"How to Annoy a Crowd" by Chris Jericho

The person behind the “It Begins” videos was revealed on Monday night to be Chris Jericho. I’ve always liked Jericho from the moment he debuted in the WWE in 1999 when he interrupted the Rock. He is an excellent wrestler and probably one of the best talkers ever in professional wrestling.

As expected, the WWE crowd in Memphis, Tennessee went wild when Jericho’s music hit. It was great to see him back and I expected to explain why he had returned and display some of his excellent mic skills. However, he didn’t. Jericho, a person renowned for being an excellent talker, said absolutely nothing. That’s right, nothing. In a segment that lasted over 8 minutes, Jericho went around pandering to the crowd and then went back up the aisle with the crowd booing.

After reading the reaction on some of the blogs that I read, some people were pissed. I found it unusual and slightly weird. After a few days thinking about it, I have now realised that what Jericho did was a brilliant way to get a crowd to boo you. Jericho has stated that he didn’t want to portray a good guy again and he knew that the crowd would go mental for his return. Therefore, instead of talking or attacking a good guy, Jericho did something rather unique which is to say nothing and to keep the same face throughout. Jericho managed to get the crowd go from one end of the spectrum to the other. The time that it took was also very important. If he did that in say 2 minutes, the crowd might be disappointed that he didn’t say anything but they would still cheer him. Jericho left enough time for the crowd to realise that Jericho was being obnoxious and for them to start booing. What I would like to see is for Jericho to continue that for at least another RAW and then maybe have somebody come out to try and force him to say something.

The question is, who will Jericho face first? There are rumours about him facing The Undertaker but I think the smart money is on CM Punk. Jericho’s last character was being in the best in the world in what he does. That moniker has been since been taken over by Punk, as evidenced by his “Best in the World” T-Shirt. That sets up a perfect feud between the two with Jericho winning the Royal Rumble and challenging Punk for the WWE Championship.

I think that 2012 has the potential, if played right by the WWE, to be the Year of Jericho. I’m excited for him to be back and to show everyone why he considers himself to be the best in the world at what he does.