[2000-04-17-WWF-Raw] Chris Jericho vs HHH

[soup23]

Jericho is over like crazy and goads HHH into making this a world title match. I have liked the use of the Acolytes as insurance policy for hire for the faces to even up the odds. These two have a weird chemistry with each other with some up and down matches but this was worked in a sprint pace that made it very enjoyable. Match has that frantic vibe to it. It is amusing that WCW has a New Blood faction but Jericho clearly feels like the Newest Blood currently being elevated. Ref bump and the Acolytes scatter Shane. Steph rolls the belt in which Jericho uses for a nearfall when Hebner comes out. Knowing how all of this played out, I took notice in the cadence of Hebner’s count right then. HHH shoves Hebner down but walks into a forearm and a lionsault. Hebner gives the quick count and the crowd explodes. HHH goes after Hebner but gets stopped by the Acolytes. Jericho grabs the belt and celebrates as HHH and Steph throw a huge shit fit.

 

Back from commercial we get the lowdown as HHH asks Mike Choida if he thought the count was fast. Mike admits it was. He then tells Hebner to reverse the decision. Hebner reluctantly agrees to it on the condition that as long as he is a referee, no one in HHH’s posse can lay a hand on him. Jericho also has some lines on the ramp and again calls Stephanie a slut. Hebner then reverses the decision and has to put the belt onto HHH’s waist. HHH of course uses his resourcefulness and a loophole to fire Earl and then beat him down before the other officials come in to make the save. Only minor point of critique here is that I have no idea where Jericho run off too and even though he isn’t a traditional babyface, him not coming to Earl’s rescue wasn’t a great look. Overall, a fantastic segment that really seemed to elevate Jericho and was the right kind of bait and switch. I remember calling my buddy with this show going on live and we had a two hour phone conversation watching everything unfold. 17 years later, it is just as engaging. **** for the whole thing.

[Loss]

This is of course a classic segment in Raw history, and a shining moment for both guys. This would be the first start-stop push in company history, something that is now a staple, but for now, all was well, and this truly did elevate Jericho to the #2 babyface position just behind Rock, at least while Austin and Undertaker were on the shelf. What's funny is that for as much as they couldn't stand each other at the time, the two had really strong in-ring chemistry. They cut a hard pace, and HHH went out of his way to be a pro. Fun fact: this whole angle was born out of Bischoff making a comment on WCW Live that the WWF wasn't really using Jericho much differently than WCW did, so all this talk about how the WWF saw something in talent that they didn't was not supported by facts. HHH is great in the second segment, maybe one of his best heel moments, in demanding Earl Hebner reverse the decision in exchanging for never touching him again as a referee before firing him and pedigreeing him. ***** segment, *** match, so split the difference. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

This entire angle was well-booked and well-executed. Say what you want about Triple H but he did an excellent job with this material. He'll never be confused for one of the great promos in wrestling but he showed a tremendous amount of range in these two segments and his delivery was extremely polished compared to a lot of WWE talent. Hebner was surprisingly good too for a guy who was rarely called upon to act. He actually seemed like the most natural one out there especially with the McMahions hamming it up. Jericho's delivery has always been pretty hokey. He tries to cut promos like Mick Foley but Foley knew how to ratchet up the intensity and make his promos spinetingling. Compare the difference between Jericho getting his title shot and Foley getting his Hell in the Cell stip. Foley's in a different ballpark when it comes to promos. But this was still an entertaining angle and a great piece of WWF TV. It's hard to write TV that's this good all the time, so you have to appreciate the efforts of the writers here.

[Robert S]

As great as the angle way there is the giant logic-hole why the APA and Jericho did nothing while Hebner was terrorized and beaten up. (okay, considering their gimmick you could say that the APA was backstage getting drunk, playing cards and not care about anything going on in the ring)

[TravJ1979]

Great Booking.

[Mattsdmf]

I remember the title change getting a monster reaction in my house when we watched it live. It still holds up today. This really helped establish Jericho as a top guy for a while. The booking of this was phenomenal but I also thought where was Jericho or the APA when Hebner was being attacked. The match itself was very fun and both wrestlers cut an incredible pace.

[GSR]

Raw is kicking off with this Triple H/Chris Jericho match, with ‘the Game’ defending the honour of his wife for the way Y2J spoke to her on Smackdown. Jericho is out first and says how he’s in hot water for calling Stephanie a “bargain basement slut” last week. He is therefore out here to apologize…apologize to all the bargain basement sluts for even comparing them to the miserable slime ball that is Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Triple H marches to the ring like a man possessed and Y2J ducks out to the floor. He’s still got hold of the mic and says how valiant and touching it is for Triple H to come out here for the honour of his wife. If he thinks she’s really special though and really wants to impress her, what he should do is put the WWF title on the line. Shane McMahon tries to talk ‘the Game’ out of it, but he’s not thinking straight and agrees to Jericho’s request. At this point Y2J says how he made an investment earlier tonight for this match only, and introduces the Acolytes.

