Top Five Chris Jericho Promos

The promo is one of the most important parts of wrestling. We love the phenomenal in-ring action of course, but it’s the promos that really make us care and really give us a connection to our favorite wrestlers. Wrestlers being able to have us hang on the edge of our seats, eagerly awaiting to hear what they say next is mesmerizing and a thing of beauty when done to perfection. Throughout his 30 year career, Chris Jericho has been regarded as one of the greatest of all time when it comes to promos and for good reason. Jericho’s promo range is nothing short of extraordinary, being able to give excellent comedy promos and ultra serious heel promos and everything in between, Jericho is possibly the greatest wrestler to ever pick up a microphone, here are the top five promos of Chris Jericho’s career.

#5: Slamboree 1998: Chris Jericho as Cruiserweight Champion in WCW is one of the single most entertaining runs in wrestling history. For a number one contender’s battle royal, Chris Jericho introduced all of his individual potential challengers in a way that only he could. Highlights include calling Chavo Guerrero the scourge of the Guerrero family, calling Juventud Guerrera the ugliest man in our sport today and saying if Silver King wins 12 more matches he’ll be upgraded to Golden King. Jericho would also give competitors in the match odds of winning which were always comedically low, this promo is a blend of comedy and burying every single opponent one by one, making sure everyone knew that he deserved to be champion and nobody else did.

#4: Heel Turn promo RAW 6/23/08: I may have mentioned my love for Chris Jericho’s feud with Shawn Michaels in 2008, because it is the greatest feud of all time. This promo is what kickstarted all of the hatred and brutality that made the feud so special. Jericho called out not only his opponent, but also the fans themselves, for cheering on a liar like Shawn Michaels while booing an honest man like himself, This promo works so well because it really makes the fans question themselves, they know deep down that what Jericho is saying is justified and that they and Shawn Michaels are both in the wrong but they love Michaels so much that they can’t turn against him like this, the hate they feel and show to Jericho all stems from the fact that Jericho is perhaps the most justified heel in wrestling history. Oh and the icing on the cake is Jericho smashing HBK’s head through a TV, that’s a nice touch.

#3: the Lexicon of Le Champion: While this promo shares a similar concept with an entry you will be seeing later, it is just as effective while taking it in a new direction. Jericho stood with the AEW World Championship and said he was being forced to have one more match in the year. He made himself a list (winks to the camera) of all the wrestlers he refused to wrestle. He listed various AEW talent while also having some other interesting options such as “Scorpio Sky, 2 Cold Scorpio, and member of the Scorpions” and in between every comedic line of similarly named people came “Moxley” because Jericho really did not want to wrestle Jon Moxley, which, yeah why would anyone want to? Jericho even manages to incorporate the fans by putting some of them on the list, this promo is heel comedy at it’s finest.

#2: RAW promo before No Mercy 2008: You want to know what makes a cynical heel promo even better? When that promo is delivered on top of a ladder. Before my favorite wrestling match of all time at No Mercy 2008, right before the World Heavyweight Championship ladder match with Shawn Michaels, Jericho sat to the top of the ladder with his championship above him and wrapped up the feud on the mic perfectly. He went over everything about why he had so much hatred for Shawn Michaels and why he was the person in the right here, calling Michales and the fans hypocrites while throwing in numerous big words to sound like a brilliant villain. After the promo he pulled down the championship belt, saying that this is what the fans will see at No Mercy, which is exactly what happened.

#1: The Man of 1,004 Holds: Because it had to be the most famous promo in Jericho’s career, this promo deserves every bit of hype it gets. Jericho worked an entire feud with Dean Malenko entirely by himself while Malenko was off TV. Malenko was famously known as the man of 1,000 holds, hey I bet that’s one of the 10 best nicknames in wrestling history. Jericho claimed that Jericho was better than Malenko because he actually knew 1,004 holds, and he then proceeded to list the holds for us using a comically oversized paper list. Jericho listed holds that simply did not exist, as well as of course seemingly every other hold to be “armbar” because Chris Jericho really knew the armbar well. This promo made Jericho out to be the most annoying heel in history, and all while Malenko was off screen, made people want to pay PPV price to see Malenko annihilate Jericho and shut him up once and for all…..armbar.