Chris Jericho's Move From WCW To WWE Explained

Chris Jericho is one of pro wrestling’s most enduring and evolutionary performers, having reinvented himself on several occasions during a 35+ year career. From Y2J to The Best in the World at What I Do to Le Champion, Jericho has been an omnipresent and relevant headline star across multiple decades who has held a plethora of championships in WWE, WCW, AEW, ROH, New Japan, and other companies. 

Jericho’s career almost didn’t reach the heights that it did, however, and he found himself stuck in WCW as the 1990s drew to a close, trying desperately to break a glass ceiling that was being propped up by a number of the stars of yesteryear.

To transform into the wrestler that we all know, Christopher Irvine had to jump from WCW to the World Wrestling Federation. 

Chris Jericho Signs With WCW

In 1996, 25-year-old Chris Jericho made his debut for a surging World Championship Wrestling, having already been performing for six years. Jericho broke into the business with fellow Canadian Lance Storm in 1990 and quickly developed an impressive international profile wrestling for the likes of FMW and WAR in Japan, CMLL in Mexico, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the United States. Jericho then found success during a seven-month stint in ECW at the beginning of 1996, during which he had notable matches against the likes of Taz, Cactus Jack, Rob Van Dam, and Sabu, and he enjoyed a three-week reign as ECW World Television Champion. 

ECW had been pilfered for talent by World Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s and Jericho ended up following the likes of Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Rey Misterio Jr. to WCW in the summer of 1996 when he agreed to a three-year deal initially worth $165,000 per year before rising to $200,000 by year three. 

Though he was now making six figures a year in his mid-20s, Jericho's creative wasn't quite steeped in the same riches. For the 18 months that followed, he was little more than a standard white meat babyface, entering to a melodious 1980s glam metal instrumental soundtrack while flashing a Cheshire cat grin. Despite having no discernible character direction, Jericho picked up gold in 1997, winning the Cruiserweight Title twice over the summer months, including in a non-televised win over nWo member Syxx that June.

Despite regular TV time and several golden accolades, Jericho was unhappy in WCW, and wanted to do more. At one point, he did an interview with the then-popular 1Wrestling website, challenging WCW to give him something more substantial to work with, as opposed to just being another gifted babyface in the crowd.

As 1997 drew to a close, Jericho got a tiny morsel of what he was looking for as after 16 months as a babyface, it was decided that Jericho would turn heel. Jerichos turn began simply enough as he would innocuously lose bouts on television and then throw a total core meltdown of a tantrum afterward. This involved smashing chairs, and even assaulting ring announcer Dave Penzer, ripping off his jacket during his fits of rage. Over the weeks that followed, Jericho would precede his matches by asking the fans to forgive him for his recent behaviour, only to revert back to those outbursts after losing yet again.

A Phenomenal Heel Turn

The demonstrative insincerity was the real hook to Jericho's not-so-subtle turn. By revealing his two-faced nature, Jericho had a strong foundation to build his new character on. Jericho also traded in the lighter entrance music for an instrumental knock-off of Pearl Jam's 'Even Flow.' 

This change quickly led to gold for Jericho too as he won the WCW Cruiserweight Title for a third time at January 1998’s Souled Out pay-per-view by defeating Rey Misterio Jr, but the new champion further displayed his heel tendencies as he attacked Rey’s injured knee with a toolbox post-match, writing the high-flyer out of WCW to have surgery in the process. 

Jericho began to display a lot more personality in his new heel role, proclaiming himself with self-styled nicknames like The Paragon of Virtue, Your Role Model, and the Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rollah. The physical presentation of an exaggerated goatee and sideburns combined with a ludricrous top knot only added to the burning hatred that fans began to feel towards the young star.

Soon after, Jericho redubbed Nitro as Monday Night Jericho and began using what would become his iconic Boston crab finisher in the Liontamer, before adding his "EVER Be The Same Again" catchphrase to the mix. 

Jericho's callous acts only continued too as he defeated Juventud Guerrera at SuperBrawl, forcing Juvi to unmask after the contest, and he so thoroughly dismantled Dean Malenko both physically and mentally that, after defeating the Man of 1000 Holds at March's Uncensored pay-per-view, the usually-stoic Malenko vaguely declared that he was going home, indicating that Jericho had broken his will.

Jericho simply basked in his own glory, sometimes wearing Guerrera’s mask, while he also proclaimed himself to be the Man of 1004 Holds in an iconic TV segment in which Jericho read an endless scroll of printer paper which included all of those holds, with at least 60 of them being an Armbar, in addition to the Saskatchewan Spinning Nerve Hold.

Heel Jericho was an absolute revelation for 1998 pro wrestling, but in one important sense, he was just like any other worthwhile villain; he had the willingness to get completely shut up and destroyed by the good guy in the end. While Jericho cycled through his offbeat jokes week after week, he taunted the absent Malenko, bread-crumbing the fans into wanting to see Malenko return and shut Jericho's mouth for good.

