by Alfonso Castillo
Showdown.net/OnlineOnslaught.com

Apter left PWI a while back, and soon after the magazine actually recognized ECW's top prize as an official "World Championship," but in our heart of hearts, we all knew there were still only two. And it was better that way. Before the Internet and he dirt sheets when we could all still suspend disbelief, we all at one point pondered the great champion vs. champion debate. Who was better? Hogan or Flair? Sting or Warrior? Bret or Vader?

We may never again ask that very question again. Two weeks ago, the WWF unified the most prestigious championships in wrestling in one terrific match to close out the Vengeance pay per view. Had we been told just five years ago that such a match would someday take place, we would have predicted it would be the biggest match in the history of the business. As it was, it didn't turn out to be that big a deal but rather another one in many blown angles that have become the ongoing story of the WWF-WCW merger.

But even if the unification of the titles does not seem that newsworthy, the WWF's wrestler of choice to wear the unified crown certainly is. Going into the pay per view, Chris Jericho was widely considered the underdog of the four mini-tournament participants. The WWF's erratic handling of Jericho's career since he came to the company signified an apparent lack of confidence in Jericho by management.

The WWF had never given Jericho as much as a sustained good-faith push in the main events, so it would be practically unheard of to award him the unique distinction of being "the first undisputed world champion." But in the end, the very fact that the WWF mishandled Jericho so long may have been the very reason they decided to have him the titles. As the company found itself lacking sufficient main event talent, Jericho needed all the legitimacy he could get.

He is the first ever Undisputed World Champion, "Y2J" Chris Jericho.

The Title Victory

Despite whatever heel tactics Jericho used to win both his matches at Vengeance, the WWF was sure to make Jericho's feat seem like something special by making him the biggest long shot to win. To win the unified titles, he would have to wrestle in consecutive matches, unlike his opponent, and have to win them both (as opposed to Austin or the Rock who could have theoretically retained their titles through disqualifications). Also, Jericho was the only one of the four contestants in the mini-tournament who would have to win first WWF title. All in all, it was quite the uphill battle.

He challenged Rock for the World Title in his first match of the night. The two put on a strong match that featured The Rock kicking out of  Lionsault, then Jericho trying to Rock Bottom the champion through the table, only to be DDT'ed through it himself. Back in the ring, Y2J tried the Peoples Elbow on the Rock, but ended up in a Sharpshooter instead. Later in the match, he slapped on the Walls of Jericho, but Rock reached the ropes for the break. Rock then connected with the Rock Bottom but took a while to cover him. By the time he finally went for the cover, Vince McMahon came to ringside to distract the ref. The Rock approached Vince, but Jericho connected with the low blow and a Rock Bottom for his first title win of the night.

But Jericho didn't have much time to celebrate as WWF Champion Steve Austin immediately hit the ring for the final unification match. Kurt Angle, still reeling over his loss against the Rattlesnake earlier that night, hit the ring and floored Austin with a chair. A pissed-off Rock also took out some aggression by giving Jericho another Rock Bottom. Once the two champions were back on their feet, they brawled to the outside, where they slugged it out on top of the announcers' table. Austin suplexed Jericho on the exposed concrete. Back in the ring, Jericho slapped on the Walls of Jericho, but Austin escaped. Referee Earl Hebner took a bump, and Jericho hit a Stone Cole Stunner on Austin. McMahon returned with Nick Patrick to count the fall, but WWF co-owner Ric Flair interrupted the count. A brawl erupted with McMahon and Flair on the outside. With both refs knocked out, Austin kept the theme of stealing your opponent's finisher by slapping on the Walls of Jericho on Y2J. Booker ran in, whacked Austin with the title belt, and Hebner awoke to count the pin.

Post match celebration saw Jericho celebrating with Vince in the aisle holding both belts in the air as the first Unified WWF-WCW champion. A pretty impressive visual and a double dose of strong performances by Jericho.

