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Jericho's Return Reax #2: "Y2J will be the reason the ratings will start to creep back into the 4's." Nov 28, 2007 - 2:35:24 PM
Sean of Kent, Ohio - PWTorch VIP member: So far I'm alright with Jericho's return. I agree that he isn't what he use to be and I think that if they did more job hyping who he was, like one of those video packages WWE is so good at making, it would mean more. He's been gone so long people have forgotten what he did and why he used to be so good. I'm gonna hold my breath on it right now and see where he goes. But one fact is very clear, he isn't at the level he once was.
Chris Jericho [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
Damian Hospital of Coral Springs, Fla. (Occupation: Digital Imaging Manager): I see a rush to judgment by Torch readers and some editors. The fans in Fort Lauderdale gave him a hero's welcome. The fans in North Carolina just wanted to focus on Ric Flair's special night; and it was tense for the N.C. fans because Flair's career was on the line (and the fans thought it was a title match until match-time). At the end, they cheered Jericho for helping Ric. Therefore, to make a judgment based on the arena reaction for two appearances isn't valid. Jericho's mic work is still funny and entertaining. For those who want to focus on his white teeth or smile, I think perhaps you're unaccustomed to having an enthusiastic babyface in this day and age. For now, since he's still selling his book, and is fan-orientated, and a cult Internet icon, it makes sense to start off like this for his return. Programming him against Orton so soon, however, is debatable. I feel all of this will be leading to Jericho's eventual turn. Save_us will be probably be retconned into meaning something else when he turns. Did I want Jericho to save us from bad storylines? Yeah. Did I want Jericho to rip into the state of the industry? Yeah. But Vince wouldn't want to go there, and I don't blame him since he's the boss. I'm just trying to preach patience and see how the Orton-Jericho angle plays out. I'm taking the "wait-and-see" attitude, and liked his mic work so far.
A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. Besides Jericho's strange outfits, has Y2J's return really been that terrible? We all know that the whole Fozzy thing and that celebrity sing thing didn't exactly work out. However, he's still a great speaker and a great athlete that can put on a great match. All three of these things have been lacking lately on Raw - great speakers, great athletes, and great matches. We've seen guys do terrible promo work and lose audiences to the concession stands mid-sentence. We've seen Divas that can only stomp and pull hair and too-tall, out-of-shape, balding (dare I say steroids?) men get tired after two minutes of locking arms. We've also seen some of the least memorable matches in recent history. Enter Jericho and tell me if you want to change the channel. Sure there's ring rust, but Y2J at 70 percent is still better than most of the roster at 100 percent. Wrestling fans are finally being given a reason to watch each week, and it's Y2J. It's also Ric Flair's end-of-career run, Mr. Kennedy's microphone, Santino's comeuppances, Hardy's high flying, and Orton's RKO, but if you need a new reason to come back to wrestling, it's Y2J. Injuries, terrible storylines, awful matches, and slow shows led to sub-3 ratings. Y2J will be the reason the ratings will start to creep back into the 4's. But please, KYJ, no more sequins, sparkles or neon. Would it be too much to ask a Canadian to wear something hockey-like?
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