10 Times Chris Jericho Shocked The Wrestling World

8. Defeating The Rock & Stone Cold Steve Austin In One Night To Become WWE Undisputed Champion

Chris Jericho Rey Mysterio
WWE.com

After nearly making history almost two years earlier, the night Chris Jericho achieved a super-rare feat would come under substantially different circumstances from the phantom Monday Night Raw switch, and at the expense of two substantially different main event megastars.

Unifying the WWE and (sort of) WCW World Heavyweight Titles at December 2001's Vengeance pay-per-view, Chris Jericho didn't have to worry about Triple H not being over-keen to put him over - he had Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock to do it instead.

Entering in to the one-night tournament as the fourth choice from four (WWE Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin, WCW Champion The Rock and Kurt Angle were other combatants), Jericho left the world stunned when he pinned 'The Great One' and 'The Rattlesnake' in back-to-back matches on the December supercard.

Though ably assisted by Vince McMahon as a newly-minted heel, Jericho nonetheless milked the result in promos for years, both as stab for legitimacy as a hero and an overtly braggadocios exclamation as a villain.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett