[1998-01-12-WCW-Nitro] Chris Jericho vs Steve McMichael / Chris Jericho promo / Rey Misterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

We cut to action of Mongo hitting the spike tombstone piledriver to pick up the win. Neat addition by Tenay saying that because he never got to spike the football in the NFL for scoring a touchdown, he is spiking his opponents in WCW. We come back from break with Jericho going on another diatribe to a chorus of boos. Jericho takes it very seriously being a role model to all of the people. Jericho has proven he can lose with dignity and in a respectable manner. It will never, ever happen again. That no good Rey Mysterio interrupts Jericho. Jericho berates him for doing that. Jericho offers a handshake and then attacks him from behind. The liontamer gets locked on and Rey is tapping like crazy. Juvy's music fires up and he slips on the ropes jumping in to a big laugh from the crowd.

 

Juvy decides to attack Rey with a dropkick in a memoir to his father. Juvy gives Rey a big tombstone and climbs up to the top for the 450. Juvy hits that and wins the match in 2 minutes. (1/2 *)

[Kevin Ridge]

Announcers were talking more about Hogan. Jericho eats another loss. Post match promo where Jericho calls Mongo an inferior opponent. He promises again he will never lose his cool again. But then he attacks Misterio who is getting ready for a match. Juvi wins quickly. Kind of a waste.

[bradhindsight]

I liked Jericho berating the crowd until he's told they're "live" and he switches his tune to talking about how he won't let this happen again.

 

If I'm Rey, I'm pretty pissed at Charles Robinson, who just lets Jericho wrench on the Lion Tamer - even after Mysterio taps.

[Loss]

This was pretty much the segment where Jericho stopped teasing a heel turn and actually went all the way with it. I like his false sincerity here. Juventud could be great at times, but he could also be clumsy, as we see here.

[PeteF3]

Jericho loses a match to Steve McMichael, who doesn't blow anything in the short time we see. When we come back from commercial, Jericho quickly switches from berating the live crowd to disingenuously apologizing to us, the viewers. His mood shifts again when Rey Jr. comes out for his Cruiserweight title match, and Jericho pretty much cements the heel turn by apologizing again, then clobbering Rey from the back and Lion Taming him for about a minute. Juventud fucks up a springboard entrance to the amusement of the crowd, and capitalizes on the injured Rey with a quick win. A waste of a promising match but well-done, in that the heat is on Jericho for ruining it rather than the company as would be the case later.

[TravJ1979]

Funny how my favorite Jericho periods are exactly ten years apart. This from 1998 and 1999 and then again in 2008 and 2009. Jericho is a natural heel in this era and I'm glad that stopped trying to push the baby face. Jericho attacks Rey and Juventud comes out to make the save, but our hero fell off the ropes before making any headway. Juventud then decides to not be a hero, but rather an opportunist and makes quick work of Rey after Jericho had done damage to his back.

 

RATING: That's one way to get your frustration out over blowing a move.