Chris Jericho on becoming undisputed champion

On this special episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the guys are joined by the "Demo God" himself, Chris Jericho! Topics include Chris "stealing" the Undisputed Championship, WrestleMania 2000, working with Shawn Michaels, Chris' latest WWE run, and much more! Kurt Angle is a 14-time professional wrestling world champion, with titles collected in WWE, TNA, and Japan. He is in both the WWE and TNA/Impact Hall of Fames, a two-time NCAA Division 1 National Champion, and has also won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Summer Games with, as he likes to say, ‘a broken freaking neck.’ At every stop in his career, Angle has reached the top of the mountain, and now he’s taking his Three I’s; Intensity, Intelligence, and Integrity, to the podcast world as he joins host Conrad Thompson to take a look back at some of the matches, feuds and moments that turned an Olympic gold medalist into one of the greatest sports entertainers of all time. It’s True. It’s damn true
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[@Kyle-gi2jb]

Jericho becoming first Undisputed Champion was the right call.

[@carter3369]

When I think of Chris Jericho I think of him holding those two belts. Beat Rock and Austin on the same night. Legend.

[@TheKendeHD]

i love dat shot since im a lil younger n i loved shawn i always think of him beating him in that fued

[@Mechachu]

@@TheKendeHD I think of him smashing Chyna's hand with a hammer lol

[@justinepaul5473]

Nobody can top that moment

[@Brian-nn1tf]

and his wormhole countdown entrance with the heavy guitar

[@IamKirkoBangz]

Y2J and Kurt were the perfect dance partners for Rock and Austin respectively. I genuinely got annoyed when Y2J was beating on the rock, damn I was so invested back then. Golden times. Golden era

[@blakemaxfield4267]

They were great adversaries for rock and Austin for sure

[@IamKirkoBangz]

@@blakemaxfield4267 bet! We were so blessed back then, thank god for KZbin

[@erikaw7767]

yea i used to be mad at school the next day after a PPV.. it bothered me so much for rock to lose.

[@IamKirkoBangz]

@@erikaw7767 honestly we be the same! That shit could ruin my whole day

[@Jotinko]

There have been many world champions, there have been many Royal Rumble winners, there have been many King Of The Rings but there is only one Olympic Gold Metalist and one Undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in wrestling, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. Two icons!!!!!!!

[@hmdbingu]

Kurt deserved a set for his show.

[@OfficerDoofyInTown]

No matter how many shit alot of people gaved to his undisputed title reign, it was still the best decision to put a title on him. The booking was wrong and that triangle storyline with Stephanie being involved in Jericho's feud with HHH is what truly killed Jericho's momentum as the champion.

[@justiezi]

After watching how they handled Roman v. Cody, I think they could’ve told a far better story by having Jericho go over at WM w/ an assist from Stephanie turning on HHH live in a callback to what her dad did the year before at WM 17. HHH would’ve been over like hell while Y2J would’ve been fully legitimized as champ having beaten all of the attitude era’s Big 3.

[@deansullivan212]

The fact that angle didn't get the first UD championship shows that he is one of the greatest of all time

[@ForestCityKitty]

Chris Jerichos Paul Heyman impersonation is perfect

[@NateNizzle]

"I always trusted Paul E from working with him in ECW" is not a sentence that you hear often. It's rather ironic that Jericho would say that after what he said about Paul in his book.

[@crazyfun5150]

I wish Jericho had gotten a longer first title reign. At the time he was on fire and very over with the fans. Should've happened a year sooner though.

[@adolfob3370]

Speaking of a year sooner, I still remember the crowd reaction when he beat Triple H for the title on RAW... only to have Earl Hebner reverse the decision.

[@crazyfun5150]

@@adolfob3370 that’s what I was referring to. The crowd went nuts and it would’ve been the perfect time to elevate Jericho then. Because by that point to me HHH was already getting stale and they needed a fresh face as champion. But because Jericho is 5’9” they waited longer than they should’ve.