 

Jericho ducks under a swinging right and drops ‘the Game’ with a flying forearm. He unloads with punches, chops and kicks in the corner, and after a clothesline, mounts and unloads some more on him. Triple H reverses the Irish whip, boot to the stomach, however as he charges, Y2J backdrops him over the top and to the outside. ‘The Game’ avoids a baseball slide dropkick and decks his opponent with a big right. He tosses Jericho inside and takes a few moments himself to recover, but when he climbs up on the apron he’s levelled with a springboard dropkick sending him crashing back to the arena floor. Triple H blocks Jericho’s attempted suplex into the ring and clotheslines him on the top rope. High knee and an elbow drop across the throat. They’re once again on the outside and HHH whips Jericho into the ring steps. Nice vertical suplex. Now ‘the Game’ is the one mounting his opponent and after firing down punches, the camera zooms in to show Y2J bleeding from the mouth. DDT, before heading upstairs. He’s too slow though and Jericho with an arm drag off the top. Back elbow, missile dropkick off the middle and Triple H gets the shoulder up at the last moment as JR screams “could be all, could be all”. Jericho counters a pedigree attempt with ‘the Walls’, but ‘the Game’ fights it for all he’s worth and he’s not able to turn it completely over. He decides to catapult him into the corner instead, however Mike Chioda is in the way and gets sandwiched between Triple H and the turnbuckles. Bulldog, he climbs to the top but Shane swipes his leg causing him to crotch himself. The Acolytes chase after Shane who flees all the way to the back, while Stephanie throws the World title belt into the ring. ‘The Game’ goes to pick it up, but Jericho kicks him as he does so, grabs it himself and KO’s the champ. He makes the cover even though he can see Chioda is still down (will he ever learn?). Earl Hebner sprints down to take his place and ‘the Game’ kicks out at two. Jericho telegraphs a backdrop and Triple H with a facebuster. When he sees arch nemesis Hebner in the ring, he shoves him to the mat. Spinning heel kick by Y2J, Lionsault and Earl (fastish) counts the three as we have a new WWF World Heavyweight champion. ‘The Game’ makes a beeline for Hebner, but he’s kept at bay by The Acolytes.

 

We return from a commercial break to see Triple H and Shane McMahon in the referee’s dressing room and the pair of them are strong arming Chioda and Hebner back to the ring. ‘The Game’ is irate and is insistent that Earl, who Shane now has in a full nelson, ‘screwed’ him. He gets Chioda to confirm that he was the assigned official for the match and wants him to check out the closing moments of it on the big screen. On seeing it, Chioda admits that Earl fast counted Triple H. ‘The Game’ sends Chioda on his way and tells Hebner how the official referee of the match said he screwed him and he wants him to reverse his decision. Earl says “No”, however after Shane grabs him and it looks like Triple H is going to attack him, he then says he’ll reverse the decision as long as while he’s a WWF referee, no-one touches or puts their hands on him ever again. HHH tells him that he’s got a deal and orders him to go and get the belt back from Chris Jericho. Y2J walks out to meet Earl and seems to give it up pretty easily, after making a crack about how their match didn’t take place, just like Stephanie didn’t sleep with all the guys in the back. Triple H instructs Earl to put the belt around his waist and wants to talk about their deal that they just made. He says he’s a man of his word and as long as Earl is a WWF official, no-one will ever lay a hand on him again. ‘The Game’ however then fires ‘his ass’ and gives him a Shane assisted pedigree. A bunch of referees and Sgt. Slaughter are then out to put a stop to things before he assaults him anymore.

 

I’m still not sold on Jericho’s promos, but he was better here in the opening than when he was chucking childish insults at Benoit and Angle in their feud. I liked too how he goaded Triple H into making it a title match, and despite Shane’s protestations he was so angry that he just agreed without much thought. Match was very good with a super hot crowd, who were hugely behind Jericho and popped big time on the near falls and when he was working to get ‘the Walls’. I though Stephanie was tremendous on the outside, especially with her facials when it looked like her man might actually lose. Post-match section was excellent as Chioda reluctantly has to agree that Earl fast counted him, then Earl only agreeing to reverse his decision if Triple H promises that no-one ever puts their hands on him again whilst he’s a WWF official. Of course this leads to him being fired, only after he’s retrieved the belt, and pedigreed. Whilst I don’t have an issue with the Acolytes (they only work if you pay them) or Jericho (in his mind Earl has just ‘screwed’ him of the World title) not coming to Hebner’s aid, I did think that Y2J gave up the title far too easily and without much fuss. Still a very good match, made even better with everything else that surrounds it.

[drew wardlaw]

Ohhhh man HHH was incredible here. I had never seen this before and him firing Hebner and giving him a pedigree was a legitimate shock and I was outraged! The match itself was good too, really hot crowd and some genuine excitement and is a pretty awesome tv match. The match could have been nothing and I would have liked the segment but the match being great puts this over the top as something really special.