Widely regarded as one of the all-time greats, Jericho truly has a storied career in wrestling. I thought I’d take some time to list who I believe are Y2J’s greatest rivals. With a catalogue that spans a number of wrestling companies, there were a lot of choices for this list, so please, if you think I’ve missed someone vital, point it out in the comments!
I will be judging his greatest rivals in many different categories:
- Match quality
- Match quantity
- Promos and segments during the rivalry
- How it ended
- How high-profile the rivalry was
- How either man came away from it
While the last two are important, the main focus will be on the first three. This is due to the fact that I believe an entertaining midcard rivalry is better than a boring main event rivalry.
10. John Cena
This rivalry was hard to rank. They would have some good matches, but they would never really light it up in the ring. Their work in 2005 was fun, from the singles match at Summerslam to the triple threat with Christian. On the other hand, the 2008 feud (while it had a good buildup and a fun match at Armageddon 2008) did make Jericho come out of it looking weak. Especially since Jericho just came out of that incredible feud with Michaels, which makes it even more frustrating. Weak for a world title feud, but still an enjoyable feud in the bigger picture.
9. Kevin Owens
How come my name’s on this?
Chris Jericho when looking at the list of KO
One of the most well-executed turns in wrestling history.
Jericho and Kevin Owens had been carrying Raw for the longest time with their friendship. Seeing Owens turn at the festival of friendship was simply gut-wrenching. It speaks volumes about how good that angle was that it’s able to warrant the rivalry’s place on the list. While their matches against each other were pretty good, they simply aren’t on the same level as a lot of the other rivalries on the list. That being said, it’s still a travesty that they had the Mania 33 main event taken away from them. A real missed opportunity to cap off the best storyline they had going.
If you want to watch the heartbreaking festival of friendship, click HERE!
