He’s the Best in the World At What He Does. He was the first Undisputed Champion, the most decorated Intercontinental Champion in history, his band Fozzy have hit the Billboard chart, and his first book featured in the New York Times Best Sellers list. At long last Chris Jericho has his own DVD set covering his stellar career in its entirety, and Matt Waters is here to review it.
– What’s up everybody? Matt Waters here making my debut for the WWE DVD Reviews portion of Pro Wrestling Ponderings, and my my my what a wonderful first product to review: Chris Jericho’s brand-spanking new 3-disc DVD. I’ve never reviewed a DVD-set before, only an individual show, so my style may be a little strange as I’m only just getting used to the process myself, so stick with it please. If you’d like a break-down of the entire interview portion, chapter by chapter with commentary on the major things said, head over to my blog, but be warned, it’s extensive to say the least.
Presentation
– Let’s start things off with the most immediately obvious aspect of the set: how it looks. The front cover is pretty nice with the holographic Matrix code set against the pure white of the mat.
– Removing the sleeve and opening the set up, it’s simply gorgeous, with a giant picture of Jericho’s face looking sufficiently evil with more Matrix code and pictures from the various stages of his career.
– Finally, the discs themselves again feature a nice array of pictures to try and represent the various stages of his career.
– Right, enough aesthetics, on to the content!
Content Summary
– Disc 1 is in many ways a more concise version of his book. As a proud owner of said book, the things discussed here felt familiar to me, but they did a great job of cramming an awful lot in to a short space of time. There were a few instances where I wanted more fleshing out, but to be honest, even if he spoke about his career for five hours, I’d want more.
– To give you a very brief outline of the contents of this first disc, I’ll just skim over the topics:
We start out with home movies and photos from Chris’ childhood and his interest in music and wrestling. Next we moved to Jericho’s training at the Hart Dungeon, wrestling in Mexico, Europe, and Japan, getting into ECW, and then being offered a job by Eric Bischoff seconds after meeting him at a supershow in LA featuring WCW wrestlers. Jericho puts over how good the cruiswerights were, but shows distaste for his first 18 months as a clean-cut babyface and how he revelled in turning heel. All his classics are here, from the Man of 1004 Holds, to the Conspiracy Victim angle, and then his mini-feud with Goldberg. Jericho states the poor handling of this angle by WCW due to Goldberg’s objections made him want to leave and we now move to his signing with the WWF and debut against The Rock.
– Many may not remember that Jericho spent a couple of months doing nothing after this, and he discusses being unhappy feuding with Chyna, but he was pleased that it led to his first dream, the Intercontinental Championship, as well as his battles with Stephanie and Triple H that gave him a taste of the main event. We skip a long way ahead to him becoming the first Undisputed Champion, and he states how he didn’t enjoy working with Stephanie as an ally. Next he discusses the advent of the Highlight Reel and his belief he was a modern day Roddy Piper. His first feud with Shawn Michaels follows and he states he is more proud of stealing the show at Wrestlemania than beating Rock and Austin in the same night. Another little skip now as we move on to his team with Christian and then the end of his first run at the hands of John Cena.
– Next on the agenda is his time away from the WWE and a great deal of coverage of Fozzy’s musical career. He says John Cena and Shawn Michaels’ pair of matches convinced him he wanted to come back and that takes us to his return. He talks about wanting to come back better than he was before and this led to his evolution and the second feud with HBK. After this is winning the world title, feuding with Rey Mysterio, and a very brief allusion to his team with Big Show. This leads to his Wrestlemania match with Edge, and then finally a short discussion of NXT with himself and Wade Barrett. The DVD closes with footage from throughout his career and compliments from his peers.
Interview Highlights
– The footage was really varied, and I liked that they tracked down Fozzy concert footage, as well as some videos from his time overseas and in the independents back in Canada, it really made this feel like the complete Jericho experience, not just a piece of WWE bias that pretends he didn’t exist beyond them. His time in Mexico, Japan, ECW and WCW is celebrated, not buried, and the WWE footage is extensive too.
