Ranking Who Was Really The Man In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020

2. 2019 - Chris Jericho

Austin Jericho
Scott Lesh

Cody ran him awfully close - on a smaller scale, he all but emulated Triple H's 2000 and 2014 with his dual rise as super-worker and great promotional hope - but Jericho was the man.

Chris Jericho starred in two major promotions with two fresh and wildly entertaining personas: the Painmaker that beat the sh*t out of Tetsuya Naito in an awesome and yet still underrated brawl, and Le Champion, whose polymath brilliance instantly solidified AEW Dynamite as the best wrestling programme on television. Jericho in 2019 pissed and sh*t entertainment and relevance. It was his resting state; he birthed the little bit of the bubbly meme when dialled directly into the f*cking zone throughout what was a fabulous post-show title celebration.

Jericho was everything except the tippy-top guy throughout his legendary career; in 2019, he added 'Ace' to his comedically oversized list of nicknames.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!