That was funny. Chris Jericho made a memorable return to Raw tonight in Memphis, spoofing babyfaces who milk the crowd for cheers with various tricks and techniques. His obnoxiously sustained wide smile for what seemed like ten minutes straight was hilarious. Eventually some in the crowd seemed to catch on and started to boo him.
His two laps around ringside slapping hands like Eugene... His pausing in silence and acting like the crowd was blowing the roof off the place for him was classic.... His repeated attempts to get everyone to cheer him and chant for him over and over while never moving to the next phase where, you know, you're expected to speak, was brilliant.
The light-up jacket, the sprayed on abs and botox (okay, the abs were real), the pearly white teeth, the perfectly groomed hair, everything added up to Jericho giving at least the first hint of his makeover, so to speak.
He has said if he ever returned to WWE, he'd want to do something entirely different in order to stay engaged. This was a fun start, and because he didn't show all of his cards up front, it gives us something to talk about all week.
I'm assuming he'll be the WrestleMania opponent for C.M. Punk and fight over the title "Best in the World." I'm assuming Jericho and Punk will bring out of each other some of their best mic work to date. And when the bell rings, with the type of shape Jericho appeared to be in and given his track record, I think we'll have a match of the year contender.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they get from tonight's Point A to WrestleMania 28's Point Z. I'm curious how Jericho turns on the fans and what his speech (guilt trip?) turns out to be when he finally speaks.
Hats off to Jericho for essentially spoofing his original Y2J return with the sparkly jacket and pearly white smile. It shows a self-deprecation and self-awareness that he can use to talk about who he once was and why he is no longer that person (and why he is thankful he has seen the light).
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