– I loved that the WWE didn’t ignore the time he spent learning the tools of the trade all over the world. He learned character work in Mexico, variety in Germany, and technical wrestling in Japan. These things not only made him such a well-rounded wrestler, but they let him break into ECW due to their educated fan-base. I particularly enjoyed how much time this section received as I’ve never seen any of his ECW work, so it was a treat to see so much of this wrestling footage.
– A good long period of time was spent on his time in WCW too, and we can thank the WWE owning the back catalogue of the two companies for such extensive footage. I liked how frank he was about the feud with Goldberg, and was surprised by Eric Bischoff taking his side in the dispute. Reading about Goldberg being unhappy at being mocked in the book made me look at him in a new light, and this part of the DVD only emphasised that.
– Jericho was also surprisingly open about things he was dissatisfied with, particularly having to work with Chyna and not doing anything after his initial debut, but also not enjoying having Stephanie as an ally later in his career, and preferring his team with Christian before the inclusion of Lita and Trish.
– The supporting cast was top notch as we got regular input from Edge, Christian, John Cena, Michael Hayes, Matt Hardy, Big Show, Rey Mysterio and more. There was even input from Eric Bischoff, Bill Goldberg, Joey Styles and Vince McMahon. I would have liked to have seen Shawn Michaels contribute in some way considering he was such a huge part of Jericho’s second-coming, but I understand he wants to distance himself from wrestling. I also understand no contributions from Paul Heyman, The Rock, Austin and Mick Foley. I guess I can understand a lack of Chris Benoit moments on the DVD, so I’ll have to wait for his new book for those stories, and Kurt Angle wasn’t as big a part of his career, so a lack of him isn’t a huge loss.
– There were a few omissions though, such as a complete skip over the Invasion angle and his story of jealousy of The Rock which led to his first official world title reign, something I’d consider significant. They also left out his King of the World gimmick after his Undisputed Title reign that led to his first feud with Shawn Michaels. I was especially not a fan of how they dealt with his return as there was no discussion about the Breaking the Code vignettes, and his feuds with Randy Orton and JBL. Perhaps alluding to his participation in One Night Stand and telling the story of coming up with the Money in the Bank match would have been nice too, but as I said, I’m always going to want a little bit more.
– Something I don’t think is unreasonable to want out of this interview was a little more time spent on his more recent work. The JeriShow team was a significant part of the WWE, and I would have appreciated more analysis of it. What was discussed was nice, with Jericho calling Show his favourite partner and the two of them putting each other as people, but there was no talk of their storylines or matches. I’ve found this to be a tendency for WWE DVDs, spending a long time on the early portions and skipping large chunks as things get closer to the present, perhaps leaving themselves room to do another DVD down the road.
– I was surprised that time was given to discussing Wade Barrett and the NXT concept given what had been left out, and it’s a nice rub for Barrett to be one of the most prominent voices on this release, and Jericho put him over huge as well, believing he would be a superstar with or without his influence, and he is merely offering advice to try and steer him in the right direction.
– So all in all, it’s a very enjoyable interview as Jericho gives us insight into every facet of his career, both in and out of the ring. The disc really shows us how he got to be as good as he is by depicting his journey to the big time through independent wrestling, overseas tours, and learning different styles from different opponents. As an obvious independent wrestling fan, I think Jericho is a fantastic defence against the constant indie-bashing that mainstream fans take part in, as he has stated time and time again that wrestling in ECW, Mexico and Japan gave him all the tools he needed to succeed on the big stage.
– Finally, the bonus features were awesome as we got some amusing stories, very old Thrill Seekers vignettes, a couple of the comedy segments from WCW in their entirety (which wasn’t really necessary as 90% of each was shown within the main feature), a montage of Jericho comedy moments, and best of all, a piece of absolute gold in the form of untelevised post-raw footage in 2003 with Jericho and Austin going back and forth for about five minutes with the crowd eating out of their hands the whole way through. Go out of your way to see this, I can’t say enough about it.
– Overall, the first disc of the DVD reminded me of a few things I forgot about him, taught me things I never knew, and let me relive some of my fondest memories, so I’d say it’s a very easy recommendation for any wrestling fan, because let’s face it, who doesn’t love Chris Jericho?
