1,004 Ways WCW Blew It With Chris Jericho

[@Snaq_Paq]

Way 1: Arm Drag

[@c-los9905]

Way 2: Armbar

[@wstine79]

Way 3: Goldberg

[@Cactus1052]

Way 4: Going to WWE

[@everyonelovesmajima]

Way 5: Canadian arm drag

[@ComXDude]

Way 6: Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza

[@emrules2001]

" he can't afford a mask, that's why he's using paint" murdered me

[@zlinedavid]

@@PontFlairWho are you to doubt El Dandy?

[@Hugo_Tate]

Same lol

[@chayden153]

"Oh my God he's gonna storm the cap..." Took me out omg 😂

[@chrissalem3747]

"the man of 1004 holds" is still one of my favorite promos from anyone. In my top five.

[@ianstratton]

"The Pearl Jammiest song you ever did hear without it actually being them." So....every post-grunge band ever?

[@MadisonCarter]

My now-late mother would often sit in with us and watch whatever antics Stone Cold was up to over in WWF, but had no interest in WCW when we had it on. The only exception was when Jericho was doing the Washington skits; those, she found hilarious with zero context of the rest of the show.

[@Justin-mb4ql]

Jericho dislocated my elbow at a house show in 1998 when he made his entrance. He smacked my hand so hard it bent my arm in half on the guard rail. I went to the hospital after the house show after that Stella DDP vs Disciple main event 😂😂😂

[@burntvirtue]

😮

[@wstine79]

I was a Jericholic in 1998. Walking to the ring with Ralfus to his Even Flow knock off theme while trying to win by technicality.

[@rs8247]

Same 😂

[@Cursed_Mark]

Back when he was billed from Calgary...Alberta Canada

[@reeseangle9621]

I loved that theme

[@ChipChippersonsBBF2]

Still have my Jericholic shirt

[@funkyweapon1981]

@@PontFlair The first theme sounded like The Boys of Summer by Don Henley.

[@slpystv5942]

A Goldberg-Jericho feud was perhaps the biggest missed opportunity for WCW booking.

[@ChrisWolff2013]

Blame the bald asshole for that

[@EssexAggiegrad2011]

Bischoff is a fool

[@EssexAggiegrad2011]

@@PontFlair Bischoff stole an idea from New Japan and nothing more

[@EssexAggiegrad2011]

@@PontFlair He got lucky

[@tomlevick2935]

​@PontFlair you can see his name, you know. Chris benoit is a major part of wrestling history, his work will not go away.

[@TheLibermania]

2:10 "There is no such thing as a botch, you mark" - Chris Jericho, probably

[@Destroyer_Jayy]

im pretty sure he said something similar to that in a cvv interview once

[@JohnnyRipess]

The Capitol line had me marking out. Bravo, Mr. ZANE.

[@venomousnate7263]

“You know I’m starting to think WCW went out of business on purpose.” Well that’s one way of putting it. So much backstage politics and bs in a nutshell.

[@roccojamison89gooker51]

If only Dave Meltzer would purposely put the Wrestling Observer out of business, maybe we could recommend Kevin Dunn, Ed Ferrera, and Vince Russo to help Uncle Dave out.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

“Sir you can’t be here. You don’t have clearance “ “…but I’m Chris Jericho” Comedy gold😂

[@chrissalem3747]

It's the look on his face when he says it. Like he actually can't believe what he's hearing.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

@@chrissalem3747 absolute cinema

[@ivanvukasovic1371]

It's true, and the way he does it too, so quietly, like factually. And the bloody guard guy's reaction, so underrated.

[@Kaltagstar96]

I love how Jericho's reaction implies that he never even considered the possibility that he would get turned away.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

@@Kaltagstar96 cracks me up every time

[@JamesJohnson-tr1gu]

In Nick Patrick’s defense, his dad was Jody Hamilton, and Nick did train to wrestle, but suffered a bad leg injury and transitioned into a referee

[@feature.of.jarjar24]

THE PATRICK FLOP

[@Kaltagstar96]

Now I'm imagining if Patrick was a wrestler, the bumps he would take could have made Mr Perfect look subdued (not a knock on Henning, either).

[@claymathewselevator8121]

The Assassin

[@Go_away_loser]

Dean Malenko, Jericho, Kidman, Saturn, Juventud, and Eddie were the main reasons I watched wrestling as a kid. The cruiserweight division was the only thing keeping me from switching to WWF honestly until Jericho showed up lol

[@reeseangle9621]

Hold on now. Sting beefing with the NWO was major

[@owenrock69]

That was pretty normal across the board...Sure everyone was wearing NWO shirts but when it came to the quality of matches and storylines the WCW was far superior to the WWF when it came to the undercard and WWF was far superior to WCW when it came to the main events

[@Go_away_loser]

@@reeseangle9621 yeah but that happened so little that it was hard to get invested in it. I liked the storyline when it was actually showcased though.

