The Nexus , later the New Nexus, was a villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE that competed on the Raw brand from June 7, 2010 to August 22, 2011, originally consisting of eight rookies of NXT season one and shifted their roster several times throughout their 14-month existence, with David Otunga being the only member to serve the group throughout the entirety of its existence.
197-480: After NXT, the group went on to antagonize the Raw roster, with then- WWE Champion John Cena as their main focus, who forcibly became a member of The Nexus after losing a match at Hell in a Cell thanks to outside interference. However, Cena was eventually removed from the group at Survivor Series after Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton . Barrett was replaced as leader by CM Punk , at which point
394-514: A Dog Collar match . Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria , Illinois , house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within
591-819: A TLC match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on December 15, 2013, to unify the titles. Subsequently, the unified championship was renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship and retained the lineage of the WWE Championship; the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. Orton and subsequent champions held both championship belts until a single championship belt was given to reigning champion Brock Lesnar in August 2014. After Dean Ambrose became champion in June 2016,
788-678: A Winner Takes All match to claim both world championships and then become recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. WWE billed the match as a championship unification match and Reigns as a double champion, defending both titles together across both brands as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship . On the April 24, 2023, episode of Raw , WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H announced that regardless of what brand Reigns
985-466: A diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown! . At King of the Ring on June 24, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as
1182-464: A 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match. On the April 13 episode of Raw , Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft . Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash on April 26, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to
1379-570: A Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, after Benoit pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in
1576-475: A bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane , Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in
1773-644: A blueprint for WWE's men's and women's world championships, with the only differences being the name at the bottom of the center plate and the colors, as well as the women's being smaller. First was the WWE Women's Championship in April 2016, which became the Raw Women's Championship later that year, although it reverted to its original name in June 2023. After the WWE World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown as
1970-485: A child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke , the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more". During the March 30, 1998, episode of Nitro , after defeating Marty Jannetty , Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to
2167-624: A controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble on January 23, 2000, by defeating Chyna and Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match. Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then- European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out on February 27. Jericho competed in
SECTION 10
#17327874388422364-470: A custom design that meant something, later said that WWE probably decided to go with the Rated R Spinner version in order to sell more merchandise. During Daniel Bryan's fourth reign (2018–2019) as part of his environmentalist heel gimmick, he threw the standard title belt in a garbage can (bemoaning the fact it was made from leather) and introduced a new custom belt, dubbed the "Planet's Championship", featuring
2561-464: A customized belt for John Cena, remained the standard title belt from 2005 to 2013. During Edge 's second reign in 2006, he introduced his own variation, the "Rated R Spinner" design, replacing the WWE scratch logo with his "Rated R Superstar" logo. Edge had sketched a completely new custom design, but due to creative differences, it did not get made. Edge, who was not a fan of his spinner version and wanted
2758-602: A dispute over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers . Since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. It is the oldest championship currently active in WWE, and is presented as being the promotion's most prestigious title, with many matches for the title having headlined pay-per-view and livestreaming events —including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania . In professional wrestling in general, it
2955-489: A documentary about The Nexus was cancelled with Young theorizing it was due to Bryan leaving WWE. Reflecting on the group, Wade Barrett discussed the group in the interview with Even Stronger podcast in September 2023. Barrett went on to state that in his own words: "I think there was probably an era from about 2002 until about [20]09-2010 where I think the show got stale because it was the same seven or eight top guys at
3152-579: A fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown! , Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost
3349-639: A globe in the center, along with Roman columns and olive branches. It read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" and included the famous WWF block logo at the top, while four side plates had flags (two flags per side plate) representing the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Soviet Union, and Italy. On February 5, 1988, just before ending his first championship reign, Hogan introduced another new design,
3546-478: A group attack (led by Harris) on Orton, "injuring" Orton's right knee. As a result, when Barrett was about to pin Orton in the match, Cena (who had supposedly left the building) pulled the referee out of the ring to break the count and attacked Barrett, paving the way (as The Nexus chased Cena out of the building) for Orton to retain the title via RKO. Despite being fired by Barrett, Cena continued to show up on Raw as
3743-408: A ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday on October 19 to Shelton Benjamin . Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton , Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series on November 14. The match stipulated that each member of
3940-405: A large center plate dominated by a cut out of the current WWE logo (encrusted with diamonds) inside an irregular heptagon with the capital words "World Heavyweight Champion" along the bottom edges, in very small print. The backing behind the logo was again the black leather strap with nugget texture. The belt retained the gold divider bars introduced in the previous design. The large side plates, like
4137-417: A large irregular heptagonal plate, with the border of the plate featuring diamonds and other gems. The backing behind the logo was the black leather strap itself with a nugget texture. The word "Champion" appeared in a large gold banner underneath the logo. Gold divider bars separated the center plate from its two large side plates. The side plates featured a removable center section that could be customized with
SECTION 20
#17327874388424334-432: A leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree , J. J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal , the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win
4531-409: A losing effort at Fall Brawl . The following month, at Halloween Havoc , Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick . This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3 , which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in
4728-497: A lumberjack match to keep his spot in The Nexus. At Survivor Series, Orton retained the WWE Championship against Barrett via pinfall following an RKO and Cena was fired ( kayfabe ) from WWE and subsequently exiled from The Nexus. The following night on Raw, Cena gave a "farewell address" in which he urged Barrett to stop "taking shortcuts". However, prior Barrett's rematch with Orton later that night, he directed The Nexus in
4925-489: A match at Judgment Day on May 17, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules on June 7 to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash on June 28, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match . Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won
