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| Don't you ever, evverrrrrr doubt this choice Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Now, before you start poo-pooing the idea, saying that Jericho would never deign himself to appear in an indie fed smaller than even ROH featuring green luchadors, and even if he would, Chikara wouldn't be able to afford him. The former part, I'm not sure about, but the latter part is a stone cold lock. No way Chikara would be able to afford Chris Jericho's asking price unless Lionheart made a lionhearted gesture and appeared for a slashed rate. That's realism. However, there is no part of wild dreams, fantasy or imagination that involves realism. That's why it's called fantasy booking. And in the ultimate fantasy booking, Chris Jericho is the ideal guest star to appear for the American lucha libre federation.
Firstly, Jericho has the sense of humor and range of character needed to succeed in Chikara. Early Jericho showed him at his funny, cocky best. He'd mesh well as a rudo against the young, hungry faces of the promotion. He'd play a great tecnico coming in as a dream match candidate for evil or just plain jerky wrestlers like Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor or even a tecnico-tecnico match against Mike Quackenbush. Finally, he has the comedic chops to take part in the comedy routines that tend to break out during some Chikara matches. For a guy like Jericho who's been restrained for most of his career in terms of pure joking or levity (and for good reason, by the way), the release of being able to horse around and get paid for it in the ring might produce prime entertainment.
Secondly, Jericho, even now, is still a phenomenal wrestler (shut up, Dylan) and can still do the lucha/cruiserweight thing if needed, even if it's in limited doses. Jericho would produce phenomenal matches with the upper crust of Chikara workers, and he would be able to lead the greener guys by the nose and produce memorable matches that would help elevate the youngsters as well as give them experience from one of the most seasoned pros in the world right now. Imagine some of the potential matchups here. I would sell my left kidney for a chance to see Jericho take on Quack. I mean, I get goosebumps thinking about what those two can do in the ring together. Jericho vs. Claudio or against Eddie Kingston would be great matches too, although they'd be more contrasting styles matches. Still, given Y2J's time in WWE, he'd know how to handle them. Even matches against guys like Helios, Colin Delaney, Dasher Hatfield or UltraMantis Black would be awesome in their own way. Jericho has been all around the world and wrestled in every style, and Chikara is sort of a melting pot of wrestling styles, even if lucha is the prevailing influence.
There are bigger stars out there. I mean, John Cena would be an amazing score for Chikara, but given his status as the antichrist of wrestling by some smarks, do you think he'd really go over well in Chikara? Maybe, but I doubt it. Kurt Angle might be a nice get as well, but he doesn't really have the cache that Jericho has nowadays. Think about it, what other wrestler out there would get the Internet as unified as it would get in excitement for an indie appearance? Chris Jericho is the first name that comes to mind (CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are both products of the indies and thus don't count).
I know it'll never happen, but it's fun to dream. Who knows, if Facebook can get Betty White to host Saturday Night Live, then maybe the blogging community can get Jericho in Chikara. A guy can dream, can't he?
Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!
