[2000-01-23-WWF-Royal Rumble] Chyna vs Chris Jericho vs Bob Holly

[soup23]

They should bring back this Jericholics T-shirt. The dual champion angle going on right now was pretty dumb. The action here starts good with Jericho especially looking good. Him and Holly have a good sequence together. Chyna times her clothesline interference well and I think we may be in for a hidden gem. The action goes on the outside and gets progressively worse and then the timing on some Chyna and Jericho stereo dives looks very off. Action regains itself a bit with Holly and Jericho getting crotched and Jericho hitting a good doomsday crossbody. For someone who wasn’t the most graceful worker himself around this time, Jericho is holding things together well here and has the most heat easily. He pounces on Chyna and hits the Lionsault to win to a HUGE pop. Pretty fun match actually for the most part. **1/2

[Loss]

Wow, Jericho is very over. Fans are resenting Chyna big time. I think this feud killed a lot of her aura, which is funny because it was devised as a political mechanism to put Jericho in his place and help her at his expense. Not a very good match, mainly because it's hard for Jericho and Holly, who are both trying, to work around Chyna. I forgot just how much I hated her handspring elbow. HUGE pop for the finish. I think the fans thought this was the END of them as a duo, but nope -- that would continue for two more months.

[Strummer]

I could *swear* reading at the time that Chyna requested to continue to work with Jericho because she thought he was "cute" and liked working with him. Which is kind of funny considering the behind the scenes maneuvering going on at the time.

 

But you're right that she was never the same after this program even though she got one more IC title run and the pairing with Eddy. The fans clearly saw her a level beneath the Eddy, Jericho, Benoit, Val Venis types even if it took wwe a while to realize that.

 

And yep this is a rare political swing and a miss by HHH at the time. This was done to hurt Jericho but it ended up backfiring. Even 17 years ago the fans were rejecting stuff and getting behind the wrestler that wasn't scheduled to get pushed or look good I guess

[GSR]

Triple threat match for the IC title with the belt currently being co-held by Chyna and Chris Jericho. Looking back Holly looks out of place challenging for this, but Jerry Lawler informs us that he holds pinfall victories over both of the co-champs. The three exchange slaps before Holly reverses an Irish whip and Chyna goes flying over the top rope to get her out of there. Holly and Jericho go at it with some stinging chops exchanged between the two of them. Holly with a standing huracanrana which Jericho blocks and turns into the ‘Walls of Jericho’, however Chyna is back in there to break up the submission attempt (which the crowd didn’t appreciate at all). Chyna clotheslines Holly over the top rope to the floor and follows with a baseball slide dropkick. Jericho then jumps to the top rope and comes off with a reverse crossbody to the floor on Holly (only just avoiding slipping). Chyna with the handspring, back flip elbow to Jericho, a DDT, and Holly is back in to break up the pin. Chyna and Jericho climb to opposite turnbuckles and both come off with a splash on to the prone Holly, however Jericho lands on top of Chyna (this looks like it was a mistake and that both should’ve just landed on Holly). Jericho and Chyna trade some weak forearms and Chyna with a pedigree on Holly which he’s able to kick out from. Holly has Chyna on his shoulders and Jericho with a crossbody off the top for a near fall. Jericho goes for the ‘suicideplex’ on Bob, but Chyna sweeps his feet out from under him and he tumbles to the floor. She climbs to the top and delivers a ‘suicideplex’ of her own. Chyna with a chair shot to Holly’s head behind the referee’s back, followed by a loosely applied Boston crab. With her mind focussed on getting the submission, she misses Jericho getting back into the ring. Bulldog by him to her, Lionsault and Chris Jericho is the new (and only) Intercontinental champion.

 

Better match than I expected, although it would’ve been better if it was a singles match between Jericho and Holly who had real good chemistry together. At times it felt like they were trying to get Chyna out of there so they could just work with one another. There’s also a huge disparity in watching Holly and Jericho lay into one another with forearms, slaps and chops, then seeing how they hold back with Chyna. She’s fine when she’s called on to do the odd spot like her handspring elbow or the ‘suicideplex’, but it’s a different matter when she has to work a full match. Jericho is also the clear crowd favourite, and the reactions Chyna got here explains why she got zero when she came out for the Rumble later in the show.