Chris Jeircho is the Greatest of All Time
I’ve argued before that John Cena should, at the very least, be considered one of the greatest wrestlers ever. He’s been loyal and committed to one company, saw them through some of the worst times, and now is the face of wrestling here in the United States. However what and who counts as one of the true greats is very subjective. So if you wanted to ignore loyalty to companies, or impact on one country, and just view it from putting on good wrestling from top to bottom it’d be pretty hard to ignore Chris Jericho.
Jericho is entering the final stretch of his career and it’s probably his best. Since his rebirth with the WWE, and his time as Kevin Owens’ best friend, Chris has somehow moved on to NJPW. Despite only wrestling twice his presence has been intense. From his appearance to challenge Kenny Omega, to his surprise attack of Tetsuya Naito, and now he is NJPW Intercontinental Champion. Even though he’s had a ton of success with nearly every company he’s showed up to perform for, now is the time of Jericho.
The key to Jericho isn’t his success. It’s not the belts he’s held, or currently holds, or the many many gimmicks he can get crowds to chant or buy into. It’s his ability to reinvent. The Jericho of today looks nothing like the Jericho of even five years ago. Let alone the Jericho of ten years ago, WCW Jericho, or old-school Japan Jericho. He tweaks and changes, he adds and subtracts. Somehow Chris Jericho knows when something is done and when something isn’t.
Where Chris goes from here may determine how a lot of fans view him. Often our last rides is what people remember the most. Even though he’d keep wrestling in TNA, Rick Flair will forever be remembered for his final match with Shawn Michaels. Jericho is moving outside of his comfort zone, outside the safety of the WWE, and toward a strange future. He’s moving in the direction wrestling as a whole is. He sees the future and it doesn’t always have Vince McMahon’s face on it. Chris Jericho is the greatest wrestler of all time and his last matches may tell us a lot about the future of the business.