[@PaleHorseShabuShabu]

Zane getting moist over Juvi was hilarious.

[@cappy2282]

Lol pretty boy juvi

[@funkyweapon1981]

@@cappy2282 Better looking than Rey unmasked.

[@KB-qk1ic]

He is the juice

[@chayden153]

Right?!

[@cappy2282]

@@chayden153 His looks were a big joke with wrestling fans back when he first took off his mask. Everyone just wondered why he ever wore it and nobody expected him to look like that

[@kidgruesome407]

Great vid. Been a fan of Christopher Jerichovich since 1995. Do another of my 1995 favorites next- Lexington Lugarious.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

The Lexington Expressiton

[@kidgruesome407]

@@claymathewselevator8121 'The Lexercissist' Lark Lexington Lugarious Mr Perfect accidentally exposed part of his real name at the greatest WrestleMania of all-time.

[@ChadParenteau]

Everybody loves the Chris Jericho. He is a terrific athlete.

[@GreatMewtwo]

That Chris Jericho guy is a fine athlete. Maybe he should go and be All Elite.

[@Obscusion2]

ARMBAR!!! Also, I find it amusing that Jericho included the Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza as a simple Dr. Seuss reference, only for Perry Saturn to then later go "You know what? I'm going to name my finisher that!", resulting in WWF announcers like Jim Ross & Michael Cole having to actually make calls with the entire name when Saturn hit it.

[@Obscusion2]

@@PontFlair I think some, like JR, used that as shorthand, because they knew how ridiculous the full name was. I think only Michael Cole ever said the full name on commentary.

[@jakeharrison7196]

Ripping off Goldbergs entrance was legendary

[@hawk494edward]

It was also an homage to the movie This Is Spinal Tap.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Ralphus

[@funkyweapon1981]

@@hawk494edward Funny movie! Also, that scene in the movie was based on something that actually happened to KISS! They ended up on the wrong stage!

[@EvilGenius815]

When I was in high school, my friends and i did a WCW parody video at a local park. We did a gag where I was Chris Jericho, defending the TV title against Eddy Guerrero. In the middle of the match, we cut to commercial, so we could have our Tony Schiavone do his "If the match ends during the break, the tape machines are rolling!!" bit. Of course, the punchline is that the match *does* end during the break, with Eddy winning, and the tape machines *weren't* rolling, because the "tape machine guy has the day off." I, as Jericho, immediately throw a fit and summon JJ Dillon, to whom I explain that "page 237 of the WCW rulebook" says the TV title can only be defended on TV, and since it was during commercial and not taped it wasn't televised and not legal. JJ is forced to return the belt to Jericho. I am still proud of this joke, not because it's funny but because I think it could have actually worked as a real angle.

[@nujabeez6573]

All I can think of is Goldberg not willing to work with Jericho even when Jericho offered to be a squash match because he was so full himself and didn’t think Jericho was on his level. I’m glad Jericho beat him up for real and humbled him when get to WWE in 03

[@harshckuk]

You should do career retrospective of Yokozuna in WWE. He was a good worker before his weight issue

[@funkyweapon1981]

@@PontFlair YEAH!

[@zlinedavid]

Search for the video clip of Yoko playing basketball. A human being that big being that agile isn’t natural. 😮

[@johnepants]

Ron Mysterio lmao. 1998 Chris Jericho was gold

[@ThomasMink]

I'll never forget when he called Juventud Guerrera a one hit wonder, just like Dexys Midnight Runners. ...and that, is how I learned the name of the band behind Come On Eileen. lol The interview with a portrait of Dean Malenko was a favorite of mine.. ..the whole 'Conspiracy Victim' thing was gold.. 'Greenberg' was classic, and it's a damn shame it never reached its conclusion. Loved WCW heel Jericho. He was a main reason I even watched once the nWo started to stagnate.

[@cypher515]

10:53 was my favorite random tribute to another wrestler -- in his book he mentioned that he talked about his Loverboy tape as a tribute to Art Barr, who he had a conversation with one of the last afternoons of Art's life about "IS Loverboy a good band?" which ended with a resounding 'yes' and Art buying a headband to look like he belonged in Loverboy, or so the story goes.

[@vanillabeam5400]

"It's like debuting for the WWF and your first rivalry is with Jerry Lawler" Orange Guy: SHUT UP, COLE!

