I downloaded Jericho vs. the Rock 10/21/2001 and skipped through the match making sure it was a legit file, which it was. A spot in the match caught my attention; it was when the Rock gave Jericho a dragon screw. He did the same unusual fall in that match as he did against Danielson on NXT.

I went through and watched the match anyway, and here are my thoughts:

Chris Jericho vs. the Rock 10/21/2001

• Match is for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship – a title that hasn’t had any credibility for about eight years prior to this match.

• The typical, yet excellent video montage of why we’re here, and why Jericho and the Rock are feuding with each other – the WWF has always excelled in this region. Their video packages can make or break a feud.

• I still find it surreal to hear anything WCW related on a WWF Pay-Per-View. I still think the WWF completely bombed the Invasion angle – and I am not alone in that thinking. It could have been a legendary success; instead, it turned out to be a legendary failure.

The match:

What worked:

• Jericho was a man possessed in the opening minutes of the match, as he really took the fight to the Rock. I wish Jericho would have flairs of this aggressive side occasionally as a heel.

• Jericho acting all smug like in the match, like with the boot scrape and throwing his elbow pad in the Rock’s face was awesome.

• JR’s analytical observations and generally solid to excellent announcing is surely missed.

• Jericho’s flurry of offense including a nice hurricanrana up to the finisher theft was well scripted.

• The contrived announce table bump of the WWF’s. Yeah it is obviously planned, orchestrated and all of that jazz…but it is still neat.

• The People’s Elbow counter into the Walls of Jericho – it was extremely fluid and well performed.

What didn’t work:

• This is petty, but why did the Rock throw Jericho to the floor, only to toss him back in without brawling or making Jericho headbutt random things?

• The theft of finishers and subsequent abandonment of proper pacing, and selling was not scripted well. There was no drama behind it, and I think it cheapened the moves. Jericho hits the Rock Bottom and immediately hits the Lionsault, and then immediately covers the Rock for him to kick out. There should have been that pause, that momentary stall, and then Jericho crawls over and makes the pin attempt, only for the Rock to kick out at 2.9. The crowd would have erupted, and it wouldn’t have cheapened two finishing maneuvers – at the time, the Rock Bottom had pinned all of the mega stars (‘Taker, Austin, HHH), while the Lionsault covered all of the lower tiered guys (Angle, Benoit, Kane). The way things went down; I think it discredited both moves simultaneously.

• The Rock’s sharpshooter. Yep, I am a part of that camp. I have never liked the way he got his opponents in position for it, how he turned them over, how he locked it up, or the fact he does it standing up. The way he performs it makes it look phonier than it really is. Also, I find it disrespectful for him to be using it since it was Bret’s finisher. I find it very disrespectful. Outside of Eugene’s comically usage, no one else uses the Rock Bottom. No one will be doing tombstone piledrivers after the Undertaker is gone. I know damn well that Pedigrees will not be seen after HHH stops doing them. I just think it is tasteless, like how HBK started doing the cripple crossface.

• The end of the match was a ball buster for me. I had never viewed this match prior to this, and only knew Jericho eventually won. I didn’t know he would win his first World title by stupid interference of a steel chair. This was a bad contrived spot. Obviously, Stephanie wasn’t going to use the chair, but conveniently placed in the ring so the Rock could get his head bounced off it. Jericho had already trapped the Rock in the Walls of Jericho, worked his back over a bit with backbreakers…so why couldn’t Jericho make him submit instead of the cheap finish?

• Stephanie’s abysmal selling with the Rock Bottom. She was on her feet too quickly post-match.

• No blood, and a poor false finish – those are absolutely crucial to huge matches of importance. The blood sells the violence and hatred of the match and the false finishes builds drama to intensify the crowds’ reactions - and while it did pop the crowd, the aforementioned finisher theft negated the effects in my eyes.

All the while, it was still a decent match.

***3/4

I wrote this for my Intro to Creative Writing class...