5122-665: A match at No Mercy on October 21 for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown! . Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown , onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won
5319-499: A match between Edge and Alberto Del Rio , but The Nexus was then defeated in the main event in a 5-on-5 tag team match by Edge, Del Rio, Big Show , Kane and Kofi Kingston . Barrett did not approve Otunga's decision to lead The Nexus to SmackDown and, as a result, forced him to defend his spot in the group the following week. On the November 12, 2010 edition of SmackDown, thanks to interference from Kane, Otunga defeated Edge in
5516-539: A match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash on April 18 that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven on September 12 in
5713-470: A name plate, and like the previous two designs, it had an eagle atop the globe. There were also stars seemingly shooting out from the globe. It originally had the WWF scratch logo and read "World Wrestling Federation Champion"; after the promotion was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May 2002, both the scratch logo and wording were changed accordingly. The inner side plates on this design also contained
5910-506: A new single title belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. It features the same "Network Logo" design on a black strap, but the WWE logo is encrusted with black diamonds, it has a gold nugget-textured background behind the logo which was made as part of the metal plate instead of colored leather, and the text at the bottom of the plate says "Undisputed Champion"; the side plates remained
6107-603: A one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion , becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP versions of the Intercontinental Championship. In January 2019, Jericho joined AEW and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. While in AEW, Jericho would also capture the ROH World Championship (the main title of AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor ) at
The Nexus (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue
6304-402: A professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart , then appearing with Stampede Wrestling , performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret , Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for him becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of
6501-628: A promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table. Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna , for the WWF Intercontinental Championship . After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series on November 14, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon on December 12. This feud included
6698-721: A rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010, episode of Raw , DX defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show. Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber on February 21, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison , Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw , Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for
6895-502: A rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night . Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl . Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc . At World War 3 , Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win. On
7092-608: A result of the 2016 brand split, the design would also be used for the WWE Universal Championship that was introduced for the Raw brand. The design was also used for the SmackDown Women's Championship introduced in August until that title received a new design in June 2023 when it was renamed Women's World Championship. The NXT United Kingdom Championship and NXT UK Women's Championship belts also used
7289-487: A rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into mainstream prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war, dubbed the Monday Night War . Near the end of the ratings war, WCW began a financial decline , which culminated in WWF purchasing WCW in March 2001. As a result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, WCW's championships . Thus, there were two world titles in
7486-490: A second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for
7683-462: A sign of disrespect, spit in Cena's face; the former of which led him to be released from his contract on June 11, 2010 as WWE reportedly felt those acts were too violent for the company's TV-PG programming and would have caused issues with sponsors. His absence was explained by Barrett on the June 14, 2010 edition of Raw as having felt remorse for his actions, who kicked him out of the group. The Nexus
7880-421: A team that would come to called Jeri-Show . The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam on August 23, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point on September 13 and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell on October 4. At Survivor Series on November 22, both Jericho and Big Show took part in
8077-568: A ticketholder in the subsequent weeks, causing interference in The Nexus' matches, including costing Slater and Gabriel the WWE Tag Team Championship to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match on the December 6, 2010 edition of Raw. On the December 13, 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett rehired Cena for fear of being exiled by The Nexus, but on the condition that Cena face Otunga in
The Nexus (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue
8274-459: A title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost. In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls , Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on
8471-581: A title to London police officer Charlie Guenigault for his "exceptional bravery" during the 2017 London Bridge attack , and to the U.S. servicemen and women who have helped in hosting WWE Tribute to the Troops (since 2015) as well as for their continued service to the country. In 2020, WWE Championship belts were also presented to Christophe Agius and Philippe Chéreau, WWE announcers in France for 20 consecutive years presenting WWE on French television. With
8668-571: A tradition for WWE, and they have since created custom WWE Championship belts for winners in professional sports, with the side plates commemorating the achievement. They have also presented a custom belt to exceptionally notable people for their efforts in their profession. WWE had originally presented custom WWE Championships to winners in both male and female sports, but in 2018, they began presenting those in female sports with custom Women's Championship belts. Since that original gift in 2014, WWE has presented custom WWE Championship belts to winners of
8865-486: A triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (DX) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and DX intentionally disqualified themselves in
9062-443: Is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since January 2019 , where he is the leader of The Learning Tree stable, and the two-time and current ROH World Champion in AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor . Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, in-ring technical wrestling prowess, and his ability to reinvent his character throughout
9259-494: Is another one who separately came up around that time, Drew McIntyre . We all got hired on the same day. We're pretty close. So I contrast and compare myself with those two regularly but we got caught up in this wave of 'Look we need new talent. We need new guys. We need fresh stars.' So I was fortunate that my rise through the developmental ranks came at that time, which meant the company was actively looking for new stars." The success of The Nexus, as Barrett pointed out, helped show
9456-485: Is considered to be one of the most prestigious championships of all time. From its inception until 2001, it was promoted as WWE's sole primary championship. An additional world title, the WCW Championship , was added after the then- World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF) purchase of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001. The titles were later unified as the Undisputed WWF Championship . After
9653-519: The 2002 King of the Ring tournament , defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring on June 23. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena , losing to him at Vengeance on July 21. After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw , unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to