The Title Reign

Since winning the titles two weeks ago, Jericho has certainly kept busy, defending his title three times on four programs, plus competing in a tag team main event. The night after Vengeance, Jericho opened RAW with an arrogant interview heralding himself as the "new living legend." WWF co-owner Ric Flair was quick to spoil the party, demanding that Jericho give Austin a rematch, this time in a cage. Although there was plenty of blood and guts, the match was something of a disappointment to fans. It ended when Austin laid out Jericho, went to escape, but had the cage door slammed in his face by Booker T. That allowed Jericho to escape with the belts.

Later that week on SmackDown!, the champion teamed with the Undertaker to face the Rock and Rob Van Dam. In his only non-title defense on TV to date, Jericho was pinned after being on the receiving end of a Van Daminator.

The following Monday, Van Dam looked to finish the job in a title match with Jericho. The champion first protested the match, saying the Van Dam's illegal tactics should not be rewarded. But once again Flair intervened, demanding that the match take place and naming himself the guest referee. Flair and Jericho engaged in a memorable verbal showdown.

During the match later that night, Jericho's biggest supporter, Vince McMahon sat in on commentary, virtually guaranteeing he would get involved. Van Dam and Jericho competed in a strong match that saw the finish come when RVD connected with the Five-Star Frog Splash, but McMahon interrupted the cover by pulling Flair out of the ring. Jericho was disqualified and a brawl ensued that saw both Y2J and McMahon trapped in Figure Four leglocks by their adversaries.

Finally, Jericho racked up his second successful title defense on SmackDown! last night, defeating the Big Show with a belt shot to the head when the referee was distracted. Other than that, the champion got little offense in during the contest.

So less that two weeks into his reign, Jericho has two wins (neither of them clean), one disqualification loss and one pinfall loss in a tag match. Not terribly impressive. What's more, Jericho really hasn't established a rivalry with anybody to date. With the Rock tied up with Test and Austin feuding with Booker T, Jericho has been left high and dry.

The Breakdown

So why did the WWF choose Jericho to hold the lofty distinction of the "First Undisputed World Champion." Some would argue that they simply had to.

Since arriving in the WWF in the summer of 1999, Chris Jericho's wrestling career has been a series of half-hearted pushes, then pull-backs by WWF management. He would have seemingly won the world title, and then the referee would reverse his decision. He would be on the cusp of a main event feud with Steve Austin one week, then stuck in a mid card program with Rhyno the next. The one thing that did remain constant was the fans' adoration of Jericho, but for whatever political reasons existed - and WWF politics have been more apparent in recent months than ever - the Federation hierarchy never fully got behind Chris Jericho.

But with a shortage of top-tier star power - especially enough to fill two companies once the WWF eventually splits next month - WWF management found itself forced to do what they should have a long time ago - elevate Jericho into a legitimate main event player. The problem was, after crying wolf so many times and teasing main event pushes with Jericho, only to demote him the next week, it would take a lot more to convince fans he was in the same league as Austin or the Rock than it would have a year ago.

Many said Jericho finally made it to the next level when he won his first "world title" defeating the Rock for the WCW championship earlier this year, but we all know that the title meant nothing by then as WCW was no longer a promotion, but rather a weak faction within the WWF. Even if that win was supposed to get fans to take him seriously as a top-tier star, the Federation hindered its own goal by having him drop the strap back to the Rock just two weeks later.

So this month the WWF took extreme measures by giving Jericho not just one world title, but two. The truth is, more significant than the near-meaningless claim of being a "unified champion" is the fact that Jericho has finally won the WWF title - the title that even when belts were switching hands at a rapid fire pace during the Invasion fiasco, the WWF was still careful to protect and only award to a handful of elite wrestlers in recent years. Since January of 2000, all nine world title changes have occurred among the same four individuals - Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Kurt Angle.

That's the real story. When the WWF allows a new member to the WWF World Title club, it's quite the honor and will change a wrestler's life forever (unless you're name is Paul Wight, that is).