In what might be the high point for WCW's cruiserweight division from a creative standpoint, Jericho presided over a cruiserweight battle royal at May's Slamboree pay-per-view, in which the winner would immediately face him for the title. Other than Juvi, there weren't many names in the mid-card melee that stood much of a chance against a consistently-pushed wrestler.

During the match, Jericho continued to affirm his value on the microphone by giving snarky and condescending ring intros for all the entrants, most of which were hilarious. But the bigger laugh was at Jericho's expense when the battle royal ended.

The match came down to Juvi and a masked lower-midcarder named Ciclope. To everyone's confusion, Juvi voluntarily eliminated himself, leading to Ciclope unmasking as the returning Malenko. The crowd in Worcester, MA came unglued as Malenko proceeded to beat the holy hell out of a no-longer-laughing Jericho, and then submit him to the Texas Cloverleaf to win the Cruiserweight belt.

Even next to Malenko's historic WWF debut as part of the Radicalz, this was probably the loudest reaction Malenko ever garnered in his career.

While Jericho had proven to be both a gifted in-ring wrestler and an extroverted personality, his real value was knowing how to harness those assets in high-profile feuds, making the ultimate payoffs more desirable to the audience. If he could do that in a mid-card feud with Dean Malenko, some wondered what Jericho could do with an established headliner.

Goldberg

The headliner that Jericho was looking to work with was Goldberg, who became WCW World Heavyweight Champion in July 1998, less than one year after his pro wrestling debut. 

In the still neck-and-neck Monday Night Wars, Goldberg was WCW's most valuable weapon. Undefeated and seemingly unbeatable, keeping the domineering champion strong was crucial to the company's continued success.

That September, Jericho - now the WCW World Television Champion - arrived at the annual Fall Brawl, where he learned that he was suddenly booked on the card. World champion Goldberg was absent from the event, but a diminutive Goldberg lookalike was on hand for Jericho to squash in a hastened farce of a Title vs. Title Match.

The segment was reportedly booked as a throwaway, cheap heat segment for Jericho to rile the crowd up, but it was inadvertently the beginning of the end for Jericho in World Championship Wrestling.

The following day, Jericho claimed that an irritated Goldberg confronted him about the segment, saying that he didn’t do comedy and that he "hoped it was worth it" for Jericho. This only confused the TV champion, however, as the segment was not his idea, nor did he think beating an undersized Goldberg impersonator would do anything to harm the real Goldberg, and it would really just make WCW fans want to see Goldberg take out the heel that was mocking him. Jericho believed that the relatively inexperienced Goldberg was making way too much out of a throwaway segment.

It didn’t remain a throwaway segment, though, and WCW decided to continue the angle by booking Jericho to call out Goldberg on upcoming shows, during which Jericho would build his own farcical streak of victories every time his challenge went unanswered by Da’ Man. While the payoff was Goldberg flattening Jericho to give him his comeuppance at some point, Goldberg was still concerned about being involved in what he considered a comedy angle. Jericho still had every intention of putting Goldberg over in grand fashion regardless.

Everything changed on the November 9, 1998 edition of WCW Nitro, however, when WCW Senior Vice President Eric Bischoff informed Jericho that he would be putting over Goldberg that night in a cold, unadvertised match. Jericho protested that it made no sense to randomly give away the match, as it would squander all the time and energy that had gone into building interest.

In a meeting with Bischoff, Goldberg, and Hulk Hogan that day, Jericho laid out his case for why they should have the blow-off at World War 3 in 13 days time, where Goldberg could all but beat him to death in mere minutes. Jericho didn't care about losing. He wanted to put Goldberg over, but he just wanted to demonstrate his value, while making the result meaningful.

Jericho recalled that Bischoff and Hogan were intrigued by the World War 3 pitch, but Goldberg was still hesitant about the comedy aspects of the angle, and even added that he was supposed to have the next pay-per-view off. 

That night on Nitro, the angle continued with world champion Goldberg flattening Jericho with a devastating spear. Fans would have believed this set up a great match for World War 3, but it ultimately never happened. Just one week later, Jericho showed up for work at Nitro and learned that his feud with Goldberg had been completely dropped and he was now pivoting to a brief feud with unsung mid-card Bobby Duncum Jr. 

Upon learning about the total change in plans, Jericho decided that he was going to leave WCW at the expiration of his contract. What began as a throwaway filler segment turned into a feud with actual steam, and would have ended with Jericho putting the babyface star over strong. It was dropped due to politics, pettiness, and an inability to see the big picture.

As Jericho later wrote in A Lion's Tale: "If they didn't see this feud as a draw, then nothing I would ever do in the future would be either."