9850-592: The Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship , defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio . It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match at No Mercy on October 5, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost
10047-479: The NWA Television Championship at the time. The '84 belt consisted of a dual-plated gold and silver main plate as well as two dual-plated side plates on each side. The main plate was engraved with red lettering. The '85 belt had a silver and black main plate with raised silver lettering and the same side plates as the '84 belt. Both belts included black straps. Both center plates read "WWF" at
SECTION 50
#173278743884210244-732: The NWA World Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993. Jericho made his final appearance with CMLL in September 1995, unsuccessfully challenging CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Apolo Dantés in the Arena Coliseo in Mexico City . 1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette 's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with
10441-549: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member promotions . In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, its executives held a controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one-fall match. Claiming
10638-542: The New York Rangers at the time of Jericho's birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba , where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become
10835-709: The Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California , to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach , before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro . Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild , before defeating Wright in
11032-567: The Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions on July 26, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating
11229-786: The WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion , as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show ) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year. After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became
11426-621: The WWE Tag Team Championship , while in the main event, Barrett defeated Orton via disqualification , this time caused by Cena who, as a result, was chosen by Barrett as his own special guest referee for his WWE Championship rematch against Orton at Survivor Series , declaring that unless he won the title, Cena would be fired, but if Barrett defeated Orton, Cena would be relieved of all responsibilities to The Nexus. The following night on Raw, Slater and Justin Gabriel won
11623-578: The World Series , Super Bowl , NBA Finals , FIFA Women's World Cup , College Football Playoff National Championship , Stanley Cup Finals , Australian Open , Premier League , Bundesliga , Indian Premier League , Liga MX , Argentine Primera División , Major League Baseball Home Run Derby , Formula One World Championship , UEFA Champions League , Overwatch League , Cricket World Cup , Men's US Open , and Canadian Football League Grey Cup . WWE also presented
11820-594: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed WWE in 2002). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion , and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night . Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with
12017-625: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions on June 29, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé. Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem 's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel . Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash on July 20, which Jericho won after attacking
SECTION 60
#173278743884212214-477: The main event , attacking John Cena, CM Punk, Luke Gallows , Jerry Lawler , Matt Striker , Justin Roberts , and other WWE personnel around the ring before ultimately destroying everything at ringside, including the ring itself and barricades, forcing the match to end in a no contest. During the attack, which ended with Cena being taken out on a stretcher, Daniel Bryan strangled Roberts with his necktie and, in
12411-496: The namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match. Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event . At SuperBrawl VII , Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship . On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at
12608-399: The second season of NXT who would later join The Nexus on the October 25, 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett managed to win the match and force Cena to join The Nexus. The following night on Raw, Cena attacked Michael Tarver following a tag-team match. In the subsequent segment, Barrett stated that Cena did him a favor, as he was planning on getting rid of Tarver anyway, implying that Tarver
12805-476: The six-pack elimination challenge for Sheamus' WWE Championship, but he was eliminated by Orton, who later won the match and the title. At Hell in a Cell , Barrett and Cena faced each other in a match with the stipulation that if Barrett won, Cena would have to join The Nexus, but if Cena won or any other member of The Nexus got involved, the group would be permanently disbanded. Thanks to interference from Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty , two rookies from
13002-421: The "Spinner Belt", which had a gold and diamond bling-bling style reflecting his hip hop character at the time. Although originally a custom belt for Cena, it became the WWE Championship's primary design from April 12, 2005, until February 18, 2013. The scratch WWE logo, placed between an eagle on top and the word "Champ" and a name plate below, could be spun like spinner wheels or a turntable in keeping with
13199-436: The "Winged Eagle" championship belt, which became the primary design for the next decade with many wrestlers holding this version, and is considered the most popular design of the championship. Its nickname is derived from the eagle's wings seemingly coming off of the center plate, which included the block WWF logo and read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". The championship belt also had four identical side plates. Apart from
13396-536: The 2022 Dynamite : Grand Slam event and the FTW Championship at Dynasty 2024 . In 1999, Jericho became the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Fozzy , who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions , although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over
13593-406: The August 22 episode of Raw , Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a " You're fired" match . Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff . Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25. After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on
13790-706: The August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago , Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show . Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed " Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug ). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting
13987-620: The Bank , where he would face Cena for the WWE Championship. The following week on Raw, it was announced that Ryan suffered an injury over the weekend and left the group. That same night, a brash Punk realized a worked shoot promo (which he dubbed a "pipe bomb"), reminding that once his contract expired at Money in the Bank, that would be the last time WWE would ever see him and the WWE Championship, as he considered taking his talents to another wrestling promotion, like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling . With his victory over Cena at Money in
14184-701: The Bank, the WWE Championship was finally held by the stable on their last night of existence. Otunga and McGillicutty worked as a tag team with the New Nexus banner until August 1, 2011 and continued without the banner until August 22, 2011, when the group disbanded after they lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne . In April 2018, The Nexus reunited for Chikara King of Trios tournament as The Nexus Alliance, being represented by Tyrone Evans (Tarver), Fred Rosser (Young) and Black (Gabriel). Young stated that The Nexus were originally booked to return at WrestleMania 36 . A year later,
14381-600: The Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J. J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee. On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for
14578-481: The ECW Championship. In April 2011, WWE ceased going by its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism , and the first brand split ended that August. Just prior to the end of the first brand split, a storyline saw CM Punk vowing to leave the company with the WWE Championship when his contract expired on July 17, 2011, the date of the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view. At
