Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion specialized in deathmatches .
115-411: After leaving Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in the summer of 1991, Kazuyoshi Osako and Kiyoshi "Mickey" Ibaragi founded Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING), with Osako as President and Ibaragi as Vice President. They would also lure away Mr. Pogo and Víctor Quiñones from FMW, taking away their number one heel and booker/talent exchanger. Their first show took place on August 7, 1991, at
230-514: 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
345-592: A W*ING Alliance , which had the motive of ending FMW as they held Atsushi Onita and his FMW responsible for ending W*ING. The W*ING storyline carried on for three years before the stable was forced to disband on September 28, 1997. Since 1995, Ibaragi has held several one-off W*ING reunion shows until 2010. Mr. Pogo formed an offshoot promotion in 2001 called World W*ING Spirit (WWS), which would last until his death on June 23, 2017. W*ING page at Pro-Wrestling Title Histories Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion ( FMW-E )
460-517: 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
575-516: 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
690-458: A Pro-Wrestling A-Tean (Apache Army's successor promotion) event. After this he would come back as a wrestler having matches with Combat Zone Wrestling , Big Japan Pro-Wrestling , World Wonder Ring Stardom and DDT Pro-Wrestling . In 2021, Onita announced that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion , a promotion under the FMW name that specialized in exploding death matches,
805-570: 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
920-472: A Western audience as FMW could now be seen officially on VHS and DVD in the United States . They would go on to release 12 programs which were old FMW cards shortened down to feature the best matches or they were compilations of specific talent like Hayabusa. They also featured dubbed commentary from Eric Gellar and John Watanabe. Later releases would feature Dan Lovranski replacing Eric Gellar. As
1035-475: 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
1150-399: A changing of the guard as Onita would retire and Hayabusa would step up and be the face of FMW. Onita would go on and sell the company to FMW ring announcer, Shoichi Arai . The Shoichi Arai era of FMW would end up issuing changes to the promotion and gave the promotion a new look and feel. Arai would slowly phase out the deathmatches that Atsushi Onita would help popularize and what put
1265-485: 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
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#17327835497561380-624: 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
1495-579: 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
1610-408: 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
1725-432: 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
1840-409: 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
1955-489: 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
2070-665: 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
2185-434: A match type in which Onita became famous for. The new promotion will have Hidetaka Kajiki serving as president. Onita stated he got the idea for the promotion after All Elite Wrestling 's 2021 Revolution PPV in which the event held an exploding barbed wire death match and seeing that there was still a market for these types of matches internationally in the pro wrestling world and with the popularity of online media streaming
2300-539: 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
2415-552: A nasty gash on his arm. Onita would take it one step further as he would go on to have the first ever exploding barbed wire match in August of 1990, as he challenged his rival, Tarzan Goto . As the years would progress further, we would see an influx of American & Foreign talent begin to appear in FMW with talent ranging from Chris Jericho , Lance Storm , The Original Sheik , Sabu , Damián 666 , Dr. Luther , Leon Spinks , Tiger Jeet Singh and so forth. During these years,
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#17327835497562530-402: 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
2645-628: 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
2760-806: 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
2875-502: 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
2990-490: 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
3105-494: A successor promotion, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army , which continued the WEW titles until 2016 when Kanemura retired and closed the promotion. Today the WEW titles are administered by Tomohiko Hashimoto 's Pro-Wrestling A-Team promotion. On April 3, 2015, Hideki Takahashi, Hayabusa and Choden Senshi Battle Ranger held a press conference, announcing they were reviving FMW under the new name "Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW". Takahashi would serve as
3220-421: 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
3335-508: 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
3450-486: 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
3565-549: A tumor in December 2015. She would succumb to the disease in 2018, she was 36 years old. On March 3, 2016, Haybusa would pass away at his home from a brain aneurysm, he was 47 years old. On October 31, 2017, FMW founder Atsushi Onita retired after 43 years in the ring. The promotion held its most recent event as Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW in 2018. Although not officially closing once again the revival seemed to have been forgotten about. In 2018, Onita would come out of retirement at
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3680-513: 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 the course of his career, Jericho has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of
3795-467: Is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (フロンティア・マーシャルアーツ・レスリング,Furontia Māsharuātsu Resuringu) ( FMW ). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their first show on October 6, 1989. In the late 1990s, FMW had a brief working agreement with Extreme Championship Wrestling , and as well had 14 DVDs released in
3910-567: 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
4025-592: 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
4140-840: 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 the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion , as well as
4255-643: The Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. W*ING would also have a talent exchange relationship with Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council , as well as sharing WWC's Caribbean Heavyweight and World Junior Heavyweight Championships between the two promotions. On March 21, 1994, W*ING closed due to the massive loss of money. Quinones would later form International Wrestling Association of Japan later that year. In 1994, former W*ING wrestlers Mr. Pogo, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Hideki Hosaka and Yukihiro Kanemura joined FMW and formed
4370-789: 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
4485-542: 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
4600-709: 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
4715-567: 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
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4830-676: 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
4945-413: The booker , he would put forth his vision on how FMW should be run as Arai would sign the checks and book the arenas for the promotion. During this time, Onita would return to professional wrestling and start a faction that would rival FMW and they were known simply as ZEN . This group was loosely based on World Championship Wrestling 's group known as The New World Order . Onita would run shows under
5060-583: 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 a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion , becoming
5175-496: 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
5290-473: 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
5405-706: 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
5520-600: 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
5635-476: 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
5750-476: 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
5865-564: 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
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#17327835497565980-738: 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