Jericho Jumps Ship 

Jericho, at this point, had agreed to terms on a new multi-year deal with WCW, but he never officially signed the contract. Sometime shortly after the end of his feud with Goldberg, Jericho reached out to WWF head writer Vince Russo, who made arrangements for Jericho to meet in Connecticut with Vince McMahon himself.

The meeting was at McMahon's spacious home, on a day where Vince was meeting with Russo, Ed Ferrara, Jim Ross, and Bruce Prichard to put together forthcoming television and stories.

"I was so nervous because I was a 28-year-old kid, and all I wanted to do was work for Vince McMahon. Shane McMahon answers the door, I go inside and at a table were Jim Ross, Vince Russo, [WWE producers] Ed Ferrara and Bruce Prichard, and Vince McMahon. They're having a meeting…sitting there with the charts on the wall. This is secret stuff, dude. There was no real internet, there's a wrestling war, and here I am, a corporal on the other team's army sitting in on this war meeting. I remember a couple times Vince even asking me, 'What do you think about that, Chris?' And I was like, 'Well, I think I like it. Sounds great to me!'" Jericho told WWE.com.

"We went to Vince’s sunken living room, and there was this big giant oil painting of Vince on the wall. It might have been a painting of his whole family, but all I remember seeing was Vince. I was just so freaked out, probably blabbered on like an idiot saying things like, 'If I came to WWE it would be the place for me to be, because WCW doesn't give young guys a chance. If The Rock was in WCW he'd be in my position, and if I was in WWE, I'd be The Rock.' And Vince was just like, 'Yes, okay, okay. Well, it was very nice meeting you, Chris. Keep in touch.' And that was the end of the meeting," he continued.

"I was expecting to have this like giant, million-dollar contract drafted up, but he just brought me there. I had no idea why. I asked him years later, 'Why did you bring me there?' And Vince said, 'I wanted to show you how much we wanted you here. I obviously couldn't offer you a job because you still had a contract, but I wanted to see if I could trust you.'"

Sometime after the meeting, Jericho informed Bischoff that he wasn't going to sign his new WCW deal. He finished up on TV in a feud with Perry Saturn in early 1999, before having his last televised match on the April 5 Nitro. His final WCW match took place at a July 1999 house show when Jericho teamed with Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman.

In April 1999, Vince McMahon called Jericho and asked if he was ready to jump ship.

"Vince finally called me on the phone when my deal was up. It was the day Wayne Gretzky retired, and I put up a message on my answering machine saying, 'This is Chris, I'm really depressed today and unless you're Wayne Gretzky, I really don't wanna talk to anybody. Leave a message.' Phone rings, guy on the phone goes, 'Hello, Chris, this is not Wayne Gretzky, this is Vince McMahon. If you still feel like talking, please call me back.' I ran to the phone and Vince said, 'We want you to come work for us and we'd love to have you,'" Chris added to WWE.com.

That summer, Jericho and the WWF finalised a three-year deal with a downside of $450,000 a year. With Jericho's name and his impending exit all over the internet rumour mill, WCW made last-ditch efforts to re-sign Jericho, even offering more money than the WWF was. Jericho opted to leave, though. 

Chris Jericho Debuts In WWE

The WWF displayed a millennium countdown clock in cold, unacknowledged vignettes, though the elapsing time actually ticked toward 10:25 pm on Monday night, August 9.

On Raw that evening in Chicago, those precious final seconds disrupted an in-ring promo from The Rock. When the name "JERICHO" flashed on the titantron, the All State Arena came completely unglued. Fans had long been anticipating that Jericho was going to be the millennium reveal, but seeing it was truly believing it.

With those cheers, Jericho (arms outstretched on the stage) knew he had made the right decision. On day one, the WWF treated Chris Jericho as an absolute star, and while the months ahead were a little rockier than anticipated, this jump proved to be the genesis of one of pro wrestling's most storied runs.

From there, Jericho headlined pay-per-views, won world titles, feuded with any and every conceivable top star, and became a living legend. His longevity is extraordinarily rare, as is his ability to successfully reinvent himself at different points, even into his 50s.

However one feels about Jericho, they cannot deny that he is one of the few active pro wrestlers to make such a sustained, long-term impact on the wrestling business, at such a premium level. Year in and year out, run after run after run, Jericho has been an important figure for several major organisations since the summer of 1999.

He wanted to be just as important in WCW, but met maddening resistance. One quietly-scrubbed storyline later, and a wrestler's destiny was forever changed.

In the same year that Chris Jericho began his true breakout in American pro wrestling, he came to realise that he was in the wrong place to reach maximum ascent. When a no-brainer storyline was abruptly killed off for no good reason, Jericho realised that WCW, quite simply, wasn't "Y2J-compliant."