The Matches
Disc 2
“Cowboy” Chris Jericho vs. Lance T. Storm
(with new commentary by Jericho & Matt Striker)
Calgary – October 2, 1990
The Thrill Seekers vs. The Infernos
Smoky Mountain Wrestling – March 12, 1994
International Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon
(with new commentary by Jericho & Matt Striker)
Japan – July 7, 1995
Chris Jericho vs. Cactus Jack
ECW – March 12, 1996
WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero
Fall Brawl – September 4, 1997
Mask vs. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera
Superbrawl VIII – February 22, 1998
WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko
Nitro – July 27, 1998
The Millennium Countdown Clock Expires
Raw – August 9, 1999
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle
No Way Out – February 27, 2000
WWF Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Triple H
Raw – April 17, 2000
WCW Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. The Rock
No Mercy – October 21, 2001
Undisputed Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Vengeance – December 9, 2001
Disc 3
No Disqualification WWE Undisputed Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Hulk Hogan
Smackdown – May 22, 2002
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
(with new commentary by Chris Jericho & Matt Striker)
Wrestlemania XIX – March 30, 2003
“You’re Fired” Match for the WWE Championship
Chris Jericho vs. John Cena
Raw – August 22, 2005
Save_US.Y2J
Raw – November 19, 2007
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy
Raw – March 10, 2008
World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
No Mercy – October 5, 2008
No Holds Barred WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio
Extreme Rules – Juny 7, 2009
Chris Jericho vs. Undertaker
Smackdown – November 13, 2009
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Chris Jericho vs. Edge
Wrestlemania XXVI – March 28, 2010
– The most obvious omission from here is of course his feud with Chris Benoit, which featured some of the best wrestling of his career, but as said earlier, it’s obvious why he isn’t here. I would have liked to have seen some of his tag team work with Christian and Big Show too.
– As for what is here, well, we have all but one of his major opponents from the various stages of his career and it’s a pretty good showcase of his skills as a high-flying face, a methodical heel, and everything in between. Having the very first match by any wrestler is a genuine get for a DVD set. His match with Ultimo Dragon is a gem for fans of overseas and indie wrestling, and may blow away those who have only experienced mainstream wrestling. His work in the cruiserweight division in WCW is what really put him on the map for many people, and three matches from this period is pretty generous. His WWF debut is a given, and if you can’t have Chris Benoit, having a Kurt Angle match is a good substitute for the early portion of his career. His rise to the main event is well documented with his abolished win over Triple H, cheating to beat The Rock, and becoming the first ever Undisputed Champion.
– His match against Shawn Michaels is one of my absolute favourites of all time, so I’m thrilled that it’s included here and the new commentary…. His anticlimactic return is included, and his choice of wardrobe is just as awful the second time around. His ladder match against Shawn Michaels ended their feud, but I’d have liked to have seen one of their matches before this, such as the unsanctioned fight. Fine work against Rey Mysterio and the Undertaker sweeten the collection, and we of course end with his most recent Wrestlemania moment with Edge. The pair of them may think they stole the show with this, but I wasn’t a fan watching it live as a part of the PPV. Seeing it out of context it holds up a lot better however.
Overall Thoughts
– This is a really well put together set, and it’s very clear that a great deal of care was taken in selecting the footage. No obvious corners were cut, and we got some genuinely insightful input from a nice variety of names, rather than the more generic and repetitive musings offered on some DVDs. Every point is illustrated well with a really extensive selection of footage from every stage of his career in and out of the ring. The matches make logical sense as they show every facet of his skills and it would be hard to argue that these aren’t the best non-Benoit matches he’s ever wrestled. One or two could be swapped for some others, but you can’t really begrudge them for what they chose, especially in comparison to the first Shawn Michaels DVD which did a frankly atrocious job of selecting matches.
– Just to hammer the point home, I think the most impressive part of this DVD is the completeness. They’ve gone out of their way to cover his life from early childhood, to breaking into the business, working in WCW, the WWF, the evolution of his character, his time away, and his second-coming, right up to present day. The interview portion AND the matches illustrate this very well, and so I have no hesitations in recommending this set to any wrestling fan. The one thing I can’t stand about WWE DVDs is they normally omit large, important portions of the subject they’re covering, but this is certainly not the case with Breaking the Code.
– Buy this DVD.
I would have loved if you analysed Matches individually, but besides that, great stuff.