Chris Jericho keeps adding to his incredible career and legacy. Jericho recently acquired his 8th world title at Dynamite: Grand Slam. He defeated Claudio Castagnoli to become the new ROH Champion at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
After winning the title, Chris Jericho vowed to defeat every former ROH Champion he can and even attacked ROH ring announcer Bobby Cruise. AEW President Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor earlier this year and is hoping to secure a weekly TV show for the promotion in the near future.
Here are three reasons Chris Jericho is the right choice as the ROH Champion:
Reliability
Chris Jericho has proven to be one of the most valuable performers in All Elite Wrestling. His reign as the inaugural AEW World Champion laid the foundation for the promotion to be successful, and now Tony Khan is relying on Chris to do the same for Ring of Honor.
Jericho’s run as AEW Champion lasted 182 days after defeating Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing 2019. He eventually lost the title to Jon Moxley at Revolution 2020.
Jericho’s career has spanned three decades now and he has shown no signs of slowing down as of late. He recently got into the best shape of his life and is delivering consistently solid matches for AEW at 51 years old. Jericho signed a three-year contract extension with AEW last week.
It was rumored that WWE was expecting him to return to the promotion in 2024, which only further proves how valuable he remains in the professional wrestling business.
Creativity
Whether it be Y2J, Le Champion, or The Wizard, Chris has demonstrated an ability to reinvent himself countless times throughout the years. His run as Le Champion was a memorable one, and his “a little bit of the bubbly” catchphrase spawned a successful champagne brand for the wrestling legend.
Chris has already had two different factions in All Elite Wrestling and both of them have been a success. The Inner Circle and now the Jericho Appreciation Society. JAS refer to themselves as “sports entertainers” and oftentimes wear flashy outfits and ridiculous hats.
The storyline leading up to the ROH Championship match between Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson surrounded ROH Pure Champion Daniel Garcia. Bryan Danielson wanted Garcia to be a professional wrestler and join the Blackpool Combat Club, while Chris wanted him to remain in JAS and be a sports entertainer.
Ultimately, Garcia opted to align with Jericho instead of his hero growing up, Bryan Danielson. Jericho Appreciation Society have already positioned themselves to be the focal point of Ring of Honor when the promotion launches a weekly TV show.
Chris can enter into a feud with anyone and make it entertaining. It is hard to imagine a trait more valuable than that when trying to build new stars in a relaunching a promotion.
Recognizability
Naturally, Chris Jericho has accumulated millions of fans throughout his thirty years in the wrestling business. Jericho performed in Mexico, Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW, and WCW early in his career. He interrupted The Rock to make his WWE debut in 1999 and has remained a star ever since.
Jericho had three successful runs in WWE before returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2017. Chris captured the IWGP IC Title at NJPW Dominion in 2018. AEW made Jericho it’s inaugural champion to instantly provide credibility to the promotion.
In addition to being a familiar face in wrestling, Chris has also become a star in the music industry. His rock band, Fozzy, debuted in 2000 and has released seven studio albums. Jericho’s entrance theme, “Judas”, is Fozzy’s most popular song to date. The music video is currently closing in on 60 million views.
Chris was also one of the first professional wrestlers to enter the podcast game. His “Talk Is Jericho” podcast has over 900 episodes to date and features interviews with some of the biggest stars in the industry today.
Jericho has a massive following and helped bring fans to All Elite Wrestling when the product first launched three years ago. It appears that we are about to watch history repeat itself when it comes to Ring of Honor.
AEW has had its pitfalls recently, but overall the promotion has provided what it set out to be, an alternative for wrestling fans. Chris Jericho carried the torch when AEW first launched and it will be interesting to see what the wrestling legend has in store for fans as the Ring of Honor Champion. One thing is for certain, many fans will tune in to find out.