6095-406: The U.S. by Tokyopop . On March 4, 2015, FMW was resurrected under the name Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW (超戦闘プロレスFMW, Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW). With the resurrected FMW not holding any events since 2018, Onita announced in 2021 that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) in which the promotion would specialize in exploding death matches . The promotion was highlighted in
6210-1092: 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
6325-399: 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
6440-563: 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
6555-547: 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
6670-432: 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
6785-442: 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
6900-519: The ZEN label and these shows would feature FMW talent. Hayabusa would continue to be featured as the ace of FMW and would go on to feud with the likes of Mr. Gannosuke , Kintaro Kanemura , and, Tetsuhiro Kuroda . As the booker of FMW, Kodo Fuyuki also continued to wrestle and he would go on to help form the top heel faction known as Team No Respect . In 2000, FMW would sign a distribution deal with Tokyopop which would help get their product out to
7015-507: 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
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#17327835497567130-608: 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
7245-483: 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
7360-399: 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
7475-422: 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
7590-639: The company on the map and would bring in a more "sports entertainment" look and feel for the promotion that would be almost similar to that of the WWE . In a nod to the WWE, the old Brass Knuckles and Independent championships were abandoned and replaced with new titles, the World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) championships. Arai would enlist the help of professional wrestler , Kodo Fuyuki as both men would usher in this new era. Having Fuyuki as
7705-478: 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
7820-536: 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
7935-511: The crowds continued to decrease, the amount of debt became too much for Arai, as he finally decided to announce that he has filed for bankruptcy and FMW would go on to have their final show on February 4, 2002. As 2001 came to a close, it was stated that Arai owed the sum of what would be the equivalent of one million US dollars to yakuza due to the money he would constantly borrow but never pay back. Running out of options, on May 16, 2002, Shoichi Arai would commit suicide so his family could collect
8050-459: 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
8165-620: 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 the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and
8280-490: 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
8395-678: 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 2022 Dynamite : Grand Slam event and the FTW Championship at Dynasty 2024 . In 1999, Jericho became
8510-475: 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
8625-445: 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 the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed WWE in 2002). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion , and thus
8740-453: 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
8855-413: 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 the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With
8970-418: The life insurance to pay back the money owed to the yakuza. The talent divided into two promotions: Kodo Fuyuki's World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW), the name of FMW's title governing body since 1999, and Mr. Gannosuke 's Wrestlings Marvelous Future (WMF). Some of the talent also made appearances on Onita's special shows. Following Fuyuki's death in 2003, most of the WEW talent under Kintaro Kanemura formed
9085-642: 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
9200-446: 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
9315-455: 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
9430-497: 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
9545-474: 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
9660-568: 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
9775-428: 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
9890-429: 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
10005-582: 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
10120-466: The new promotion was formed. The promotion, however, held its last card to date on December 19, 2021, after which Onita went freelance yet again. In October 2022, FMW-E started back up promoting cards. Deceased individuals are indicated with a dagger (†). Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho , is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As
10235-406: 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
10350-596: The president and Hayabusa as the executive producer of the promotion, which would also feature participation from Atsushi Onita. The promotion held its first event on April 21. On October 30, 2015, they announced that they were reviving the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship , as they set a match to determine new champions on December 22. In 2016, two tragedies had befallen FMW. On February 17, 2016, Ray would announce that she had inoperable stage three brain cancer after being diagnosed with
10465-401: The promotion for his high flying style and it was known that Hayabusa was the "ace" of FMW. Onita was fixing to retire once again from professional wrestling and his retirement match was held at the annual May 5th, Kawasaki Stadium show. This was FMW's biggest show of the year and Onita would take on Hayabusa in an exploding barbed wire cage, timebomb deathmatch. This match now signified
10580-546: 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
10695-621: 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
10810-406: 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
10925-588: The third season of the Vice TV 's pro wrestling docuseries Dark Side of the Ring in September 2021. The Atsushi Onita era of FMW originally consisted of a promotion that featured not only professional wrestling but the best martial arts fighters in the world. Onita would bring in American talent that were known in Japan like Jos LeDuc and Dick Murdoch , as well female talent and midget wrestlers. As
11040-416: 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
11155-441: 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
11270-525: 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
11385-408: 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
11500-563: 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
11615-461: 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
11730-775: 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
11845-430: The years progressed with FMW, Onita decided to phase out the martial arts aspect of the company and focus strictly on professional wrestling . Onita would go on to have violent and bloody matches like the first ever barbed wire match in the company where he would team with Tarzan Goto as they took on the team of Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Jerry Flynn . Onita would use real barbed wire which resulted in him receiving
11960-423: The years progressed, the audiences for the live shows began to decrease and Arai would slowly sink further and further into debt. Tragedy struck the promotion on October 22, 2001, during a match with Hayabusa and Mammoth Sasaki. Hayabusa attempted a springboard moonsault —one of his signature moves—but he accidentally slipped on the ropes and fell directly on his neck, breaking it and paralyzing him. As
12075-408: The young Eiji Ezaki started to slowly work his way through the ranks. He was known as a prodigy in the world of wrestling and like a-lot of promotions in Japan do, send him on excursion away from the company as they will learn and develop. Ezaki would go on excursion to Mexico and wrestle for a couple of different promotions and developed the character of Hayabusa . Hayabusa became a fan favorite in
12190-530: 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
12305-612: 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
12420-439: 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
12535-438: 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
12650-486: 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
12765-811: 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
12880-503: 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
12995-487: 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
13110-406: 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
13225-609: 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
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