Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is a Canadian American professional wrestler, musician, media personality, actor, author, and businessman. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and internationally in Canadian, German, Japanese, and Mexican promotions. He is known for his over-the-top, rock star persona - dubbed "The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla" - and for a contrasting run as an aloof villain in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Jericho has won 30 championships between WWE, WCW, and ECW - the three most prominent American promotions in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is credited as being the first Undisputed WWF Champion, having unified the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and the WWF Championship by defeating The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night in 2001. He is also the ninth WWE Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth WWE Grand Slam Champion. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award - making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year in WWE history. Jericho first challenged for a world championship in 1996. In WWE, he is a six-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice, and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He is also a record nine-time Intercontinental Champion, beating out four other contenders in a 2013 WWE fan poll to determine the greatest champion in history with a landslide 63% of the vote. In 2014, WWE ranked Jericho's debut with the organization - on the August 9, 1999 edition of Raw Is War - number one in its countdown of the "Most Memorable WWE Debuts". Jericho has headlined many major pay-per-view events during his time with the company, including a performance as the Undisputed WWF Champion at WrestleMania X8 in 2002. Outside of wrestling, Jericho became the lead vocalist of the band Fozzy in 1999. Their eponymous debut album (2000) and Happenstance (2002) consist of cover songs and original music; later records All That Remains (2005), Chasing the Grail (2010), Sin and Bones (2012), and Do You Wanna Start a War (2014) are comprised entirely or predominantly of original compositions. Jericho also competed in the 2011 series of Dancing With the Stars, lasting until the sixth week. Prior to this, he hosted the ABC game show Downfall and the Revolver Golden Gods Awards. Early life: Chris Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York, when his father (ice hockey player Ted Irvine) had relocated to play for the New York Rangers. When his dad retired they moved back to Winnipeg. His interest in professional wrestling began when he began watching the local American Wrestling Association events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart's (then appearing with Stampede Wrestling) performing various high-flying wrestling moves. In addition to Owen Hart, Irvine also cites Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a wrestler. His first experience with a wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He also took a course in creative communication at Red River Community College, where he would graduate with top honors. Professional wrestling career: Early career (1990-1995): At age 19, Irvine entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling where, on his first day, he met Lance Evers. Two months later, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jerico, on October 2, 1990, in a 10-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called "Sudden Impact". He took the name "Jericho" from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian), and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW). In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart. In the winter of 1992, he travelled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro, and later Corazón de León, where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies, as well as the largest in the country, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an 11-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993. After leaving Mexico, Jericho wrestled in Hamburg, Germany for six weeks as part of a tournament run by Rene Lasartesse. His burgeoning wrestling skills also took him to Japan in 1994, where he competed for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion, facing the likes of Gedo and Último Dragón, to whom he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship. He also became a member of the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun (also known as Team No Respect) with Gedo, Jado, and Hiromichi Fuyuki under the name Lion Do, and went on to team with Gedo to become the first WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. 1994 also saw Jericho reunited with his former team-mate from CRMW, Storm, as the Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J Cup Tournament, hosted by WAR, losing to Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit). Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995-1996): In 1996, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). World Championship Wrestling: Cruiserweight Champion (1997-1998): On August 26, 1996, Jericho made his first appearance with WCW on WCW Monday Nitro against Alex Wright, and on September 15, he appeared at his first pay-per-view show in a match against Chris Benoit at Fall Brawl. In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jushin Thunder Liger
