Chris Jericho's WrestleMania Matches - From Worst To Best

11. 3-On-1 Handicap Elimination Match: Chris Jericho Vs. Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper & Jimmy Snuka - WrestleMania XXV

Chris Jericho was originally slated to wrestle actor Mickey Rourke, who was coming off a career-defining performance in the Oscar-nominated film, The Wrestler. Rourke, a nominee himself, heeded the advice of his management team and turned down the match. Thus, WWE Creative was forced to scramble to find a suitable replacement match for Jericho.

The idea of old, broke, desperate veterans of the wrestling industry became the theme of Jericho's journey to WrestleMania XXV. Each week, the superstar in the prime of his career would take to the ring to berate a legendary performer whose contributions to the event were undeniable.

First there was Roddy Piper, then Jimmy Snuka. Finally, a familiar face returned to WWE as Ricky Steamboat found himself on the receiving end of Jericho's verbal assault.

A three-on-one elimination handicap match was booked for the biggest show of the year and Jericho was faced with his toughest challenge to date: getting a great match out of three aging veterans.

He figured out how to do that fairly quickly, getting a hobbled Piper and ancient Snuka out of the way early, leaving him time to wage a dramatic war with Steamboat, who was still in good shape, considering his age and clearly hadn't lost much of his old magic.

For several minutes, Y2J and The Dragon wowed the audience in Houston, giving fans false hope that the Hall of Famer could do the unthinkable and knockoff the MVP of WWE. He did not, succumbing to the Code Breaker, but his performance was enough for the feud between the two to carry over into a second pay-per-view (Jericho beat him again at Backlash)

The match was infinitely better than it had any right to be, proof of Steamboat's babyface charm and likability and Jericho's all-around excellence.