[@MackTatum]

Mark Henry's first feud was against Jerry Lawler in '96

[@JACSLuvsNachos]

Could be worse. You could debut at Wrestlemania in a feud is with Jerry Lawler.

[@MackTatum]

@@JACSLuvsNachos Or Fandango

[@degande-d1w]

His actual WWF debut wasn't much better. He had that promo where he interrupts the Rock, then his first is match against Road Dogg.

[@roccojamison89gooker51]

@@JACSLuvsNachos Brian Zane: Jerry King!, Jerry the Lawler!

[@AHeroAlmost]

With Jerichos current run in AEW it’s easy to forget how good he was at one point .. From someone I used to tune into to see to someone who makes me change the channel these days ..

[@dwightyboy5324]

Its just sad seeing how far Jericho has fallen.

[@Quezo1Love]

You either die a hero…or live long enough to become a villain.

[@riotd.r.8363]

Teddy Long managed Jericho... I see my wrestling history knowledge needs some work. Seriously though, Teddy has managed "ham-n-eggers" and hall-of-famers and knowing which was which would've been hard at the time.

[@tyratooOP]

Maybe best to say "Ham & Eggers" lmao. I read that shit fast and had to do a double take

[@danevertt3210]

Hahahaha

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Buckle up Teddy

[@TheForeverRanger]

Scott Hall was the only member of The Kliq that understood that if you make other people look good, more people will watch and make you a lot more money.

[@SteRDLK]

Hall gave a career to X-Pac and didn't get adversely affected by it

[@Kaltagstar96]

Jericho talking about how unbearable the Super Liger attire was to wear just makes the fact that Jushin Liger seemed incapable of having a bad match seem all the more impressive. Also it's ironic that Dean Malenko was described as having "the personality of unbuttered toast" when, as the interview with RJ City for Hey Ew showed, Dean's a funny bugger.

[@GeovaneSanciniSR]

I think Jericho mentioned more than once in his books that Malenko is hilarious

[@Kaltagstar96]

@@GeovaneSanciniSR Which is all the more reason as to why it's incredible that Malenko on TV was so stone faced that you could have put him on Easter Island.

[@Harakengard]

@@Kaltagstar96 Now that i think about it, Big E almost got the same thing : the dude has some amazing facial expressions and is funny as sh*t but they debuted him as a stone cold big muscle dude.

[@PierzStyx]

I have been a huge fan of Jericho's since his WCW days. In succeeding Halloweens I was Goldberg, Jericho, and Mankind. It was a great era for pro-wrestling.

[@JayRasheed718]

The way he says Duncan when talking about Bobby Duncan Jr will forever be hilarious

[@dr.snakes]

Bobby Donuts!

[@fattiger6957]

3:20 "Drinks poured on me." Yeah, it wasn't drinks the audience was throwing at Chris in Mexico, it was another, much warmer and smellier liquid. As per his first book.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I love how he was impressed someone hated him so much they pissed in a cup and held it to throw at him 😂

[@SteRDLK]

TEQUILA!

[@mrnaughtycat]

I always found him amusing in a good way

[@aztecwrrior1997]

11:22 he still looks like that today just more tatted in the body

[@frankez99]

Bobby Heenan’s quips always crack me up 😂

[@chadkimmel8957]

Jericho is one of my favorites because of his WCW run.

[@oppositeofthetruth]

Every video is laughs on tap the jokes and history just blend so well such a magical channel

[@WilloftheFans]

Jericho's a 9/10 at everything, except reinvention 10/10. That makes him the GOAT

[@Dynaman21]

18:43 - This was actually how Dusty Rhodes back in the day put over the TV title. Since WCW and Jim Crockett were on the Superstation, which for its time was considered revolutionary, that meant the television title was super important given how it was defended on TV and reached way more homes than a syndicated territory product.

[@evanhanley6437]

One of the coolest wrestlers ever! Chris is awesome!

[@danielmankowski922]

3:05 Hey now Zman, All the Days by Mammoth is a jam 😊

[@steelcurtain187]

This guy was so good in wcw. A real memorable comedy act 😆

[@benespinosa6725]

chris Jericho's run in WCW was great especially his heel run lol that clip of road dogg saying mahi mahi when chris said it made me laugh so much great video brian 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@SedricSleepzzz]

He’s wrestled all around the world, wrestled EVERYONE, and wrestled over several eras!

[@tacoenvy]

This is my all time favorite version of Jericho. From his entrance all the way to the cocky pin, he was hilarious, especially when he threw temper tantrums.

