which he was just a newer version of Nick Bockwinkel so what now? He kinda just left the audience to speculate which is nice and all but I think it would’ve been a bit more dramatic if he got the fans in the uproar he did only to just basically say something like I didn’t come back for you all. There’s one person I’m here for who’s has been going around with something he calls a pipe bomb…well that pipe bomb is about to explode in your face……….but maybe that type of way to start a program has been done to death.
I personally would’ve loved if they brought in someone from loads of talent that’s in FCW with that much hype. I would’ve lost it if it was Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley). But guess he’s not ready since they are already looking into possibly bringing Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) on SD!.
you're own stupidity will lead you to your own downfall
by congestedthoughts on Jan 2, 2012 11:09 PM EST reply actions
I dont think we see him till Rumble
He wins then it is him vs. Punk. It is unfortunate that Ziggler gets buried in the process. But it has to happen
Also i think they knew exactly what they were doing with him
making him heel to punks face… What makes it even more amazing is that he didnt have to use cheap heat to get it.
I said it in the live thread
But it went from being funny to not funny and then back to really funny. I’m sure production, Vinny Mac, and HHH are not so happy though.
I had the same reaction, but the second funny for me was more like unintentional comedy.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Jan 2, 2012 11:21 PM EST up reply actions
Why wouldn’t they be happy? I’m pretty sure they knew what he was going to do, they knew the WTF reaction it would get, and everyone is talking about it… I’m sure they think it’s mission accomplished.
Unless he was supposed to say stuff and this was Jericho publicly screwing with them/burning bridges. But since he ate the exact amount of time needed to make the show work I doubt that’s the case.
I love it. He came back, fucked with everyone, then left. Great stuff.
"Never take your eyes off of your opponent…even when you bow."
Sorry, but this needs to be shown.
http://twitter.com/#!/WWERawGM/status/154054492684435457
Johnny Ace, y u so awesome?
We are Ruining Your Special Night, motherfuckers!
by mountaineers101 on Jan 2, 2012 11:22 PM EST reply actions
Such a good twitter
If only the people behind it were doing the storylines on raw.
by Matthew Roth on Jan 2, 2012 11:33 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
My sister thinks that
He might have gotten caught up in everything, and basically had his airtime waste away. Sounds plausible. He knew he had five minutes, three minutes into it, he realizes he had like two minutes left, so he was kind of like, “Fuck it”.
If anything, I guess this means views will be higher next week than they would have been otherwise- people tuned in to see who it was this week, and next week, people will be tuning in hoping for an explanation.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest | 1st place- 2012 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 2, 2012 11:26 PM EST reply actions
Interesting thought
Dont think so though. Vince would kill someone if they went out there and said nothing if they were supposed to cut a promo…
Kill someone eh...
… anyone seen Jericho in the last 30 minutes.
But really I think what happened up there was what was supposed to happen. Jericho is too much of a seasoned pro to accidentally lose time and say “fuck it”.
Just think it isnt Jerichos style
he flipped the switch… I like it.
From Lance Storm's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/Storm_Wrestling
Since he’s back yes @IAmJericho did come back and train with me at SWA. We spent a couple days in the ring including a 17 min match #norust
It would make sense, as i read around here
that Steph is the girl, she’s also who Ace is texting all the time and it leads to Jericho /w Ace vs Punk at Mania.
this makes the most sense
When Mike Ditka calculates pi it's decimal representation ends.
by Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. on Jan 2, 2012 11:44 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
I dunno, Steph & Jericho hating each other is one of the few things that the WWE has kept reasonably (for them) consistent. Plus I can’t think how what just happened ties into that at all. Unless corporate Jericho shows up next week and says that he was just mocking all us hypocritical worms. But yeah, the only “she” that Jericho has any significant history with is Steph (other then Chyna but we know that ain’t happening) so she’s as good a guess as any..
If it is Steph I’ll be sorely disappointed if you don’t get a “Dirty, Disgusting, Brutal, Bottom-feeding trashbag…” out of it… yay nostalgia!
Jericho acting like WCW-era face Jericho
circa-1996 is fantastic. I remember thinking that he was an annoying, overly-positive douchebag. I will enjoy watching the conflicted male teenagers in the crowd, as they are unsure whether or not to boo him.
I want to see Jericho go “YEAH BAY-BAY” in a super-cheesy voice while he pumps his fist after every move he does in his first match back. I want him to fall into the crowd with his arms out as he comes down the ramp, except this time he stays there yelling “YEAH BAY-BAY” for like five minutes before moving on. I want Jericho to be the wrestling equivalent of the most annoying message board troll ever.
Ah WCW Jericho… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzx_e7i4hE
So funny.
Though he's a heel here
That is actually a great example of what Jericho is doing. He sat there and read a list in front of a bunch of fans on live TV. They probably wanted to stab him in the face.
How great was that?
Every few holds was an armbar, each pronounced more dramatically than the last. He can be such a genius.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
The more I think about it the more I actually like this return. It’s Jericho’s old persona except he’s going to make it so over-the-top and annoying that people can’t like him for it… heh I wonder if he’ll come out next week and declare himself the ayatollah of rock and trollya.
Gotta hand it to a guy whose able to leave as a heel, return instantly as a face, and within 5 minutes (without saying a word or changing a single thing) turn himself back into a heel.
Another nostalgia act. yay.
"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment."
-Lao Tzu
Jericho
is one of the best heels ever. how can you not like him? its like when rock was a huge dick, you couldnt help but laugh and cheer for his douchebaggery. Y2J is awesome. initially i was like everyone else going WTF? i had to watch it again to realize he was trolling.. it’s just the tip of the berg folks
I piss excellence
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