14775-679: The Hogan '86 version. A much larger version similar to the Hogan '86 championship belt was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III , although he never wore it as champion. A custom championship belt was used by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin during his second reign (1998), which included his "Smoking Skull" logo as well as rattle snakes. As an answer, The Rock also had a custom championship belt designed and constructed, including his trademark "Brahma Bull" logo, but due to creative reasons, it never appeared on television. The Spinner Belt, originally
14972-476: The January 15, 1998, episode of Thunder , Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out . Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer . After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox . In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to
15169-452: The January 17, 2011 edition of Raw, Mason Ryan joined The New Nexus after interfering in Punk's match against Cena, attacking both before Punk handed Ryan a Nexus armband. On January 30, 2011 at the Royal Rumble , The New Nexus, who were also a part of the 40-man Royal Rumble match along with The Corre, cost Orton his rematch clause for Miz's WWE Championship, starting a feud with him. Over
15366-517: The June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown , Triple H presented Reigns with a new singular championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Amidst confusion of the lineages, Fightful reported that WWE confirmed to them that the two championships are still in fact separate lineages, represented by one belt. This has also been represented on WWE.com, with both Reigns and Cody Rhodes , who defeated Reigns at WrestleMania XL , being shown as champions of both individual titles rather than
15563-457: The June 20, 2011 "Power to the People" edition of Raw, Punk was originally going to be named the number one contender for Cena's WWE Championship, but instead, he was forced to compete in a triple threat match with Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio with a Falls Count Anywhere stipulation voted for by fans which Punk won, revealing after the match that his WWE contract would expire at Money in
15760-537: The McMahon family crest of a lion holding a shield that had the company logo. The championship would drop the "undisputed" moniker in September 2002, becoming the WWE Championship again when it became exclusive to SmackDown!, while the Big Gold Belt was resurrected to represent the World Heavyweight Championship for Raw. After John Cena won the WWE Championship in April 2005, he introduced his own custom belt,
15957-630: The November 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown . This was also the first time in nearly 15 years that the championship changed hands on an episode of SmackDown ; the last time was in 2003 when Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle for the title. At Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019, SmackDown wrestler "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the Universal Championship, thus transferring the title to SmackDown. Also at that event, after reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar had defeated Cain Velasquez to retain
16154-476: The October 14 episode of Raw . Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon on December 15. On the January 13, 2003 episode of Raw , Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match on January 19. He chose number two in order to start
16351-508: The September 24, 2007, episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series . The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007, episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of
16548-587: The SmackDown General Manager and Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon named Mick Foley the Raw General Manager. Below is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the WWE Championship between the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. When introduced in 1963, the original WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was represented by a United States championship belt that Buddy Rogers had defended in various territories prior to becoming
16745-419: The SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. In response, on September 2, Bischoff disputed Lesnar's status as champion, stating Lesnar was refusing to defend his title against the designated No. 1 contender, Triple H, and awarded the latter with the newly created World Heavyweight Championship . Immediately afterward, Lesnar's championship dropped the epithet "Undisputed" and became known as
16942-633: The Undisputed Championship was the only male wrestler allowed to appear on both shows. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the championships were renamed accordingly. At first, the championship remained unaffiliated with either brand as wrestlers from both brands could challenge the champion. Following the appointment of Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon as General Managers of Raw and SmackDown , respectively, Stephanie McMahon convinced then-Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar to become exclusive to
17139-402: The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, both the standard versions of the WWE Championship and Universal Championship belts were used in tandem to represent the undisputed title, although both titles retained their individual lineages. On the June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown , in celebration of Reigns reaching 1,000 days as Universal Champion, he was presented with
17336-491: The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (WWE and Universal Championships) by defeating Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Following his win, the undisputed title's name was truncated to Undisputed WWE Championship. Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho ,
17533-1092: The WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion in February 1996. In his second appearance, he defeated Rob Van Dam at the Big Apple Blizzard Blast . Jericho won the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven . While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz , Sabu , Rob Van Dam , Cactus Jack , Shane Douglas , and 2 Cold Scorpio . He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It
17730-491: The WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, the championship briefly became a world title of the ECW brand; the ECW World Heavyweight Championship was subsequently reactivated for the ECW brand upon Van Dam's title win. Van Dam held both titles until he lost the WWE Championship to Raw's Edge the following month. The ECW brand was disbanded in 2010, subsequently deactivating
17927-437: The WWE Championship. Over the course of the first brand split, the WWE Championship was used as the world title of the SmackDown brand twice and of the Raw brand three times. In all but two cases, the WWE Championship switched brands as a result of the annual draft . In June 2006, WWE established ECW as a third brand, on which former Extreme Championship Wrestling stars and newer talent competed. When ECW's Rob Van Dam won
18124-450: The WWE Championship. Their following match would take place at SummerSlam , where The Nexus faced the team of Cena, Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho , John Morrison , R-Truth and the returning Bryan, losing after Cena submitted Barrett with the STF . According to Edge and Jericho, the original plan was to put Barrett over and establish them as legitimate threats to WWE, with Edge and Jericho being
18321-403: The WWE Tag Team Championship after Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him. On the November 5, 2010 edition of SmackDown, Otunga, who had been questioning Barrett's leadership over the past several weeks ever since Barrett cost him and Cena the WWE Tag Team Championship to Slater and Gabriel, led Harris, McGillicutty, Gabriel and Slater to a second invasion of SmackDown, interrupting
18518-547: The WWE its way to debut a dominant young group, would eventually pave way for a bigger successful faction, The Shield , which consisted of Seth Rollins , Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose . WWE Championship The WWE Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE , defended on the SmackDown brand division . Since April 2022,
18715-507: The WWE roster that it was under "new management," with CM Punk (who disbanded the Straight Edge Society the previous September) being revealed to be the new leader, acquiring the position after Barrett lost a #1 contendership steel cage match involving Orton and Sheamus. Punk, having agreed to fall in line had Barrett successfully won the title shot, teased helping Barrett escape the cage before knocking him off of it. Barrett