Does Jericho deserve the honor? I certainly think so, and so do the thousands of fans who respond to Jericho's work in the ring and on interviews as loud as they would anybody. But I still wonder how sincere the WWF's motives are. It almost seems like the company feels forced to push Jericho despite their preference. And now that he is a top star, he's been aligned with Vince McMahon, as to say the only way Y2J could truly be a main event heel is if he got some rub from Vince. 

I'm not sure what Jericho did to get on the bad side of WWF power brokers, but it's happened since day one. Not being a wrestler, I can't confirm nor dispute the reports of Jericho's ring style not meshing with his peers and his careless and often-stiff work. I can say that Jericho has consistently put on four-star, main-event caliber matches on TV and PPV time and again. I can also say that during his run as a babyface, the fans were absolutely enamored with Jericho. But even that was not enough to sway WWF writers into taking Jericho more seriously.

In a rare case of WCW utilizing a wrestler better than the WWF, many would maintain that WCW featured Jericho in a much better light than the Fed has until very recently. In the mid 1990s, WCW gambled on a young Jericho, who had little national exposure at that point. With his heel turn, Jericho became one of the company's freshest acts on the mic and in the ring and was given plenty of TV time in return. No, he never did get that feud with Goldberg nor did he get that main event run, but he was a blast to watch, which is more than we've been able to say a lot of the time in the WWF.

Now, when all else has failed, it seems the WWF is resorting to completely emulating Jericho's character in WCW, down to the muscle poses with one foot on his fallen opponent. Yes his interviews have been more entertaining than they have been in a while, but you can't help but interpret this as the WWF once again throwing up its hands in frustration and falling back on old reliable.

Championship Grade: A-

The Outlook: The true test of whether Jericho's title reign is a success will be in where Jericho ranks in the WWF hierarchy a year from now. After winning their first world titles, Triple H and Angle never slowed down, and while not reaching the mega-star levels of the Rock or Austin - solidified themselves as legit main event players and worthy adversaries for the Fed's top two stars. Can Jericho do the same? Unfortunately, he already has a few strikes against him.

I won't make too much of the cheating tactics he's recently employed to win matches, as that is what a smarmy heel is supposed to do, but the WWF should be careful not to make Jericho look too weak. The most important and potentially damaging factor or Jericho's title reign may be its timing. With less than three months remaining before WrestleMania, it seems rather apparent that Jericho will have to lose his title sooner than later.  Not only is it unlikely that he would retain his title at the biggest show of the year, it's highly improbable he will even have the belt going into the show. Jericho clearly is not a big enough money player yet to warrant a world title main event at such a major showcase. That means Jericho will have to lose the title before the show, and likely, well before the show in order to give the champion a few weeks of momentum coming into WrestleMania. That could mean quite a short reign for Jericho, and perhaps another re-entry into the mid-card ranks if Y2J is labeled a "transition champion."

Then again, the WWF has yet to make clear what the world title situation will be once they split the company next month. If the two promotions each have world champions, Y2J may keep some version of the world title a while longer and maybe wrestle in some co-main event deal at WrestleMania. This would not only be a disservice to wrestling titles, but to Jericho himself, who alongside a more established world champion in the rival WWF promotion, such as Austin or the Rock, will look weak. The WWF should have one world champion for both WWF groups.  

Another unlikely and quite optimistic scenario is that Jericho's popularity absolutely skyrockets in the coming months much in the way Austin's and the Rock's did during their initial runs in the main events. If that happens, maybe come March it will not seem so unusual to book Jericho in the main event of WrestleMania. Again, this is highly unlikely. It's far more likely that Jericho will find some success in coming weeks and even retain his title at the Royal Rumble before dropping it to either Austin, the Rock or Triple H at the February PPV or a WWF television broadcast in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania. The come Mania, he will likely find himself in an upper-mid card match with another not-ready-for-Mania-main event-player, such as Angle.

It could be worse. Jericho could be jerking the curtain at WrestleMania.  Wait, he did that last year.

Championship Options

As mentioned earlier, the WWF World Title club has a pretty small membership with no real contenders for admission in the near future.