[@jarrodhook]

This period is when I got back into wrestling. I’ll always love Jericho due to this period of time.

[@patricknguyen7530]

An idea for a similar video to this one, “How WCW blew it with Steve Austin”

[@rs8247]

I always loved how Jericho would win and retain his cruiserweight title by numerous technicalities 😂 dude was gold

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

0:21 One of the best up and coming technical wrestlers in this photo. On the left. That is none other than El Dandy.

[@SteRDLK]

Who are you to doubt El Dandy!

[@tafua_a]

Serious professional, jam up guy, should have been Mexican Hulk, undoubted legend.

[@timbartschwolfman]

WCW Monday Jericho

[@JACSLuvsNachos]

Your reaction to Juvi was pure Gold-en King. Also the thing that shall not be talked about was pretty hilarious.

[@Saluteme10288]

Chris Jericho debuted on my 2nd birthday. cool!

[@kenterminateddq5311]

1:00 IMO, Brian Zane is the OG influencer in wrestling, NOT "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho. Zane, no one will ever, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER, top you as "The Influencer" ....... ......or as the voice of Prestige Wrestling (BTW, great job on this past Sunday's show, Z-Man). :)

[@mrterp04]

That Capital joke!

[@BootuInc]

Chef's kiss

[@jackiemoon5906]

Just watched Legends of Wrestling on peacock. How has no one made KZbin videos on that?

[@davidsobilo9622]

They did including brian

[@jackiemoon5906]

@@davidsobilo9622 for a second I was so pumped up but I forgot their was a ppv legends of wrestling. I’m talking about the round table discussion show from 2006-2012.

[@hawk494edward]

I would not mind seeing Brian do a retrospective on those.​@@jackiemoon5906

[@TheGreatDevlin]

Jericho and Teddy Long...? Why have I just heard about this?

[@paulcarpenter7844]

Chris Jericho turning everything he hated Hulk Hogan and the movie The Wrestler😂

[@brianhall4182]

One of the best storylines in WCW was Jericho and Dean Malenko. Him spending MONTHS taunting and insulting Dean, unmasking wrestlers like Juventud, and just being a massive heel, only for Dean to come back in a Cruiserweight Royal Rumble in a MASSIVE surprise and beat the crap out of Jericho was the best.

[@jamesbounds]

Jericho has always been a favorite of mine.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Y2J

[@trappedwhale]

Awesome to see this, Brian! I started watching summer ‘96 WCW and I’m now just past Superbrawl ‘97, and I love Jericho’s theme there. How he lets the fans get on the camera when he does the barricade pose. They definitely blew it. He’s always been one of my favorites. Love his interviews and podcasts. Fozzy’s solid, too. 👏🏻

[@owen800xl]

Chris Jericho in WCW is still his greatest work in my opinion.

[@kevinthornton9086]

Brian. U are a wrestling glossary. Thank you!

[@burnthetrolls5971]

Imagine Chris Jerichos career nowadays if he hadn't joined WWE in the 2000's would he still be HoF worthy or would he be another Disco Inferno?

[@johnpittsii7524]

Thanks for video Brian ❤

[@fro-zone2k]

He had his moments but it was clear that Jericho wasn't gonna go anywhere above the mid-card in WCW.

[@fro-zone2k]

@@PontFlair Yeah, especially in 1998 where the WWF was regaining steam in Monday Night Wars, WCW needed to push new stars but they waited too late to do that.

[@hawk494edward]

​@PontFlair as someone who didn't watch WCW when it was around but has read and watched about it, Bischoff could have used Thunder in 1998 & 1999 to give younger talent TV Time and to build them up.

[@rogerrabbit132]

Why does young Chris Jericho just look like Joey Janela 😂

[@FreshBakedGaming]

This is one of your best wrestler retrospective videos yet, Brian!!! I became a Jericholic in 2000, and didn’t know a ton about his WCW run outside of what he talked about in DVDs and such.

[@neilefc877]

In fairness, Brian, WCW blew it with a lot of cool ideas. Eric Bischoff is doing a FANTASTIC job of rehabilitating his image.

[@ricardonb6375]

Was that sarcasm?

[@zlinedavid]

I actually mean this as a compliment, but Easy E is one of the best bullshit artists I’ve ever seen. There isn’t a verbal situation I’ve ever seen him get backed in a corner on. Sure, there are times when you know he’s lying more than a politician giving a reelection speech, but it’s delivered so well you let it slide.

