10 Wrestlers Who Suffered For Being Too Good
4. Chris Jericho
For a spell it looked as if Chris Jericho was never quite going to become a permanent main event player during his time with WWE.
Jericho's whole 'best in the world at what I do' shtick propelled him to several World Championships after his bungled run as the first ever Undisputed Champion a couple of years prior. But more often that not, it seemed as if WWE valued Jericho as that gatekeeper who was an upper-midcard act who could be used to propel other talents up the card.
That gatekeeper position, while one that shows a huge level of trust from decision makers, is something that has so often held wrestlers back from ever becoming their own fully-fledged main event act. And for a good few years there, we'd seen Jericho trusted to make others look good and to fill in as an occasional top tier act.
A prime example of this was WWE deciding that Jericho was one of the few talents who might be able to get a decent match out of Chyna. When Chris Benoit - who was one of the best in-ring workers in the world at that time - arrived in the company in 2000, it didn't take long for Benoit to be paired with Jericho so that WWF audiences could seen what Benoit could do.
Upon his arrival on the SmackDown brand, John Cena was linked with Jericho to see just what the future Doctor of Thuganomics was capable of. And then you can throw in names such as Batista, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Bray Wyatt, and AJ Styles, who WWE had Jericho serve as a gatekeeper for at times.
It's testament to Jericho's ability, but it often felt as if his own brilliance was there more to serve others.