[@markrobinson9394]

@@crazyfun5150 I disagree. A year earlier, it was Rock’s time. Triple H was only weeks away from putting Rock over for the title. To give it to Jericho at that time would have taken away from Rock’s push to finally conquer the McMahon-Helmsley Regime. Besides, Jericho was always bigger money as a heel than a face. It was his feud with Rock during 2001 that allowed him to evolve his character to the arrogant heel we saw as the Undisputed Champion. And don’t forget that Jericho was the underdog when it came to Vengeance 2001. Nobody thought he was going to win the Undisputed Championship. I’m pretty sure Vince went with him because Austin, Rock and Angle had already had runs as the top guy that year.

[@crazyfun5150]

@@markrobinson9394 I have to disagree there as well. By that point, both The Rock and HHH were made and over. Neither guy would’ve lost anything by putting a new face over into the main event. Just listen to the crowds reaction when they thought Jericho had won the title. I do agree Jericho was always better as a heel. But with the momentum he had at that point I feel like making him champion only made sense. The same could be said for Benoit. They teased him beating HHH and The Rock for the title. Much like Jericho, he should’ve been pushed immediately into the main event because of experience and being great workers. Let’s face it, by that point in 2000, The Rock was going to be a mainstay in the main event as was HHH. The only reasons I can come up with why they didn’t push Jericho then was his height and the perceived notion he was a WCW guy and couldn’t work the WWF style. All of this Jericho covers in his book btw.

[@markrobinson9394]

@@crazyfun5150 Rock hadn’t been champion since WrestleMania XV. They’d even had Triple H go over at WrestleMania 2000 in an attempt to shock the fans with Vince’s turn, but it robbed Rock of a World Title victory at WrestleMania. Taking his push away to put Jericho over was bad for business, particularly when Rock was still more over and Austin wasn’t due to return for another 5 months. It would be the equivalent of having Riddle beat Roman for the title on a random episode of Smackdown instead of continuing to build the feud with Roman and Drew for a PPV.

[@GoodOldCinema]

3:48 That Vince McMahon impersonation. Lol.

[@MSUHitman]

Also for those that don’t know, if you look up Jericho’s celebration of the AEW world title at All Out 2019, it’s a parody of what happened after the undisputed title win talked about here.

[@omegaman6494]

True story, they filmed a vignette of Jericho going backstage after his title win to find everyone had left lol

[@godfrieza9924]

Two legends

[@dukes1993724]

Undertaker sums it up best: “Oh, he’s our guy now?” (Referring to Jericho after Vengeance 2001)

[@esekay3648]

That makes so much more sense. Kurt really should be gotten this to cement his legacy. Kurt is truly one of a kind . Jericho was great too, but... I always thought it was weird he Won those titles. Tho the Storyline that proceeded it was Gold. That's the greatness of wwf(all those that were involved at that time). Ty for the memories. Those storylines have so much replay value. If you just played every rivalry out like a novela, it would be well worth watching almost like a movie.... Maybe that's the move? Repackage some of these things as 1-2hr movies (depending on the story) narrated leading up to the defining match . Giving the audience a double payoff in 1 shot..

[@aaryanairy756]

2:56 accurate impersonation.

[@nycnow811]

I always liked the rock and stone cold but always loved jericho and benoit! I was very happy as a kid when i seen jericho and benoit tag team and vs the big dogs, it made me proud.

[@adamirishconundrum851]

Jericho used politics for that. Lol Angle and Jericho are legends. Read their books ladies and gentlemen, great books.

[@International_man_of_mystery]

Lol good ole mom and dad

[@firstinstinct420]

You should interview Monty brown, icp, vamperio, Rene Dupree, just a few ideas 💡

[@manbearpig7359]

Gonna be honest. I caught the first couple of Kurt's podcasts with Conrad and really didn't like it. So I stopped watching them. Then clicked on this today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Re Subscribed

[@TuPapiRicoSuave]

Yeah Paul definitely adds a Charisma of difference to the channel. Conrad is Phenomenal but I get soo worried of him doing so many channel because sometimes he comes off kinda irked. It’s understandable, he’s in a very busy flow, a lot of these guys are self conscious of their booking. Many best wishes to Bromwell.

[@dukes1993724]

Conrad is half man half bear half pig that’s for sure

[@sidmahasuverachai3722]

He said armagedon but im 100% sure it was vengence lmao. Also what program was benoit working at the time? I dont remember his existence on the roster at all.

