8 Ways Chris Jericho Has Reinvented Himself During His Career

He doesn't really mention it much but did you know that Chris Jericho was the first undisputed champion in WWE? And that he beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the same night to do it?

After an up-and-down 2000, it was in 2001 and the oft maligned Invasion angle that Jericho truly established himself in the company.

Working with The Rock towards the end of the year, the two tore it up and Y2J was able to prove that he could hang with one of the biggest stars in the business.

After WCW and ECW were defeated in the storyline, it was Jericho who unified the WWF and WCW titles on that shocking December evening.

Cheating to win and playing an entitled heel, Jericho shone in the ring in rematches against Rock and Austin but his cowardly heel persona never truly clicked with the audience. That wasn't helped, of course, by his feud with the returning Triple H ahead of their meeting at WrestleMania X8.

Instead of focusing on HHH's quad injury and him wanting revenge against Jericho - who famously slapped the Walls of Jericho on the injured Triple H in their classic Raw tag title match - the build to Mania focused instead on the storyline split of HHH and Stephanie McMahon. Poor Y2J essentially played the role of Steph's lackey, walking her dog and cleaning up its poop. Yes, this was really how they built a WrestleMania event.

That took the shine off what should have been a brilliant period for Jericho. Still, he'll always have the bragging rights of being the first ever undisputed champ.