The BEST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2026)
10. 2017 | The Festival Of Friendship
WWE fans were upset when Kevin Owens Vs. Chris Jericho was not contested for the Universal title at WrestleMania 33. Already tired of the part-timers barrelling in to grab a headline spot at the most convenient of times, this one was particularly egregious because Owens and Jericho had crafted a Buddha’s hand-rare actually great storyline. In the 2010s. This simply did not happen.
Their chemistry as best buds was fantastic throughout the latter half of 2016. This sort of breezy comedy was the forte of a reinvented Jericho, but Owens was a revelation in the role. This wasn’t his sort of thing - which became agonisingly obvious in the new year. Owens grew visibly frustrated by Jericho’s goofy shenanigans and his increasingly incompetent attempts at interference. Jericho sensed that things were going awry, and decided to stage the Festival of Friendship to salvage it. This led to one of the best Raw segments ever. The Festival, which Jericho had to lobby to make happen, was astonishing in its tonal range.
The use of contrast here was exquisite. Jericho started proceedings by wearing the most beaming of expressions on his face, before, in the end, looking crestfallen as he learned of Kevin’s betrayal.
Hilarious and heartbreaking, Jericho’s flustered attempts to stop everything from going wrong were superb, as was Owens; his inability to maintain his patience created a sinister and dreadful undercurrent to the wacky prop-based comedy.
It was put over the top as a legendary angle before the iconic “Why is my name on this?” betrayal when Jericho, legitimately emotional, expressed his gratitude towards Owens for helping him reinvent himself all over again. A lovely shoot comment within a superbly constructed work, this was genuine main event-level emotion.
Of course it didn’t main event WrestleMania. This was WWE in the 2010s.