The 140 day reign of Jeri-Show as Unified Tag Team Champions came to an end at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view at the hands of D-Generation X (DX). As a member of the SmackDown roster, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and so DX intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. Eventually the teams had a match with a definitive finish, though DX still won, signalling the end of Jeri-Show. At the 2010 Royal Rumble Jericho was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge announced that he would be using his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge, but on the April 2 episode of SmackDown!, Jack Swagger cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Jericho for the championship, after he had been speared by Edge. Swagger retained the championship in a match against Jericho and Edge soon after. Edge defeated Jericho in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules to end the feud. Jericho was drafted back to Raw in May's 2010 WWE Draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at WWE Fatal 4-Way, and the following night won a rematch where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho began showing signs of a face turn when he teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won. According to Jericho and Edge, the original plan was to put Barrett over. At the end, Jericho and Edge would have lost to The Nexus. However, Cena insisted on coming back from a DDT on the floor to defeat Barrett and Gabriel. Jericho said that it was a bad idea, because Barrett was not pushed. Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus' WWE Championship at WWE Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match he was the first man eliminated. Following an unscripted backstage interview, Jericho burst into tears and fled from the arena. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company. Second return to WWE: Championship pursuits (2011-2012): Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. Jericho returned on the January 2 episode of Raw in a similar manner to his two previous WWE introductions. Despite being a heel, Jericho was still cheered due to his long absence from WWE. On his return, after physically hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, a smiling Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. The following week he came out to speak but broke into tears and left the arena while a speechless crowd looked on. On the January 16 episode of Raw, Jericho made his in-ring return in a six-man tag team match, although Jericho had no physical involvement in the match; he hyped the crowd upon tagging in, then tagged out and abandoned the match. Jericho finally spoke the following week to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in a match between WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, causing a disqualification victory for Bryan and then attacking Punk following the ruling. This was done to fully cement Chris Jericho as a heel. The following week, Jericho explained his actions by claiming many other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and naming CM Punk as the worst offender by calling himself the "Best in the World". Jericho was placed in an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship and won a Six-Pack Challenge against the other competitors to be the final entrant into the Elimination Chamber match. At the Elimination Chamber event, Jericho eliminated Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston but was kicked out of the Chamber by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man Battle Royal making him the number one contender for CM Punk's WWE Championship at Wrestlemania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk before their WrestleMania match, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict which led Punk to his straight edge philosophy; Jericho also vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match. On the April 2 and 9 episodes of Raw, Jericho continued his feud with Punk by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches with Mark Henry. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight. On the May 7 episode of Raw, Jericho pinned World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus during his tag team match with Alberto Del Rio against Sheamus and Randy Orton. After the match, Jericho, Orton, and Del Rio demanded a match for Sheamus' title at the Over the Limit, which they were granted; Sheamus pinned Jericho at the event to retain the title. On May 24, at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho crumpled up and kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologising to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank match but failed to win. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho hit Ziggler with a Codebreaker, and turning face in the process for the first time since 2008. Four days later on SmackDown, Jericho further cemented his face turn by attacking again Ziggler whilst wearing Ziggler's T-shirt. Three days later on Raw, Jericho teamed up with Christian in a winning effort against Ziggler and The Miz. After the match, Ziggler hit Jericho with his Money in the Bank briefcase. Four days later on Smackdown, Jericho hosted the Highlight Reel with Vickie Guerrero as guest, where he returned to his Y2J gimmick before being attacked by Ziggler. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler in a singles match. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch; as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year. Part-time appearances (2013-present): On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a six-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then placed the two in a "Strange Bedfellows" match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being chokeslammed and pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. On the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Daniel Bryan to qualify for a spot in the number one contender Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Six days later at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Jericho was the fourth man eliminated from the match by Randy Orton.
Pro wrestler, actor, musician, and media personality, Chris Jericho began his career around 1990, with the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling. The 20 year old found that the occupation was a good fit, and he would go on to compete with Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the WWF/WWE. Jericho proved to be a magnetic personality for fans, and he found other outlets for himself in the media, as well, including writing a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine in the '90s, and singing for the metal band Fozzy. He also became a popular TV personality, appearing on networks like VH1 and G4 throughout the 2000s, and competing on the 12th season of the reality show Dancing With the Stars in 2011. He also appeared breifly in the 2010 comedy MacGruber.
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