Once upon a time, there was a man named Chris Jericho. Now Chris was a midcarder in WCW, and the Internet's favourite wrestler. Everyone on the 'Net bitched about how he was being held back in WCW, despite the fact that he was pushed harder than any cruiserweight or midcarder in WCW with the possible exception of Scott Steiner. He had a nice series of reigns with the Cruiserweight Title. Whenever it seemed like he finally got his come-uppance from one of his babyface opponents, he'd have the title awarded back to him. This severely pissed me off. Then when management decided enough was enough, they had him drop the Cruiserweight Title to Juventud Guerrera, and awarded him the Television Title the next night, meanwhile positioning him for a feud with Goldberg, (which never came to be). All this at a time where Booker T was on a redundant quest to win the TV title over and over again, Chris Benoit had no titles in his WCW career, and the Ultimo Dragon had his career ended by an incompetent WCW surgeon.

At the time, everyone on the Internet was begging Jericho to jump to the WWF once his contract expired. The consensus was that once there, he'd get the credit he finally deserved. He'd win the World Title within the year, and be the biggest wrestling sensation since Steve Austin. He did jump, and after a series of memorable interviews, did nothing. He was pushed into a feud with Ken Shamrock (himself an example of McMahon failing to create stars out of people who should have been surefire successes), but that was ruined when Shamrock got injured. Then he was pushed into the Intercontinental Title scene (though push may be somewhat misleading, the belt hadn't meant anything since Shamrock was champion), where he was jobbed out to Chyna a few times before becoming the champion. He reigned for a few months, before losing it to Kurt Angle. Then he got locked into a feud for the same belt with Chris Benoit, which was the way he spent most of the year 2000 aside from a phantom World Title win, a pointless feud with Kane and jobbing to Triple H in a Last-Man Standing Match. After he lost that belt to, oddly enough, Helmsley, he got put in a tag team with Chris Benoit, and with the absence of Triple H and the Rock, the two looked to finally get their main-event push. But then the Invasion came, Benoit got injured, and Jericho got swept under the rug. It now appears the Internet marks have lost patience with the man, and have turned against him, saying he has repetitive interviews and poorly worked matches.

Maybe I haven't watched his matches critically enough, but it looks do me that they're pretty good, and his blown spots aren't as bad as everyone says they are. And as for his interviews being repetitive, well how many other stars in the WWF have relied on catchphrases and toilet humour?

So where is all this anti-Jericho rhetoric coming from? Is it because everyone expected him to be a main-event player in the WWF and he isn't? I think McMahon is more to blame for that. I've heard rumours that he and Triple H don't get along backstage. And since Helmsley has become the 'Net's favourite wrestler, perhaps it's loyalty to the current golden boy. Maybe his matches have gotten crappy, and I just haven't noticed. Maybe everyone is just compensating for all the unconditional love they gave him before. Maybe everyone's just pissed at his comments about Stephanie's boob-job. Maybe it's that he sold out: instead of all the mocking of his opponents, funny sketches, trophy taking and deadpan humour we got in WCW, he's stooped to lewd jokes and sexual innuendo.

How should I know? The man was never one of my favourites. To me, his act is fresh compared to the rest of the WWF upper-card. I can't deny he has incredible talent on the stick and in the ring, so I'm wondering why everyone who supported him so hard is now against him. Jericho's case is one of the Internet wrestling community influencing what promoters think. Maybe we're not as powerful or as intelligent as we'd like to think we are.