Despite Hunter's incredible work ethic, Angle's natural ability, and the Rock's charisma, Steve Austin is still the company's MVP. He is Vince's favorite project and rightfully so. Although worn down by years of compounding injuries, Austin can still deliver fantastic, suspenseful and violent matches in big spots and can draw incredible responses from fans when he's on the mic, especially now that he's a face again. He'll probably never quite recapture the magic he had from 1998-1999, but he's still the best at what he does and always just a few weeks away from his next title reign.

The Rock is a bit more of a gamble as his passion for the industry is more questionable than some of his main-event peers. There's nothing wrong with that. Who can blame a twenty-something-year-old guy with incredible crossover appeal and matinee idol looks for choosing a multi-million dollar career in Hollywood over a hard life on the road taking chair shots every night? Fans would never balk at a world title for the Rock, but the WWF has to be leery of any long term planning with such an uncertainty.

Angle need not worry too much about his status in the company over the next few months as he probably has the most potential of the current top stars to still be headlining several years from now. He has not yet reached the level of other top players, but has made so much progress so quickly that it's hard to imagine him slowing down. He, too, became the victim of indecisive booking earlier this year when he was turned babyface, heel, then helped the WWF beat the Alliance in a very babyface move, but ended up remaining a heel anyway. His dorky character has been quite entertaining, but his failed babyface run proved it can also be limiting. The WWF needs to find a way to make Angle's persona more like his in-ring style - very serious and very aggressive. Then his popularity could really take off and 'd make an even better champion than he has in the past.

Triple H is just weeks away from coming back, and also probably just weeks away from another world title run. His long hiatus combined with the inspirational video packages that have been aired in recent weeks are almost certain to make Hunter a huge-babyface upon his return. He will be instantly put into the main event mix, and rightfully so. More than anyone in the WWF, Hunter lives and breathes wrestling and throughout 2000 was almost synonymous with the world title. His time off have not been wasted as he has developed the political power that helped bring him tothe dance and stay there. He's got Vince's ear and Vince's daughter, so it can't be long until he'll have the belt too.

Other options: 

The Undertaker - A perennial top-tier player who has shown a recent burst of physical energy and enthusiasm, as well as a fresh heel character to get behind. He's probably more watchable than he's been in months, but not quite deserving of a world title run, since it's unlikely he could put on consistently good matches in big spots.

Booker T - An established WCW main eventer and world champion now finds himself firmly entrenched in the WWF and certainly holding his own. Probably the biggest success story of the WCW buyout, but that's not saying much. His program with Austin is a lot of fun, but it will be a while before he reaches the next level. But I wouldn't be surprised if he was at that level this time next year.

Rob Van Dam - Certainly exciting, certainly charismatic, but also certainly over rated. It will take more than a few high spots to convince me he's ready for the top prize. The WWF's pulled back on his big push too, so I guess I'm not alone.

Test - He's enjoying the peak of his wrestling career thus far with a mini-feud with the WWF's top star, the Rock. He's made strides in recent months and certainly has friends in the right places, but he too is a few months, if not years, away from being at the top.

Shawn Michaels?  - I bet that's an unexpected name. The WWF's been in meetings with him to discuss his future and are probably looking to have as much established main event talent as possible for the promotion split. If Shawn could get his act together and come even close to the performances he delivered throughout the 90s, he'd be invaluable.

When a wrestler wins his first world title, it often takes a while to get used to that wrestler as a true world-title caliber wrestler. But for some reason, it seems it will take a bit longer with Jericho. And the WWF has nobody to blame but themselves. For two years they made it clear that Y2J was not up to snuff, then tried to do undo that reputation in just a few weeks. It will take a bit longer than that, but the WWF probably won't give him that long. I guess they don't think he's the "living legend" he says he is.

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Alfonso Castillo, 24, is has been a wrestling fan since he was six-years old. He has been writing the "Fonzo's Title Wave" column since 1999. The host of the Showdown radio audio program on www.Showdown.net currently lives in Queens, NY and works as a reporter for a New York metropolitan area newspaper.

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