18912-399: The WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal , only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day on May 20, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw
19109-563: The WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz. After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown! , they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair . At Survivor Series on November 18, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF
19306-561: The WWF and World Championships into the Undisputed WWF Championship, the "Big Eagle" championship belt was used in tandem with the " Big Gold Belt ", the former WCW Championship belt, until a single Undisputed Championship belt was introduced to champion Triple H on the April 1, 2002, episode of Raw . This new belt, dubbed the "Undisputed Championship Belt", was designed by New York -based tattoo artist Keith Ciaramello. Taking inspiration from WCW, this design included
19503-886: The WWF and World Championships, and becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion; the Undisputed championship retained the lineage of the WWF Championship and the World Championship was retired. Subsequently, the Big Eagle Belt (formerly representing the WWF Championship) and the Big Gold Belt (formerly representing the World Championship) were used in tandem to represent the Undisputed Championship . Jericho held
19700-707: The WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and the Elimination Chamber matches and the shows itself. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010. Jericho won the Undisputed WWF Championship once , the WCW/World Championship twice , and the World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version) three times . He has also held
19897-458: The WWF: the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed the "World Championship". In December 2001, the two championships were unified at Vengeance . At the event, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Championship, while Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the World Championship. After this, Jericho then defeated Austin, unifying
20094-496: The World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown , who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown . Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules on April 25, where Jericho
20291-432: The World Heavyweight Championship to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on November 3 on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series on November 23 to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw , Jericho
20488-442: The World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio . Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair , Ricky Steamboat , Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper , as well as actor Mickey Rourke . Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25 on April 5, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in
20685-507: The audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar . On the March 12, 1998, episode of Thunder , Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane , whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored , Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took
20882-425: The brand extension and wrestlers (including all champions), were then free to appear on any program. On July 19, 2016, SmackDown moved to Tuesdays and became a live show with its own set of wrestlers and writers, separate from Raw , thus reintroducing the brand split. The draft took place on the live premiere of SmackDown . On the July 18 episode of Raw , SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon named Daniel Bryan
21079-608: The brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair , leading to a match at SummerSlam on August 25, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw , he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam , before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw . He then later formed a tag team with Christian , with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on
21276-483: The catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title. In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in
21473-399: The champion Booker T ). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff , Goldberg and Hulk Hogan 's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving
21670-478: The champion's logo in lieu of a nameplate; the default side plates consisted of a red globe with the WWE logo on the globe underneath a crown. After Randy Orton unified the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship, with the latter being retired, the "Big Logo Belt" was used in tandem with the "Big Gold Belt" to represent the renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the August 18, 2014, episode of Raw , reigning champion Brock Lesnar , who had won
21867-413: The championship belt was updated several times. First in 1971, this design was on an indigo colored strap and contained three shield-shaped plates. Below the center plate, which read "World Heavyweight Champion" and had a cross at its center, a separate horizontal plate read "WWWF". This was replaced with another design in 1972. This version, on a red strap, read "WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" around
22064-497: The championship for four months until he lost it at WrestleMania X8 against Triple H , who was soon after presented with a single championship belt. The Undisputed Championship continued up through the beginning of the first brand split , which saw wrestlers being drafted to the company's main television programs , Raw and SmackDown , each show representing the brand of the same name, with championships assigned to and authority figures appointed for each brand. The holder of
22261-422: The championship. Jericho claimed he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner , and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. , with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated
22458-503: The combined Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, which was shortened to Undisputed WWE Championship after Rhodes won the title. With the first brand split, an annual draft was established in 2002. Each year (except 2003), the General Managers participated in a draft lottery in which select members of WWE's roster were assigned to a brand. The revived ECW became a third brand from 2006 to 2010. On August 29, 2011, WWE ended
22655-478: The company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy 's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War . In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger . According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997
22852-536: The company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan . In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn . The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out , where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX , Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in
23049-415: The course of his career, Jericho has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. In the latter half of 1999, he made his debut in
23246-459: The cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam on August 17, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven on September 7, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered
23443-405: The edges with an eagle at the center, while six side plates represented several countries. 1973 saw the introduction of another yet similar design; this one was on a black strap and contained two grapplers above a differently designed eagle. This version was subsequently held by Stan Stasiak , Bruno Sammartino, "Superstar" Billy Graham – who wore a red leather variation – and Bob Backlund . During
23640-491: The event, Punk succeeded in defeating the defending champion John Cena to win the title, and left the company with the physical championship belt. Subsequently, the championship was vacated and Rey Mysterio won an eight-man tournament by defeating The Miz in the finals to be crowned the new WWE Champion, only to subsequently lose it later that night to Cena, for the latter's record ninth reign . Punk then returned to WWE with his own championship belt, disputing Cena's claim to
23837-490: The final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion . He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round. In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki , Gedo, and Jado , adopting