[@neilefc877]

@@ricardonb6375 No, Im dead serious. Well firstly, Eric did some amazing things and the industry owes him a lot. But he has alot of bad things to his name too (many of which have been featured on this channel), but if you watch Who killer WCW, dark side of the Ring, VKM doc, not to mention 83 weeks, you would come away thinking Eric was an absolute genius.

[@neilefc877]

@@zlinedavid Agree. I think Bobby Heenan called him a fantastic used car salesman

[@zlinedavid]

@@neilefc877 And as usual, Bobby was right. And there are times and places where skills like that are useful.

[@leow3696]

Excellent video on Jericho but my favourite part is easily Brian getting flustered over Juventud Guerrero.

[@chucksmith9813]

Man, I enjoy all of your content but these retrospectives and your classic reviews are my favorite. Can't wait to see what you do next. Great work as always. 👍👍👍

[@Johnny82Utah]

Jericho in '98 is one of the only reasons i got through that year

[@snoop_tig3r]

New wrestling with wregret video just in time for my lunch break? Don't mind if I do

[@e93sports80]

Hope to see a Bam Bam Bigelow in WCW video someday.

[@DingleMcDangle]

Jericho is literally one of THE best wrestlers of all time.

[@mikeisernie]

The Ciclope reveal still hits so effing hard.

[@boredoms1]

His 1004 holds promo is still one of my all time favorites.

[@KevinLacy22]

I like your new outro format, chatting your way informally through the credits. It works really well for Secret Galaxy. I'm glad to see you adopting this as well.

[@butchvito]

Jericho's security team was Kenny Powers and Philadelphia Collins from Trailer Park Boys.

[@hawk494edward]

😂😂😂😂

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Peanut butter and jam

[@claymathewselevator8121]

What the hell are you doing Phil- Jim Lahey

[@ajcismo]

Excellent work as always, Brian. Jericho was my favorite WCW talent back then as he was one of the only guys on their roster who was a great entertaining promo and could back it up in the ring.

[@melanineyedoc]

Nitro is Jericho!

[@themessenger1871]

4:55 Hey. That's better than feuding with Jerry Lawler in 2011

[@thenextsteveblackman]

I'm currently watching all of Wrestling Bios' Reliving the War series, and it's amazing with hindsight just how many young-ish wrestlers were super over in mid-1998 that they did nothing with: Jericho, Raven, Saturn, Konnan, Rick Steiner, Bagwell. Fast forward a year later and each and every one of them were either at a similar or in a worse position on the card. Obviously Jericho had the most potential out of all of them, but it's not just WCW screwing up Jericho's push. They could have had their entire main event sorted for the next half decade and they blew it.

[@TheGreatDevlin]

14:50 Yooooooo

[@benjaminrosa1418]

Excellent episode, Brian. Had some laughs and learned a lot.

[@whodissis1]

Conspiracy Theory era Jericho was GOATED 😂 I’d be crying laughing watching him week in/out! The Goldberg angle was gold but yeah, they had nothing for him otherwise.

[@tweetert.9978]

Finally, the video I have been dying to watch. I LOVED Jericho in WCW. His antics and Booker T wrestling is what hooked me when I was a kid.

[@juliooquendo220]

Chris Jericho is funny when he was in WCW. WWE he was very good. AEW he still got it. That guy still wrestling to this day

[@whatwelearned]

STILL GOT IT??? LOLZOR

[@ChannelyChannel]

So sick of him in AEW

[@alexmendez4606]

More like he used to still have it in AEW, then he’s been having less and less of it as he continued his run in AEW.

[@Hellwyck]

"Everybody loves the Homestar Jericho, he is a terrific athlete!"

[@MikeStaks]

His tights design in wcw was 🔥

[@moopert86]

Introducing all the cruiserweights for that battle royale was my favorite thing Jericho did in WCW. Still cracks me up to this day.

[@chrismarcum9873]

That killer WCW music at the beginning brings back memories and it’s a banger of a theme

[@brownieelf6171]

My friends and I made signs for pep assemblies in the 6th grade that said “Conspiracy Victim”

[@mcgannahanskyjellyfetti6854]

I'm watching this for the FIRST time NOW on Chris Jericho's birthday... 🍺😎👍

[@MetalED]

I was at Slamboree '98 in Worcester,MA.. was a great show. Got to meet Eddie & Chavo before the show at the mall across the street before the show.

[@IAmRiffee]

That mahi mahi reference was amazing 😂

[@MichaelPundyk78]

VACANT!

[@dmccar12]

As someone at the show that night, I give your pronunciation of Worcester 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

I kind of wish Chris had become a main eventer in WCW because the matches and moments we would have gotten from him during that time would have been amazing and maybe he wouldn't have left to go to the WWF