MJF pays tribute to the anniversary of Chris Jericho’s Raw debut

Chris Jericho’s been trending today because on Aug. 9, 1999, this happened on Monday Night Raw.

This was the payoff to weeks of a clock counting down to “the new millennium”, and signaled the arrival of Y2J in the then-WWF*. By interrupting a former World champion in The Rock, it was also a sign that Vince McMahon was going to book Chris Jericho differently than he had been in WCW.

Watching it again today, it strikes me that this is the kind of moment AEW is now producing with former WWE wrestlers. If anyone goes on to the kind of career Jericho had working for McMahon over the next two decades, that probably bodes very well for AEW’s future.

Jericho’s moved on from WWE to AEW himself, and is currently embroiled in a feud with a young heel who Tony Khan hopes will be one of his marquee stars for the next 20 years. Maxwell Jacob Friedman and his mentor-turned-nemesis have quite a history already, so it’s not surprising to see MJF shout out today’s anniversary.

Because he’s still MJF, that shout out includes some trash talk for Jericho’s Fourth Labour on Dynamite this Wednesday (Aug. 11). If Le Champion can defeat Max’s enforcer Wardlow - with MJF at ringside to ensure things are “called down the middle” - Jericho and Friedman will have another one-on-one match.

MJF is confident that won’t happen though. And he’s looking forward to the Wardlow match going as badly for Jericho as possible.

We’re a long way from Le Dinner Debonaire, huh?

* Younger folks, as your parents to tell you about the Y2K fears.