Over the past few years, part-time performers have been an integral part of WWE programming.
Typically speaking, these ageing stars have been brought into the fold—often during WrestleMania season—to play out a major angle, inject a little razzmatazz and ultimately get more eyes on the product.
The past two 'Mania’s alone have seen no less than nine part-timers return to the ring for their marquee moments on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Bonus points for whoever can name our troop of returning stars…
But away from the spotlight of the Undertaker’s Streak and the WWE title, there’s been one part-timer who’s been noticeably more selfless than many of his peers.
Chris Jericho—the altruist—has been happy to help in any way possible and frequently shown willing to job himself out. Such is his generosity to the business that he often worked additional TVs and pay-per-views, despite his chock-a-block schedule.
His most recent appearance for WWE came this past week, when Monday Night Raw became Raw is Jericho, with Y2J named General Manager for the evening. With that still fresh in the mind, details are now surfacing of Jericho’s next scheduled stint with the sports entertainment juggernaut.
But it’s certainly not your usual part-time deal, as the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla looks set to steer clear of TV and PPVs. Raj Giri of WrestlingInc reports on an article published by Sporting News, stating that “Jericho will be working WWE live events in January and February while Fozzy is taking time off from their tour, but he will not be working TV tapings or pay-per-views.”
First things first, this is a rather unprecedented move.
As mentioned earlier, the majority of part-timers return for a major angle at WrestleMania, or at least another PPV event for some form of significant pay-off. But for Jericho to stay away from that kind of exposure shows just how committed he is to the business.
Sure, guys like the Rock and Brock Lesnar have worked multiple PPVs or Raws, and in Batista’s most recent run he featured regularly on SmackDown as well—but nobody has offered themselves as a house show exclusive. Until now, that is.
It’s hard to imagine that Jericho is doing this with an ulterior motive in mind. Besides, with Fozzy touring Europe in March, working a few TV shows beforehand would presumably be the most beneficial measure for Jericho.
So perhaps he’s just giving back to the fans and the company, as well as the up-and-comers he’ll likely work with. Or perhaps he’s just run out of ideas having already engineered some of the most epic returns in WWE history.
But at a somewhat larger level, what does this move mean for the company itself?
For starters, it’s likely to have a positive impact on the attendance of the shows that Jericho will be at. That in turn is a telling sign of the changing nature of the industry. There was once a time when big-name returns were used to bump PPV buy-rates, but of course the advent of the Network has altered that market somewhat.
Another benefit is that this will give Jericho the chance to work with some of the company’s less experienced stars. House shows often feature dark matches involving guys from NXT and others who wouldn’t usually feature on Raw.
Having Y2J rub shoulders and share his experience with these guys, rather than the Paul Heymans and the Brock Lesnars that he recently interacted with on Raw, is much better for business.
In short, it still strikes me as a strange move, but one can definitely see the logic behind it.
Either way, it’s a very positive reflection on Chris Jericho and yet another example of his understanding of the business and his desire to be nothing but a consummate professional.
Please feel free to comment below with your thoughts on this news, Chris Jericho himself and any other points that were covered in the article.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1wn7DSs
via IFTTT December 18, 2014 at 10:10AM
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