[1999-11-14-WWF-Survivor Series] Chris Jericho vs Chyna

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Crowd is STRONGLY behind Jericho. Chyna wins with a pedigree from the top rope to retain the IC title. Crowd is pretty unhappy.

[Tim Evans]

Chyna with a botched Pepsi Plunge. So I guess that's where Punk got it from?

[PeteF3]

The finish is set up by Kat distracting the referee and Chyna low-blowing Jericho...I mean, it's almost like they were consciously booking this for the crowd to take Jericho's side. I never saw RSPW melt down as much as it did over the result of this match. And why not--19 years later it still stinks.

[cactus]

I thought this match exceeded my expectations. Jericho, despite being the smark's favourite, does a good job at being a misogynistic douchebag, toying with Chyna as he works her over. Miss Kitty tries to jump on Jericho's back, but he pulls her off him, much to the delight of Jerry Lawler. Chyna looks the best she's ever her looked when she makes her comeback, and a fun back and forth segments ends when Chyna lands a Pedigree from the top rope. I was not expecting that finish at all!

★★★

[DMJ]

Yeah, this isn't a great match or anything, but its probably better than people remember it being.

Jericho was clearly motivated to carry Chyna to a "real" match and, on this card, the match going 10+ minutes makes it feel like a war compared to the multiple sub-5 minute matches on the card (kinda reminiscent of how certain matches seem/feel like a bigger deal on a show like WrestleMania IV just because they make it past the 6 minute mark). Jericho does a bunch of little things to try to draw heat and put sympathy on Chyna and, in front of this crowd, that was no small task...but, as a viewer watching 20+ years later, I appreciated the effort and did find Chyna to be sympathetic. 

Speaking of Chyna, I don't think I'm being too tough on her to say that she wasn't a great worker. At this point, her mystique had evaporated too. In a way, she'd become a victim of her own success. When she first debuted and for the first couple years in WWE, she had undeniable presence and did get huge responses - especially when it came to almost coming to blows with the big stars of the day (Foley and Austin, specifically). She was a tremendous asset to Triple H in his rise to the main event. But then, when she went off on her own, two things became clear - first, her promo skills did not match her physical charisma. Second, she wasn't a good bell-to-bell wrestler. That  made her babyface run one that could only have worked (and only did work) as a short-term as, after the usual Chyna vs. Misogynist Heel storylines, I don't think the male audience (which was even more of the audience then than now) was going to cheer her. Things got better for her when she was paired with Eddie Guerrero, but I'm not sure both of them really invested all they could into that partnership (or that the WWE really pushed it to the level it could've gone to either). 

ANYWAY...this is a more physical match than one might expect, Jericho's heel work is terrific, and I felt like the finish was earned via the low blow and then the pedigree from the top (which didn't look perfect, but I kinda like when a move doesn't look perfect because its the first time anyone's delivered it and the person receiving the move is getting struck with a maneuver that they're not expecting). I'd give it a solid 3-out-of-5 on my scale.