10 Awesome Moments From The WWE Invasion
9. Chris Jericho's Slow Burn Heel Turn
In the summer of 2001, Chris Jericho was one of the most popular superstars in the WWE. No shock there.
Having been part of the aforementioned King Of The Ring main event, Y2J was on the cusp of superstardom and the fans were behind him. His rivalry with Rhyno into SummerSlam was underrated and his takedowns of Stephanie McMahon on the microphone were tremendous.
Then The Rock returned to the fold and Chris Jericho's light shone a little less and he didn't like it. What followed was a brilliant, slow burn heel turn, which saw the mammoth egos of both The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla and The Great One collide. The Rock had humiliated Booker T and taken the WCW Championship and as their rivalry grew, Jericho set his eyes on it.
It would have been easy to just have Jericho lazily defect to the Alliance like William Regal did, especially considering his lineage with both companies. Thankfully, the rivalry was kept more personal and Jericho traded the WCW Title with The Rock. The pièce de résistance of this rivalry was at Survivor Series after Jericho had been eliminated. Overcome with rage, he planted The Rock ensuring that his ego almost cost the WWE everything.
A splendid story told during one of the messiest the company ever produced.