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Tyler Morgan

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WRESTLING REPRESSION

It was the most successful debut my wrestling memory can rejuvenate. It was the debut of Chris Jericho, the talented young hostage from World Championship Wrestling.

After Jericho came the debuts of Tazz, The Dudley Boyz, The Radicals, and Kurt Angle. Although their respective debuts were not as spectacular or memorable as Chris Jericho's, not one of those men have any less thunder today than The Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla. If the truth be known, each one of the new comers probably have more interest and thunder than Jericho has had, ever since his debut with The Rock.

What went wrong?

I'm sure the programs with Ken Shamrock, Road Dogg, and Chyna haven't helped but I don't think those are the focal points of the problem.

Is it possible for a debut to be to grand? Too memorable?

Perhaps.

The average fan of The World Wrestling Federation probably didn't know a lot about Jericho, and when he debuted they were hit with a superstar. The fans received this special feeling about Chris I think, a special feeling where they connected right off the bat. They thought it was cool to cheer this loudmouth newcomer, even though they weren't supposed to.

All of a sudden, they were supposed to cheer Chris Jericho.

Chris Jericho was a face, a roll he was not born to play. Chris Jericho was born to play the roll of a heel. So let's look at all this in perspective. Chris debuts. He's hot. He's a star. He's feuding with The Rock. He's heel. He's set up for a great program.

Wait.

Let's rub some of Jericho's thunder on other superstars. Road Dogg rubbing elbows with Jericho might do something for Road Dogg right? Rock has plenty of thunder; he doesn't need a hot program! Road Dogg does. Wait, we can utilize this even more. Lets have him cut promos on other superstars that need hot programs too. Undertaker, Chyna. Let's turn him into a face, so people will embrace his greatness even further. All of a sudden it wasn't cool to cheer Chris Jericho anymore. He jumped from program to program too quickly. He was debuted as a heel than turned face not long after. We didn't even get to know the WWF-Jericho heel character. Brought in facing Rocky, not too long after feuding with Shamrock. Kind of gives you a Val Venis kinda feeling eh?

Over-exposure? Bad face turn? Bad programs? Too hot of a debut with no follow up?

The WWF does drop balls, just not as often as WCW. I'm as big as a WWF mark as everyone else is, but I used to be a Chris Jericho mark on the same level as appreciation for the WWF. Now I have Kurt Angle, Tazz, The Dudleyz and The Radicals do be happy with, which isn't a bad trade off by any means. But if gives me the feeling that we're missing out on something.

And that's the real Chris Jericho.

Tyler Morgan
Thompson Championship Wrestling
Thompson, Manitoba, Canada


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