5. His First WWE Title Win Was In 2000
WWE.comIt's one of the most famous matches in WWE Raw history. It was April 17, 2000 and Jericho had managed to get a title shot against the dominant champion Triple H. What we didn't know watching at home was that Jericho was so frustrated about things in WWE at the time that he nearly quit. Here's an explanation from him about what happened from a 2013 interview with
Busted Open: Before I won the title that time at State College, Pennsylvania against Triple H, I was on my way to Vinces (McMahon) office; it was like the movie Slap Shot: Who owns the Chiefs? Pay me or I will leave sort of thing. Im done! I lost to Viscera, I lost to the Godfather and this was a waste of my time. Im done. The writer at that time was Tommy Blacha and he said: Listen, before you go to Vince, I have to say something. I said: There is nothing you can say thats going to change my mind." He said: Youre going to win the World Title tonight." That's what happened. Sort of. Jericho did win the title from Triple H although there was a fast count from referee Earl Hebner as part of the story. Later in the show, Jericho had to give the title back. The pop for Jericho's win was one of the loudest in WWE history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Su_XnbpDM On the Jericho DVD that WWE produced a few years ago, Michael Hayes (a key WWE creative figure) said maybe they made the wrong call and should have kept the title on Jericho. At the time they had Hunter and The Rock trade the title around a bit, so that's why they kept it on Hunter. Jericho didn't win a World Title for over a year later and that was as a heel. This reaction was incredible because fans loved cheering for the guy. It's a shame that it was ripped away from him. Fans won't forget it, but whenever WWE talks about best Raw moments they rarely bring this one up. It was amazing.