The Most Insane Wrestling Lore HIDDEN On The Internet

5. Chris Jericho Leaves The Internet Forever

In 2002, Chris Jericho was defeated by Triple H in a match that was the main event of WrestleMania X8 in card positioning alone. The two had been comfortably usurped by the legendary battle between The Rock and Hollywood Hulk Hogan, and not even their best ever match would have come close to delighting the crowd the way the "Icon Vs Icon" clash had mere minutes earlier.

As it happens, the contest was far from their best, and their subsequent Hell In A Cell sequel wasn't up to much in contrast to their Raw and Fully Loaded 2000 matches either. Neither were exactly swimming in popularity with the critics and neither seemed too concerned, but when those same voices were mixed on 'Y2J's bout with Rob Van Dam from 2002's King Of The Ring, Jericho lost it. 

In a post entitled "Hello Jackoffs", the man that beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin just six months earlier let the online community have it. It would be a lie to suggest that the the digital space was never...eeever the same again; nobody ever really leaves the internet, and Jericho - he of longstanding personal website, blog, merch, podcast, everything - was no different. Available to see in all its original glory should this link not be nuked by the time you click it, he let rip; 

"All right, I've had it. You want a war? Now you've got one. I'm suffering from a bout of insomnia, so I decided to go on the web and check out the reviews of the King Of The Ring from tonight, more specifically on the PW Torch website. After reading what all of you "smarks" (and believe me, you are all still marks) had to say about my match and the show, I am furious.

Continuing his diatribe, he added;

Everybody has the right to an opinion and here's mine. I am sick of all you holier than thou, pompous, jackasses. That's it. That's all. Baby goes to sleep now. I had one of my best matches of the year tonight with RVD, that featured 20 minutes of tremendous action, innovative false finishes and an absolutely tremendous crowd. It was everything I could've asked for in a match and it was in my opinion, an off the charts performance from RVD and myself, match of the year caliber . I was so excited about the contest and I can humbly state that we stole the show. The crowd was so into it that they were burned out after we went on, quiet for the next 3-4 matches. They ate up every move from start to finish, and they enjoyed the hell out of it. But now I read the opinions of some of you. Many of you state that the match was very good or excellent. I agree. But many others are saying that the match was slow and predictable with one jackass even saying that it was one of the worst matches of my career!!! How can you honestly say that? What the hell do you people want? What is it that you are looking for? We go out there and bust our asses to entertain you (and if the Columbus fans were quiet, they sure as hell weren't during my match, they were entertained) and your thoughts were that bad?

Absolutely no shade on a performer backing themselves, but Jericho risked losing the room when he assessed the fine pay-per-view opener as one of the best matches in company history. He continued...

Well if you didn't like my match tonight, then you are out of luck if you're a Jericho fan, cause it was the best you're gonna get, jerky. That was CJ at his finest. Wrestling at it's finest. A great 4 1/2 star performance with a tremendous build, a great crowd and an awesome match. If you didn't like it, then stop watching me and stop watching the WWE and take up bowling, cause you will never like anything we give you. I'm the first one to admit when my performance is not up to snuff, or when something was bad and I'm the most self critical person on the WWE roster, but tonight's performance was me at my finest. Didn't like it? Get the F out then and good riddance to you. For all of you that enjoyed my match I say thanks. For those that didn't like it, I don't care cause I'm through with you.

Having said his piece, he dropped the same bombshell found in every forum flame war of the era and confirmed he was leaving this very space for good!

I am now finished with the internet and I'm finished with this site because I hate what you marks are doing. You've spoiled it for me. Your negativity is ridiculous. You all come off like a bunch of bitter know-it alls, who won't be happy with anything we give you. Nothing is ever good enough and quite frankly I'm over it. You are the same people that are saying that Attack of the Clones is boring, analyzing every little detail, instead of allowing yourselves to be entertained by it's magic.

Having chosen an extremely divisive movie to try and strengthen his point about just being positive about everything and "allowing yourselves to be entertained", Jericho wrapped it up in a fashion what became and increasingly familiar refrain from wrestlers that had noted the praise stop rolling in, concluding with;

It seems that some of you wish the wrestling business would dry up and die, because some of you dislike EVERYTHING we do. Is it always good? No, but we are killing ourselves to try and entertain you and if you don't respect that, then kiss my ass. I want the business to be around forever and I am doing my part to keep it great and I did that tonight, no matter what any of you think. Alot of the boys pander to you on their websites, asking for your input and your thoughts and I used to be one of them. Guess what? I'm not anymore. Think what you want. I don't care. Do what you want. I don't care. Respond how you want too as well, because I won't be reading. I don't give a damn about what you think anymore...

And he never did again. Rob Van Dam, on the other hand...