2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

For some reason I thought McGillicutty was IRS' kid. Husky looks closer to Rakishi's kid.

 

According to the latest Jericho interview, and I forget where I read it, he has no plans to come back anytime soon, if at all.

 

Jericho said this week that he could be returning soon. Contract is 90 percent done.

http://www.fanhouse.com/2011/01/31/chris-jericho-admits-he-considers-return-to-wwe-right-now/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

 

Well, OK, that article I hadn't seen yet, and it certainly deviates from everything else I've read recently.

Believe me, that's one thing I wouldn't mind being wrong about.

 

I'm hoping Jericho's either a surprise replacement in the Elimination Chamber, or a surprise entrant in the Money in the Bank match and he wins it.

 

Hadn't seen that article myself. Seems like a 180 from what he was saying as late as last week.

Funny what a few bucks thrown your way will get you to do, but I'd love to see him back.

 

I think Jericho is a rarity in 2011 -- a guy who wrestles when he thinks it's fun, then walks away to his band or his bookwriting or other venture when it's not. Obviously his successes, in and out of ring, contribute a safety net so he can make that choice, but his personality allows him to walk away when he chooses to, not when the choice is made for him. And since he's been such a good soldier for WWE for so long (he was the most prominent pro-WWE voice in the wake of the Benoit murders, despite not being on the payroll), they're willing to let him come and go as he wishes, knowing full well he'll be all the way there when he's in the building.

That said, he'll probably never be a top-of-the-card worker for them again. He'll fit a role and be pretty high up the pecking order, and maybe he'll be opposite Cena or Orton on a second-tier PPV or prominent Raw, but I can't see him getting another long run with one of the title belts. Chances are, if he comes back, he'll be more than willing to put people over, as he was toward the end of his last run.

 

This is the interview where Jericho says he has no intentions of coming back to the WWE. Granted, this was done in December, and it's always possible he's using this interview to leverage a new contract, but there are plenty of interesting nuggets about him and the way he developed his most recent character.

I've been a big Jericho fan since his WCW days (he may have been the first wrestler to really do a dedicated blog) but he sure does think a lot of himself.

http://prowrestlingillustrated.blogspot.com/2011/01/chris-jericho-unedited-press-conference.html

 

That's the one thing about over the past year or two -- he seems to have really embraced the role of putting other people over if he thinks it's good for the business.

 

I think he's always been pretty willing to put people over, except for that stretch when he was really getting dicked over by Steph and Hunter in that whole storyline. He was the champion but he was essentially the third man in that whole angle. (Fourth if you count the dog.)

Jericho becomes the new HBK. He's always there as a credible titleholder or challenger if you need to move the belt off someone, but he doesn't need the belt to draw interest. He's probably not quite as good as HBK in the ring (who is?), but I've always been a huge mark for Jericho on the mic. Even as an ultra-heel like he was recently, he'd still get a smattering of cheers, based on his past accomplishments and just how damn well he played the character.

 

Jericho's usually willing to put over other guys. Heck, during the first episode with Bill Goldberg, he wanted to have Goldberg destroy him, only, he wanted to develop it into a PPV match.

 

Also, watching Raw - I think Maryse could be an insanely popular face, and have for a couple months now. People want to cheer the ultra hot blonde. You don't even have to have her be babyface, just have her wrestle the obvious heels and tone down the attitude a little bit.