24034-494: The finals. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again; one of the caveats of rejoining is that the championship would no longer be recognised as a "world championship", and only as a regional heavyweight championship. In 1979, the WWWF was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the title regained its "world championship" status and
24231-510: The first brand split in 2002 and the promotion being renamed to WWE , the championship became exclusive to SmackDown, dropping the "undisputed" moniker, while the World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version) was created for Raw. ECW became a third brand in 2006, adding the ECW Championship . That title was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified into the WWE Championship in 2013. The championship
24428-419: The first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion , as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format . He retained the title at the Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002, against The Rock and at No Way Out on February 17 against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8 on March 17. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in
24625-430: The help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. On the June 1, 2010 edition of NXT, Barrett was declared the winner over Otunga and — as a result — was awarded a WWE contract and a championship match at a WWE pay-per-view of his choosing (he ultimately chose Night of Champions ), while the others were left without a job. The group made its debut on the June 7, 2010 "Viewer's Choice" edition of Raw, during
24822-415: The hip-hop theme. The WWE logo was encrusted with diamonds while other parts of the championship were emblazoned with various other jewels. The inner side plates read "WWE Champion", though before 2008, one side plate indicated the brand the title was designated to. The spinning function was phased out in later years and the logo set in a fixed place, most notably during The Miz 's first reign (2010–2011) when
25019-432: The image for the WWE Championship; the Universal Championship title history remains a picture of the previous blue belt. Custom championship belts have been created to honor certain reigning champions or match their characters . During Hogan's reign in 1986, he had a modified version of the Hogan '86 made, which included a picture of himself at the center. Not much is known about this "mystery belt" as he quickly reverted to
25216-453: The inaugural WWF draft lottery . He would then appear at Backlash on April 21, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan . He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day on May 19, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in
25413-439: The inaugural WWWF world champion. The center plate of this belt was an outline of the continental United States and there were two shield-shaped side plates with grapplers on them; the plates were on a red leather strap. On the center plate, there was a circle flanked by grapplers, and the circle was designed to contain a photograph of the titleholder. Above the circle was a shield with an eagle atop it with stars on opposite sides of
25610-406: The introduction of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship belt in June 2023, WWE have since presented custom versions of it. The WWE Championship was the first world championship introduced into the promotion in 1963. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, and there have been 55 different official champions overall and 11 vacancies. The longest reigning champion is Bruno Sammartino , who held
25807-470: The last members of Team WWE to be eliminated by Barrett, but Cena refused to lose to The Nexus and had the finish changed around the time of the event. Young and Heath Slater later stated that they agreed with Edge and Jericho, adding that The Nexus' loss at SummerSlam permanently crippled whatever momentum the stable had following the invasion. The following night on Raw, The Nexus members competed in seven one-on-one matches against Team WWE (except Hart, who
26004-485: The latter ended its run on February 16, describing NXT as "the next evolution of WWE television history." The concept of the stable was derived from each original member of them being a contestant on the first season of the NXT program, which composed at the time of the talent from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling . The series ran them through a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with
26201-418: The latter's reign, the promotion's name was shortened to World Wrestling Federation (WWF), but the physical championship belt still read "WWWF". After the previous design was destroyed, a new design was introduced in January 1983, nicknamed the "Big Green Belt" due to its size and the color of its strap. This was the first to be created under the WWF name. It included eight (later ten) side plates dedicated to
26398-642: The likes of Well Dunn , The Rock 'n' Roll Express , and The Heavenly Bodies . In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu 's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship , which he had won while wrestling in Mexico. In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in
26595-424: The logo was turned upside down to look like an "M". On the February 18, 2013, episode of Raw , The Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship belt, often dubbed the "Big Logo Belt". The new title was partially designed by Orange County Choppers of American Chopper fame, as well as well-known belt maker Dave Millican. The championship included a large cut-out of the scratch WWE logo (encrusted with diamonds) inside
26792-419: The main event and Barrett and Cena settle the score in a chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs . At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Cena defeated Barrett in the main event and, after the match, dropped 23 steel chairs from the stage on him after dispatching the rest of The Nexus. On the January 3, 2011 edition of Raw, The Nexus ambiguously announced after months of repeated attacks on Cena and
26989-446: The main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley , who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next night to Eddie Guerrero on Raw is War after Chyna sided with Guerrero. On the April 17 episode of Raw is War , Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made
27186-455: The match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash on April 27, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho
27383-497: The match when Edge claimed the briefcase. At Backlash on May 1, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand on June 12. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane , which allowed Storm to win
27580-474: The match with Shawn Michaels , who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent
27777-568: The match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2008. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw , Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy . In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into
27974-428: The match. The next night on Raw , Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance on June 26 which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam on August 21. The next night on
28171-429: The most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy , defeating Hardy at No Way Out on February 23. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace. After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which
28368-582: The name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company. Thanks in part to recommendations by Chris Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn , to promoter Paul Heyman , and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for
28565-406: The next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on the May 24 episode of SmackDown! , where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing
28762-410: The ongoing weeks, Orton defeated all members of The New Nexus, causing several storyline injuries by punting them. At WrestleMania XXVII , Orton defeated Punk and, at Extreme Rules , Orton defeated Punk in a Last Man Standing rematch. On the May 23, 2011 edition of Raw, thanks to a distraction from The New Nexus, McGillicutty and Otunga defeated Big Show and Kane for the WWE Tag Team Championship. On
28959-452: The previous champions. The center plate featured a wrestler holding up a championship belt with a globe behind him. This design, held by Bob Backlund, The Iron Sheik , and Hulk Hogan , was replaced first by the "Hogan '84" design during the spring of 1984, then by the nearly identical "Hogan '85" design, which first appeared at WrestleMania 1. Both were called "Hogan" belts as they were only worn by Hulk Hogan, and they were similar in design to
