10 Greatest Angles In Modern Wrestling History
4. The Festival Of Friendship
As good as if not better than any angle shot in the heyday of Monday Night Raw, the Festival of Friendship was a masterpiece. The non-fan finds pro wrestling not merely "fake" or silly, but utterly inexplicable. They can't fathom that you like it.
Show them this, and they might begin to understand.
The tone was set with Chris Jericho announcing the festivities with the biggest, beaming smile on his face. He wore it to put over the contrast of the moment his heart ripped in two. He also wore the expression to slowly, torturously, ramp up the gut-punching suspense. How could Owens do what he did to Jericho? How could he annihilate a puppy?
Look at it:
The comedy was unfathomably, actually funny. The infamous oil painting is the most iconic image, but the whole tone served a dual purpose. It at once endeared the fans to Jericho and in turn made Owens unconscionable for the actions that followed.
The Festival goes wrong, hilariously so, throughout. It was bad enough, for Owens, that his clown mate was screwing around too much and making a mockery of him. Here, he couldn't even be a distracting nuisance properly. In an ingenious twist, Jericho shattered the facade near the climax and used his real-life feelings about what was a rejuvenating period in his career to tell Owens how much he appreciated him. It felt like and was a shoot.
Then, when Owens was done with Jericho's b*llocks - when the b*llocks was at its absolute funniest - he gave him a new list.
"How come my name's on this?" Jericho said.
Wrestling is at its very best when it conveys an emotion the audience has felt. The rejection here was soul-destroying.
Look at it:
