10 Best Wrestling Talkers Of 2018
6. Chris Jericho
A bonafide legend of the promo game, Chris Jericho can play it calculating, he can play it comedic, he can play it superior. He is the man of 1,004 heat-generating techniques. Adding a 1,005th in 2018, 'Alpha' reinvented himself as a belligerent old f*ck.
His initial work opposite Kenny Omega, in 2017, felt a bit 2012. Perhaps daunted by the expectation of a classic wrestling match, Jericho, one of the most intelligent practitioners of the art ever, refocused the programme - and the stupidly entertaining payoff - as an old school fight. Referring to all around him as a "f*ckface", Jericho clearly relished being off the scripted, PG leash - but he remained tethered to crucial old school principles.
Putting over subsequent rival Tetsuya Naito as an incredible performer and pro wrestler - else, who did he just beat? - Jericho also used his inherent instincts to add an organic slant to his post-Dominion press conference promo. By showing the photographers his bloodied finger, and the bloodied strap he had just claimed, Jericho, without one writer in sight, much less 25, put over his match with Naito as a war.
Naito is "tranquilo". Jericho created an awesome, stark dynamic to their feud by referring to himself as "crazy" - and made that premise believable by drinking himself into a slurring stupor and putting the hangover on his opponents with a series of unhinged, vile sneak attacks.