10 Times Wrestling Fans Turned On Internet Darlings

8. Chris Jericho

Mr Kennedy SummerSlam 2007
WWE.com

Do you know why Chris Jericho is so great at this?

In addition to being a tremendous, versatile professional wrestler who is charismatic, keenly intelligent, and genuinely piss funny, not just wrestling funny?

It's because he knows precisely when to put himself over. He knows then that his words have far more weight. He wasn't banging on about being the master of reinvention in 2016, certainly, when he rocked back into WWE as the basic thrust of the Y2J character complete with new - and not particularly good - patter in the form of "rooty tooty booty", three immature words that rhymed in a row. That was the height of the patter, and if you think "turned on" is strong, type them into Google. The first result you'll see is a self-titled r/SquaredCircle thread in which the OP wishes "Jeridad" would "go home".

Jericho was defiant on his podcast in the aftermath of a wave of criticism, but he must have taken it to heart.

This wasn't the first time he had returned as simply "Y2J", feeling more civic center than stadium-sized, and he took to working on new material that very year, embarking on a renaissance from which he hasn't looked back - nor stopped reminding us of, to never, ever again relinquish the narrative.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!