29156-416: The previous design, included removable round center sections, allowing the holder's personal logo to be added to the championship belt; the default plates showed gold and red world maps with the WWE logo over them but without the crown from the previous design. Customizable side plates have since become a prominent feature with the majority of WWE's championship belts. The "Network Logo" design would become
29353-546: The ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea 's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno . Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko , in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as
29550-621: The ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a diploma in Creative Communications. At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He
29747-406: The ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII . Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to
29944-413: The same base outline but with a different design on the center plate itself. After the introduction of the Universal Championship, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship subsequently reverted to being called the WWE Championship, although from July to December 2016, it was called the "WWE World Championship". The physical belt retained the text "World Heavyweight Champion". After Roman Reigns became
30141-493: The same design as the "Network Logo" belt, but made from "entirely sustainable materials" (such as the strap being made from hemp and the center and side plates carved from wood of a naturally fallen oak tree ; the side plates also had his name instead of the WWE logo). In October 2014, WWE presented the San Francisco Giants a replica of the "Network Logo" belt for winning the 2014 World Series . This began
30338-502: The same. Despite this, his manager Paul Heyman had continued to carry around the previous WWE and Universal Championship belts until the end of July. On WWE's website, pictures of the previous title belts were still used for the individual title histories of each championship until April 2024 when the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (subsequently referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship) belt replaced
30535-457: The shield. The caption "World's Champion" was added below the circle. This title belt was worn by the inaugural champion Buddy Rogers in 1963 and the second champion Bruno Sammartino. After Sammartino became champion, a new title belt on a blue strap was created and used until 1965. The enlarged center piece contained a crowned globe and two grapplers, and read "WWWF World Champion"; the two side plates commemorated Sammartino's title win. This belt
30732-472: The side plates were updated with the inner side plates containing the McMahon family crest of a lion holding a shield that had the WWF logo. When it was unveiled, it originally contained the block WWF logo and was on a blue strap, but was updated in November 1998 to the WWF scratch logo and on a black strap. In addition to the logo, it read "World Wrestling Federation Champion". After Chris Jericho unified
30929-441: The stable was renamed The New Nexus in an attempt to distance itself from The Nexus, becoming a tight-knit group dedicated to one another by faith . The group won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times, while Punk won the WWE Championship in his final match with the stable at Money in the Bank . On the February 2, 2010 edition of ECW , WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that NXT would replace ECW on Syfy when
31126-414: The summer of 2010, The Nexus had a feud with Cena. First, on the July 12, 2010 edition of Raw, Cena was defeated in a 6-on-1 handicap match by The Nexus. On July 18, 2010 at Money in the Bank , The Nexus attempted to get involved in the WWE Championship match involving Sheamus and Cena in a steel cage , but Sheamus and Cena were able to hold them off and escape, with Sheamus winning the match and retaining
31323-398: The time who had been running the show for the duration of that. So I think the company was starting to realise, 'Look, some of these guys that we've had holding this down for years now, they're starting to get aged out. We really, really need fresh stars because the next 10 years are not looking good unless we start building them now.' So I was kind of lucky that I was along that wave. Sheamus
31520-569: The title . The two WWE Champions wrestled each other at SummerSlam ; Punk defeated Cena to solidify his claim on the title. Following the end of the first brand split in August 2011, both the WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion could appear on both Raw and SmackDown . In November 2013, the night after Survivor Series , reigning World Heavyweight Champion John Cena made a challenge to reigning WWE Champion Randy Orton to determine WWE's undisputed world champion. Orton defeated Cena in
31717-537: The title can only be contested in a traditional two-out-of-three falls match, CWC disputed the title change, and thus seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro , supposedly defeating Antonino Rocca in
31914-428: The title for the first time at the age of 25 years, 44 days during SummerSlam 2002 in August 2002, while the oldest champion is Mr. McMahon , who won the title for the first and only time at the age of 54 years, 21 days during the September 16, 1999 episode of SmackDown. John Cena holds the record for most reigns with 13 which occurred between 2005 and 2017. Cody Rhodes is the current champion in his first reign. He won
32111-401: The title from May 17, 1963, to January 18, 1971, for a total of 2,803 days (7 years, 8 months, and 1 day); Sammartino also holds the record for longest combined reign at 4,040 days. André the Giant is the shortest reigning champion, officially holding the title for 1 minute, 48 seconds due to selling the title to Ted DiBiase following his title win. The youngest champion is Brock Lesnar, who won
32308-563: The title has been jointly held and defended with the WWE Universal Championship as the Undisputed WWE Championship , but both titles have maintained their individual lineages. It is one of three world titles in WWE, alongside its companion Universal Championship on SmackDown, and the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw . The current champion is Cody Rhodes , who is in his first reign. He won
32505-490: The title the night before at SummerSlam , was presented with a single championship belt, retiring the Big Gold Belt in the process. This new standard belt, often dubbed the "Network Logo" belt, had a slightly updated design from the belt introduced by The Rock in 2013 as a result of WWE changing their corporate logo to the one originally used for the WWE Network , which had launched earlier that year in February. It included
32702-416: The title to Benoit four days later on Raw is War . Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded on July 23, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match . Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie , provided him in the match. At the Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win
32899-430: The title's name was reverted to WWE Championship. In light of the return of the brand split the following month, Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown . Ambrose then retained his title at Battleground on July 24 against Raw draftees Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns , making the title exclusive to SmackDown. On the July 25 episode of Raw , to address the lack of a world title for the brand, the WWE Universal Championship
33096-406: The title, he was attacked by Raw's Rey Mysterio , who Lesnar had attacked a few weeks prior. The following night on Friday Night SmackDown , Lesnar quit SmackDown and went to Raw to continue his feud with Mysterio, thus transferring the WWE Championship to Raw. At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in
33293-441: The title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions. At Bash at the Beach , the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained
33490-423: The top, below that was an eagle with two banners below it reading "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". The bottom read "World Wrestling Federation" and above that was a name plate commemorating Hogan's title win, while the side plates noted previous champions. In October 1985, a new belt was introduced and was again only worn by Hogan. This belt is erroneously known as the "Hogan '86" belt. The center plate featured
