Chris Jericho: Building for the Future

I was going to wait until Chris Jericho had finished his stint in WWE this time around before beginning this piece, but I can't quite work out when he is going again! I think he will probably be at Extreme Rules (vs Fandango) before quietly disappearing from our screens again. It'll be sad to see him go; a different sadness to when, say, The Rock leaves us.

Clearly, they have different jobs and responsibilities when they come back these days - usually for Wrestlemania season - but I feel Jericho's is much more worthwhile and important. It is undoubtedly obvious that The Rock's (and Brock, Triple H and Undertaker's) role is to attract attention from a wider audience and to draw as much money in that quarter of the year. Therefore, maybe there isn't as much reliance on the rest of the years Pay-Per-Views - I genuinely feel that as long as Wrestlemania does well then they [WWE] aren't really that committed to putting on a stand-out show for the rest of the year.

Jericho vs Daniel Bryan - Raw, Monday 11th February 2013

As great as it is that these 'legends' and future Hall of Famers bring in an outrageous amount of money, it makes Jericho's job even more important, and maybe even harder. But why?

Well, in the first quarter of this year The Rock ONLY worked with John Cena and CM Punk - these were by far the biggest matches that could've been put on - by doing this it elevated (if that's even possible) Cena and Punk further, and widened the gap in superstardom between the two and the other guys on the roster trying to make a name for themselves. It also holds these youngsters back for three months. Surely this is a bad thing all for the benefit of making a quick buck?

If Cena and Punk are raised any further, and your next guys down have to wait three months for their opportunities, then it makes these future threats seem less, almost non-existent - it makes it harder for a Mark Henry or a Ryback to be seen in the same 'league' as a John Cena.

That's where Jericho steps in to bridge that gap. In the last four months, there hasn't been many of the mid to upper-mid card that he hasn't worked with - and improved. He came back and went forty minutes alongside Dolph Ziggler in the Royal Rumble match before giving Ziggler the honour of eliminating him. He had Match-of-the-Year contenders against CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in the first few weeks of returning to Raw. At Elimination Chamber he put in a great effort and everyone benefited from being in the match with him, and at Wrestlemania he took on the challenge of working with debutant Fandango; with both coming out the other end smelling of roses.

Jericho vs Fandango - Wrestlemania 29

Jericho has even crossed paths with The Shield and became another statistic on their unbeaten run. Momentum continued for them and credit where credit is (most definitely) due to Jericho; all of this in just one encounter.

As I read back through my notes of Jericho's 2013 run and his body of work this time around, I am in complete awe of the contribution the man has made. He came back at Royal Rumble and gave 1000% straight away.

So, although The Rock and company bring in huge sums of money to help towards the future, it all counts for nothing if there are no stars being made to carry the business forward. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times - when The Undertaker and Triple H finally hang up their boots; when Brock is done with coming back for a quick and easy paycheck; and when Rock realises that movie directors don't want to risk him getting injured - pressuring him to retire for good - and he decides to come back in a mainly non-physical role; who is going to top the card at Wrestlemania then?

Jericho was the first Undisputed Champion in WWF/E

With any luck, Chris Jericho will have had enough of an input that the next generation of 'Superstar' will have risen by then. If not, then maybe it might have been a wiser idea to use Rock, Brock and other part timers to contribute to the future the way that Jericho has attempted to.

@jimmosangle