This is it, the highest of the high. I've told you in the past that only five men in history have attained this level of fandom with me. In the past, this group included Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock. Right now, here's your group:
Your Lords and Saviors
Chris Jericho - What, you couldn't tell from the blog url? :p
In character, Jericho claims to be the best in the world at what he does. Frankly, there are very few instances where the kayfabe matches the honest to God truth. There is no one in the world better at what Jericho does than the former Ayatollah of Rock'n'Rollah. Sorry Bryan Danielson, sorry Kenta Kobashi, sorry everyone else trying to make that claim. This throne belongs to Y2J. I mean, Jericho was already awesome before his current, second run in the WWE. Pre-comeback, there were few people who could hold a candle in and out of the ring. However, much like Snapple is claiming to have found "better stuff" in their new ad campaign after brandishing a motto for years of "Made from the best stuff on Earth", Jericho has reached in his bag and found better stuff.
For one, is there any better heel in the game today than Jericho, excepting maybe the next guy to be mentioned here? Hell no. The guy gets crowds so riled up that they want to legit hurt him afterwards. Even now, when wrestling crowds are supposed to be smarter than they were in the heyday of kayfabe, when this would happen often, Jericho can get them lusting for his blood. You could almost say he's too good at being a heel for his own good.
And as for what he does in the ring? How many people take two years off from their trade and come back better? Jericho was an outstanding performer before leaving, but since coming back, he's arguably been the best in-ring general in the world. He knows how to work technically, he knows how to work the crowd, how to tell a story. He's had MOTY-candidates with great wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio and he's had watchable matches with slugs like Batista.
Excuse me for sounding like a raving fanboy, but Jericho is the absolute best in the world at what he does. There's no doubt in my mind. This guy can get anyone over as a face just by scowling at them. He can make a sack of potatoes look good. We're living in privileged times here, people.
Austin Aries - The only person to me who can push Jericho out of the top spot is Aries. This guy has so much charisma that he could probably make Batista interesting by just touching him with his pinky. He could play a believable heel or face, and not in the Triple H "oh, the crowd will be into me but not that into me" way. He'll have you eating out of his hand if he's on the tecnico side and wanting to kill him if he's rudo.
Case in point, Chikara King of Trios night one, Aries worked as a face in his opening round match and was so awe-inspiringly expressive and fluid that every time he was blind-tagged out, the crowd literally deflated. On the other side of the coin, at the ROH tapings from last month, he came out and absolutely DEMOLISHED the crowd. I mean, I haven't seen a heel promo like that working just on the crowd... ever. He exuded arrogance, and his delivery was so precision that you could feel him cutting into your soul with so much truth that it hurt your very being.
Honestly, this guy has the chops to hang with the big guys in the WWE. Too bad McMahon has a thing against people who aren't tall, statuesque and roided to the gills. It's his loss. Aries would kill on RAW, he'd destroy on Smackdown and he'd get people to watch ECW. Bank on it.
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