33687-525: The torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker . At Armageddon on December 16, he competed in a WWE Championship match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!' s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in
33884-504: The undisputed title by defeating previous champion Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024. The original world championship of the promotion, it was established by the then- World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on April 25, 1963, as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, after the promotion seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) following
34081-406: The usual black leather strap, The Ultimate Warrior wore white, light blue, yellow, and purple variations, with the latter also worn by Sgt. Slaughter . In March 1998, after "Stone Cold" Steve Austin became champion, he was presented with a new design, often dubbed the "Big Eagle" or " Attitude Era " championship belt. The center plate was similar to the previous design, but became fully rounded, and
34278-408: The vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match . Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Shelton Benjamin, Chris Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost
34475-494: The victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance on December 9, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him
34672-461: The winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution on January 9, 2005, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for
34869-775: The winter of 1992, Jericho traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between " He-Man ", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he initially wrestled for several small wrestling companies in Nuevo León . In March 1993, Jericho appeared with the Universal Wrestling Association . In April 1993, Jericho began competing in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King , Negro Casas , and Último Dragón en route to an 11-month reign as
35066-793: The years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars . He hosted the ABC game show Downfall , the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards , and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017. Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine , had been playing for
35263-487: Was again the sole world title of WWE until the introduction of the Universal Championship with the 2016 brand split and then a new World Heavyweight Championship in 2023. During both brand splits, the WWE Championship has switched brands, usually as a result of the WWE Draft ; the 2023 draft moved it back to SmackDown. The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. Its backstory began in
35460-530: Was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon on December 14. At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out , he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for
35657-547: Was created; Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at SummerSlam . After the unveiling of the Universal title, the WWE Championship was renamed WWE World Championship, but reverted to WWE Championship in December 2016 during AJ Styles ' first reign. The title changed hands for the first time outside of North America when AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win his second WWE Championship in Manchester , England on
35854-430: Was drafted to in the 2023 WWE Draft , he and his undisputed championship would become exclusive to that brand. Triple H subsequently unveiled a new World Heavyweight Championship for the opposing brand as the counterpart to Reigns' Undisputed Championship, which was won by Seth "Freakin" Rollins at Night of Champions . As Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. On
36051-612: Was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm , who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw , Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel . Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that
36248-439: Was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996, by defeating Mr. JL , which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night . Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in
36445-505: Was established as the main heel stable on Raw, attacking several wrestlers and legends over the next several weeks, including Raw's General Manager Bret Hart and Vince McMahon and fellow Hall of Famers Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes . After Hart's attack, McMahon removed him as Raw General Manager and appointed a new General Manager . The general manager chose to remain anonymous for fear of being attacked like Hart was, communicating only through e-mails quoted by Michael Cole . During
36642-438: Was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day on May 18, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match. On the June 9 episode of Raw , Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel , interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels
36839-486: Was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel , an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw , a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine . A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin , interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who
37036-811: Was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho , by German power metal band, Helloween . Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW). In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji , who also trained under Stu Hart . In
37233-503: Was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood on June 15, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him. On the October 27 episode of Raw , Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam . He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita . This, however, turned out to be
37430-727: Was no longer a member (in reality, Tarver had a nagging groin injury and was later released from his contract in June 2011). The anonymous Raw General Manager stated that Cena had to honor the stipulations of the Hell in a Cell match and take orders from Barrett or be fired. Later that night, Barrett ordered Cena to help him win the number one contender battle royal for Orton's WWE Championship at Bragging Rights . The match came down to Cena and Barrett, with Barrett winning after Cena eliminated himself. At Bragging Rights, The Nexus won their first championships in WWE when Cena and Otunga defeated The Dashing Ones ( Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre ) to win
37627-514: Was renamed the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998. In 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a member of the NWA, established the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to replace the NWA's world title. In 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become
37824-629: Was replaced by Orton), with the stipulation that whichever member of The Nexus lost their match would be exiled from the group. Young was the only member of The Nexus who lost, as he failed to defeat Cena in the main event, leaving the group. At a WWE live event in Hawaii on August 18, 2010, Skip Sheffield broke his ankle during a tag match, putting him out of action for the next two years, leaving The Nexus with only five active members heading into September. At Night of Champions , Barrett used his guaranteed championship match that he won for winning NXT in
38021-487: Was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in
38218-406: Was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and
38415-474: Was stolen in September 1965; a new belt was created with a mostly similar design with a couple of minor differences with the design of the side plates. This is the most recognizable version of Sammartino's belt that was used until 1971 and has been called the "holy grail of professional wrestling artifacts". After defeating Sammartino in January 1971, Ivan Koloff held Sammartino's belt for three weeks before losing it to Pedro Morales . During Morales's reign,
38612-513: Was subsequently exiled from The Nexus, which would be renamed "The New Nexus" to distance itself from former leadership. After refusing to follow Punk's orders of initiation by hitting each other with kendo sticks, Gabriel and Slater left the group the following week on Raw, opting to join Barrett and former ECW Champion Ezekiel Jackson on SmackDown as The Corre while Harris, McGillicutty and Otunga successfully completed Punk's initiation. On
38809-609: Was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young. Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta , as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team , initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name
#841158