Cheap Heat Cheap Reads:
The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea by Chris Jericho
I have spent a ton of time during my holiday break watching old home movies. My siblings and I converted all of our home movies to DVD for my parents (which is a technological process that blows my mind). While I hammed up nearly every second of footage, far over shadowing my poor brother and sister, I mentioned many times what my future ambitions were: actor, game show host, author, rockstar, and pro wrestler. Eleven year old Gary had high hopes. With all that being said it should come as no surprise when I say that my all- time favorite wrestler is Chris Jericho. Sure I may say Shawn Michaels, but that's like saying your favorite band is the Beatles. Of course they are, they are everyone's favorite band. That's why I tell everyone my favorite band is KISS. Chris Jericho is the KISS of professional wrestling, a comparison I am sure he would appreciate.
My first experience with Chris Jericho was probably WCW 1997. I was not a big WCW fan, but I was immediately drawn to the top knot wearing whiney heel Jericho. In fact WCW Jericho was the first heel I was ever really into. Before that I liked Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, because I was supposed to. Jericho changed that for me. He was funny, goofy, and awkward. He was ham, just like a young Gary.
I am not sure if the dirt shirts existed in 1999, but when I somehow heard that Chris Jericho was coming to WWF, I was ecstatic (mainly because I no longer had a reason to watch WCW). I can remember the night he debuted against the Rock like it was yesterday- still the best debut in wrestling history in my humble opinion. And don't even get me started on the infamous night he "won" the WWF title from Triple H on Raw. That was the wrestling equivalent of seeing my beloved New York Yankees winning the World Series. And the brilliant bait and switch of having the title change over turned was amazing television.
I have met Chris Jericho two times. In 2000 I saw him at an autograph signing. He signed a hand-made poster I drew of an anime looking Chris Jericho that said �Jericho is God'. I remember him being incredibly cool and laughing at my sign. He also talked to my mom about he always had to wear his glasses for some reason. I have a lot of other funny memories of that autograph signing that day too- my brother crying when he met Kane (out of fear) and the Headbangers having no one waiting to see them (they also drove themselves while Jericho and Kane arrived via limo). The second time I met him was when he was on his first book tour. My best friend and fellow Cheap Heat writer, Mark Haggerty, and I waited in line to meet him at Borders. Once we got up to meet him, you could tell that he wanted to hang out with us all day. He spent almost 10 minutes with us chatting. We even invited him to visit a famous New Jersey diner, and he TOTALLY wanted to go. He was even making plans to meet up with us, until his publicist put the kibosh on that. If he was faking interest, he was damn good at it. Although selling has always been one of Jericho's best attributes.
So needless to say I really like Chris Jericho. I dig Fozzy. I listen to his podcast weekly. I almost cried when he had Paul Stanley as his 100th guest. I can appreciate someone who follows their dreams. Jericho and I even share a love for BigFoot and other unexplained phenomenon. I have gotten each of his books the day they have come out, at the same Borders as the one I met him. And I have finished each of his books within a week or so. I even re read his first book (which I still find the most interesting). His latest- The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea definitely does not disappoint.
Jericho's third autobiography focuses on the time period between his 2007 return and feud with Randy Orton right up until his surprise return in 2013. Just like Jericho's three books, he has had three "eras" of his wrestling career- his early days through ECW and WCW, his WWF/WWE run, and his return/heel run in the late part of the last decade. That final run was by far my favorite part of Jericho's career. Jericho was probably a hall of famer level wrestler before his departure in 2005, I mean he DID defeat Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in the same night to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion. Did you not know that? He had a prominent role on both sides of the Monday Night War. He had classic matches and feuds with Triple H, The Rock, and Shawn Michaels. Quite an impressive resume. But I always thought he had more to offer. I was left feeling a little disappointed when he left in 2005. That's why I am so grateful he came back in 2007. I remember sitting at Mark's house watching Raw waiting for the Save.us.y2j promos to end and finally see the return of the King of the World, short hair and all.
Jericho's return is well documented in his third book. I always enjoy that he bookends his autobiographies with returns. This one begins with the countdown to his entrance in the 2013 Royal Rumble. But that is just foreshadowing the ending of this chapter of his career. The real story begins where Undisputed leaves off- Chris's 2007 return against Randy Orton on Raw. He goes on to talk about his first few return feuds during 2008, but the story really gets going right after Wrestlemania 24- the Shawn Michaels feud. Any wrestling fan worth his weight in Jakks Pacific toys know how awesome and groundbreaking this feud was. From a storytelling perspective the Shawn Michaels-Chris Jericho 2008 feud was the GREASEST feud I had ever seen. Now excuse me while I gush over it for a while.
Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels had already feuded once, back in 2003 at Wrestlemania 19. This was a terrific feud and story in its own right. The boy who grew up idolizing HBK now had to prove he could do everything better than Shawn. Whiney, arrogant Jericho had to prove he had eclipsed Shawn. It led to a great match that stole the show on a LOADED card (my personal favorite Mania). The post-match hug/betrayel by Jericho was just icing on the cake. So with a great feud in the books, what was the next logical step? Well let's have Jericho, who still emulated Shawn, feel betrayed by his idol. Shawn had faked a knee injury in a match against Batista where Jericho was guest referee. Jericho felt betrayed that his boyhood idol would do such a thing. Yes- Jericho had once kicked Shawn right between the legs, but arrogant Jericho still felt betrayed by Shawn. How dare he? This led to arguably the best heel character since the 1999-2001 Triple H run.
