Chris Jericho's WrestleMania Matches - From Worst To Best

3. WWE Championship Match: Chris Jericho Vs. CM Punk - WrestleMania XXVIII

Jericho targeted the family of CM Punk leading into WrestleMania XXVIII, playing mind games with the WWE champion in hopes of throwing him off his game and wrestling the title away from him. When Raw general manager John Laurinaitis announced minutes before the match started that if Punk got disqualified he would lose the belt, it looked like Jericho's manipulation had worked.

Unfortunately for him, The Straight Edge Superstar resisted the urge to maim his opponent at every turn, instead focusing on proving himself the superior athlete.

The two acclaimed wrestlers worked a style reliant on hold and counter-hold. For every Walls of Jericho the challenger applied, Punk was right there with a counter out of it. The same could be said for Jericho, who set aside flashy entrances and lighted jackets to prove that, after a year away from the sport, he was still as good as he ever was.

Unfortunately, the one hold he could not counter out of was the Anaconda Vise, which he found himself trapped in after 22 minutes of action with no way out of. He tapped out, giving Punk the monumental victory.

For Jericho, it was another loss on the grand stage but further proof of his greatness as a performer.

There may be others on the roster with the word "cerebral" etched into a nickname for marketing purposes but few have proven time and time again, under the brightest lights, that they are the epitome of it the way Jericho has at WrestleMania.