Views From The Turnbuckle: The Case For Chris Jericho

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Chris Jericho just finished up his latest run with WWE with a very strong match at Night of Champions, but unfortunately, a random match against Randy Orton thrown together at the last minute was the peak of his latest run in WWE. Whether it was a lack of motivation from creative, Jericho, or a combination of the two, the potential of Chris Jericho to be an important drawing figure in WWE was not reached.

Make no mistake about it; Chris Jericho has plenty of popularity still surging through the WWE audience. Whether it is being a heel or a face, Jericho can still get a good reaction from the crowd, but it seems like over the last year or so, the ability for Jericho to seem relevant in the upper realms of WWE has been lost.

Over the last few years, Jericho has established himself as the most popular jobber in WWE. For such a legendary wrestler, he has had few title reigns, with most of his career built on coming up short against guys like The Rock, Triple H, John Cena and CM Punk. But a fundamental difference between Jericho's peak of jobbing and his current status is that Jericho has essentially become a jobber to mid-carders. It is accepted when Jericho is jobbing out to a major star like CM Punk, but when he jobs to a rookie destined to be a mid-carder, like Fandango, the appeal of Jericho as a top guy in the company begins to dwindle.

For a long time, Jericho has been able to overcome the perils of consistently losing most of his important matches. No matter how many times he came up short against an opponent on a PPV, he was always able to come back to a big pop from the crowd, and he was always taken seriously a legitimate contender for anything.

However, now it appears that the constant jobbing has finally gotten to Jericho. His latest run was a perfect example of such a thing. His feud with Wyatt never took off, probably for a variety of reasons, but a big reason was probably because nobody ever doubted the fact that Bray was going to win the feud. As talented as Jericho is, a feud with anyone can only truly be interesting if the fans believe that either side could come out on top. It is a reason why every feud John Cena has with anyone that isn't a major name (Ryback, Big Show) isn't very exciting.

At age 43, Jericho is still a very competent performer. He still has every bit of his charisma and timing on the microphone, and his performance against Randy Orton at Night of Champions displayed that he can still get it done in the ring. The potential for Jericho to become a major force in WWE is still there, but his image might need a little bit of a refresher for him to get there.

My proposition is for Jericho to come back from his latest hiatus and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Not only will it breathe new life into Jericho's career, but it makes sense for him to hold the title, because he can do several things with it. WWE, with Punk gone, Bryan injury prone, Reigns not ready and Cena and Orton stale at the top, WWE is desperate for anyone with star power at the top.

Jericho meets a lot of the qualifications for what WWE ideally would want as there champion. Jericho is an excellent worker, capable of having a good match with any worker and a great match with any above-average worker. He can hang with anybody on the microphone, has a ton of catchphrases, and most important, can work effectively as either a babyface or a heel. WWE has plenty of heel contenders, and being a babyface that gets over organically with the crowd is so rare, that I think he would have to be a face.

While WWE craves the cross-over appeal of guys like The Rock, and less so, Batista, it is often overlooked just how relevant Jericho is outside the sphere of pro wrestling. When Jericho goes on his hiatus, he isn't sitting on his couch, the guy gets around. His tours with Fozzy are well documented, but he is also all over the place, guest appearances on shows, his podcast, hosting various television programs, the guy is easily one of the most prominent wrestlers to people who are not necessarily big friends. For a company that loves cross-over appeal, it sometimes feels like Jericho's prominence outside of WWE us underutilized.

Lastly, Jericho could have a great three or four month reign, and then pass the title onto someone with great respect. Say Jericho were to come back and defeat Seth Rollins, then hold off Rollins for a few months, maybe face a guy like Cesaro, and then drop the title back to Rollins. Or, riskier but potentially better, have Jericho turn heel, steal the title from a returning Bryan, have him chase after it until drop the title back to him. It would freshen up the main event scene, give a new star a boost, let a legend get one last run on top, and it would allow Jericho to get more respect back as a legitimate contender, so when he comes back he will be ready for some more jobbing.

Realistically, Jericho probably only has a maximum of five years left as even a part-time performer, so if WWE lets him have another meaningless return like they did last time, it is pretty much like putting him out to pasture. If WWE wants to capitalize on such a special talent one final time, they should building him into a more prominent threat to their bigger stars. A run with the world title can solve a lot of their issues, if only they are willing to take the leap.