Suit Jericho. Just typing that brings a smile to my face. Now it is a known fact in pro wrestling that bad guys in suit are the best guys. Nick Bockwinkle, Ric Flair, Triple H are some of the greatest heels of all time. And they all wore suits to convey superiority. They were cool, cocky, ruthless, heels. But Chris Jericho's suit wearing heel character was more than that. It was just the next logical step for his character. Jericho had based his entire career on being an arrogant loud mouth. This character worked as a heel and a face. It could be fun or it could be annoying. But now he was betrayed. He felt that his idol had let him down. So what would a brash arrogant loud mouth do in that situation? He was turn to the dark side. He would start wearing suits to show how much more "mature" he was. He was speak softer, and use bigger words. Jericho always states, even in this book, that this character was inspired by Javier Bodem's ruthless killer in No Country for Old Men, but I never saw that. I saw Dressed to Kill Jericho as the next logical step for his character. He was trying his hardest to be a completely different person, but was still that whiney little know it all from the 1997 WCW days, just wrapped up in a fancy suit. He wasn't the "cool" heel like HHH or Flair. He was still a whiney little shit. And that's what worked so well for Jericho.
Needless to say this section of the book was by far my favorite. I found the insight that he shared about this run so incredible. At first Vince only wanted the feud to be a one off, but it kept growing and growing, and to his credit, it was Shawn Michaels who kept pushing for it to continue. Probably the most memorable passage of the entire book is when Jericho talks about the angle at Summerslam 2008 with Shawn Michael's wife. Shawn was uneasy about bringing Rebecca to the ring that night, and for good reason. Because she was not trained in the craft, she leaned right into Jericho's kayfabe intended right hand. He actually knocked her out! I never knew that, and reading about it made me love that storyline even more. Jericho talks about how mad Shawn was, and how he thought that would be it for the story and maybe even his own career. But in what has to be the best line of the entire book, Rebecca sits up and says "is that all you got Jericho?"
I tend to agree with Chris that the feud didn't need the title to continue, but it was a nice touch. The Unforgiven ladder match main even between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho may go down as one of my top 5 favorite matches ever, and for my money the 2nd best ladder match of all time. Reading about this amazing feud was a great walk down memory lane. I went back and rewatched all their matches in the series thanks to the WWE Network, and was still as invested as I was 6 years ago.
Another great topic covered in the book is Jericho's Wrestlemania 25 match with the WWE Legends. As was long rumored, the match was originally supposed to be Jericho be Jericho vs Mickey Rouke. Rouke was riding a huge wave of success due to his role in The Wrestler (still deserves that Oscar). Jericho tells the entire behind the scenes story of why that match didn't go down, and without giving too much away, I for one am still disappointed it didn't. But it led to a really great moment that really speaks to the performer Jericho is. As we know Chris had a mostly forgettable match against Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Ricky Steamboat. While Piper and Snuka had zero business being in the ring, Steamboat showed that he could still go. This led to a great match between the two at Backlash. But it was a house show match around this time that Jericho highlights most. Jericho was supposed to go over, but since the match was in old NWA territory of South Carolina, and Steamboat was a legend there, Jericho decided to change the finish and call for a "Mania 3 roll up ending." Steamboat of course got a huge ovation, and thanked Chris. That shows what a true professional and fan Jericho is.
Wrestling portions of the book aside, I found tons of other parts of the book interesting. I never watched a single episode of Dancing with the Stars, even when Chris was on it. However I wish I had. You can really tell Jericho enjoyed his time there. He describes how difficult the training was, even harder than training for wrestling. He talks in length about the 8 hours a day, 7 days a week he would learn new routines. He even talks about the dance he dedicated to his mother. Another great, touching moment there.
A great story Jericho tells in the book is about visiting troops in Afghanistan. While the WWE crew was getting off a helicopter, US soldiers lit off smoke bombs to protect them from snipers. But no one told the wrestlers, so they assumed they were getting bombed and ran for their lives. They even got stuck when there was a threat of insurgents. In moments like these Jericho reflects, and you can tell he is grateful for all that he has accomplished.
And I cannot talk about Chris Jericho without talking about music. Just like myself, Jericho has a love of music. His band Fozzy is incredibly successful, and all that success cannot pinned on just his name. He talks about how some Fozzy fans don't even know he is a wrestler. Through his success in Fozzy he has been able to meet legendary rock stars like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, who he can now consider friends. You cannot help but feel happy for Jericho and his many successes.
Earlier I compare Chris Jericho to KISS. And I think that is an accurate description. KISS have never gotten the respect they deserve from mainstream critics. They are mostly looked as a nice novelty act. While no one would say this about Jericho, it does always feel that he is looked over when discussing the greatest of all time. And just like KISS Jericho has succeed in some many facets of his career, in and out of the ring. He has wide mainstream crossover success. KISS has make up years, non-make up years. They have been in comic books, reality shows, and commercials. Jericho has hosted a game show, danced with stars, headlined Wrestlemania, and played sold out metal shows. And most importantly he follows his dreams and his passions. He doesn't care what other people think of him. He just does whatever he thinks is going to be the most fun. And that is what is most important.
I guess I will stop gushing now, and give The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea an A, highly recommended read.
