In his two-plus decades in the pro wrestling industry, Chris Jericho has had ups and downs like most every other grappler. From getting Ralphus over, breaking Chyna's thumb with a hammer and asking the Road Dogg to spell "lugubrious" to teaming with Christian and The Big Show, defeating Triple H for the WWE Championship in State College, Pennsylvania and being the winning the Undisputed Championship, Jericho has had quite the diverse career. However, in what may creatively be his worst year to-date, 2014 has proven to be woefully underwhelming in the career of "The Highlight of The Night." In three months, Chris Jericho did something that very few performers have ever done. He went from legendary to irrelevant in the space of 90 days. While yes, he IS Chris Jericho and could be heated back up overnight with the right creative pieces being put into motion, the creative ideas used during his last run were so underwhelming that they ultimately derailed him. There are actually just six reasons why Chris Jericho's most recent WWE run was largely a failure. In identifying these reasons and contemplating how Jericho (and his character) could've avoided these pitfalls, many questions regarding WWE in 2014 (and the future) are answered, too. This is a sad occurrence that absolutely didn't have to happen.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