[@dukes1993724]

He was out with a broken neck. Wouldn’t return for another 6 months

[@sidmahasuverachai3722]

@@dukes1993724 i see this was prolly benoit’s hiatus that heyman was supposed to be paired up with when he returns. Vince ended up pairing paul with brock instead, the rest is history

[@johneefizterbottom]

Why is Conrad’s shitty business AD still being shown he’s not even on the clip ? Lol. Money hungry

[@NateNizzle]

It's his podcast

[@jonsnipe5484]

It's actually a great program.. you should look it up .. I saved a lot of money

[@Megadebt]

I remember being irritated at the whole situation. There was hardly any buildup, Jericho was losing week after week and the title run came out of absolutely nowhere. Of course the crowd reaction was weak because it didn't make any sense. This is no fault of Jericho, VKM should have been building him up weeks if not months prior.

[@Lorric101]

It was great for the shock factor of his win though, I remember being angry that they'd bottled out of a Rock/Austin final, the idea Jericho could win wasn't even the tiniest bit credible to me, I remember it fondly for that. And it tied into the story of him having the belt. *"NOOOOO!!!!! THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! I AM NOT A JOKE!!! I AM SERIOUS!!! AND YOU WILL NOT LOOK PAST ME, YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!!!!"* :D

[@Old-Boy_BEbop]

triple H is the son Vince wanted, Jericho is the son Vince really needed.... the dynamic relationship between Vince and Jericho is really unmatch, Jericho can treat Vince with disrespect like one of his children and Vince will still check up on him like a parent whats really sad Vince could run have WCW and WWF simultaneously following after NXT, real shame he destroyed WCW, was such a missed opportunity for fans and whats good for business. could of generated billions and billions with both shows combined.

[@RKO1988]

I wonder if Kurt became undisputed champ and Chris chased him as a face

[@BCZ21]

And he had to lose it so that HHH can make his failed attempt to try and be like Rock and Austin smh

[@nikhilhembrom8952]

To be honest hhh got good reaction in returning 2002 but they didnt build jericho hhh feud at mania 18 right way

[@sahpdude]

would love to see Roman unify the current WWE belts and make a remade version of the WWF championship with the blue on it. Only this time it has the logo like it does on the other one and the light blue is a universal type blue and make can be like the globe in the center logo of the belt

[@pedrobandito2]

And this is why grammar is so important…

[@Slechy_Lesh]

2:48

[@jamesstewart8377]

It was Vengeance not Armageddon

[@bluebutterfly4296]

I wonder what would’ve happened to triple h didn’t tore his quad in 2001.

[@cappy2282]

Love Jericho but if anyone deserves to be first undisputed Champ...it was Kurt. (He's Kurt "f*ckin" Angle)

[@cappy2282]

@NikolaJokerMVP15 Ya I agree. Jericho a legend

[@codino97]

jericho makes sense even storyline wise he was holding both the wcw and wwf titles as a guy who worked for both promotions and was treated badly by wc., it only makes sense the last wcw champion was a guy that left wcw to become a star even the order 1st the wcw title then the wwf one vs austin

[@rexperry5741]

Hogan Austin Rock Flair Taker HBK Jericho HHH American dream and…… Rey and Eddie can fight forever for final spot in top 10

[@rexperry5741]

Kurt can be 11 ok ok….

[@mrleo6004]

CHRIS JERICHO WINNING THE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP 😮😮😮😮 BRO WTF HAPPENED

[@MR.__G]

I still think not having austin beat Jericho at no way out was a missed opportunity. hhh won the rumble that year & the feud with Austin could’ve been picked up from their previous 3 stages of hell match. The story was already there, hhh could’ve said he’s the only man to beat austin twice in one night & rest could’ve been history. I’m sure this would’ve been a better main event than what we got that year.

[@nikhilhembrom8952]

But biggest question is who is going to lose at main event austin was difficult to work at 2002 he shot down match with hogan plus hhh ask vince to have his match at last instead of hogan vs rock do you really think they would have worked at that time

[@MR.__G]

@@nikhilhembrom8952 austin and hogan would’ve been a terrible match. Imagine how dumb it would look hogan doing a hulk up on austin 😂😂 their styles don’t have any type of chemistry. Austin and hhh was not only great storyline wise but also in the ring. Their 3 stages of hell the year was an all time classic. Their main event sounds 1000x better than hhh vs y2j