THE ROSS REPORT #3

Ross Forman Nov 7th 1997

Been there, done that. Now it's time to do more.

Monday night, in one of the biggest upsets in Nitro history, Chris Jericho countered Scott Hall's Outsider Edge with a small package, defeating the stunned NWOer in front of a packed Philadelphia house. Yet, after this great victory for WCW, Hall blindsided Jericho and subjected him to numerous Outsider edges. No one from the locker rooms came to Jericho's aid. And, in a night filled with upsets and high spots, one wonders if Jericho's win will impress the WCW Executive Committee enough for a rematch, or a title shot.

That's the deal these days with "Lionheart" Chris Jericho, the Canadian phenom who captured WCW Cruiserweight championship gold twice in a matter of months and is now looking toward Television, U.S, and even World Heavyweight Championship gold.

"Imagine you normally fly economy class, yet one time get into first-class. Well, after the taste of that first-class experience, you don't want to go back to economy, right? Right. That's exactly how I feel," Jericho said. "You know what's on the other side of that curtain; you know how much better it is; you want to stay on that side of the curtain, so to say. Unless you've been there, in the first-class section among the champions, you don't really know for sure what it's like; you've just hear stories. Until you experience it first-hand, you don't really know."

Jericho now knows.

His resume includes solid victories over Syxx and Eddie Guerrero for the Cruiserweight title. Yet, after losing the belt, Jericho never received nationally-televised rematches.

"I'm not necessarily disgruntled, but a bit upset that I have yet to receive a rematch. On the other hand, I also think that maybe it's just time to move on to bigger and better things, like other titles," Jericho said. "When I lost the Cruiserweight belt to Eddie at Fall Brawl, it not only was one of the best matches on the card, but one of the best matches I have ever had. I've beat Eddie before and know I can beat him again ... I just need the chance. Eddie's part of the reason I'm a two-time Cruiserweight Champion, and I'm proud that accomplishment.

"I weigh 225 pounds, so that kind of puts me in the middle of the title picture," Jericho said. "Is that a cruiserweight? Is that a heavyweight? Is that somewhere in between?

Top on Jericho's mind, the WCW U.S. Heavyweight title, currently held by the NWO's Curt Hennig.

"Dean Malenko has been the U.S. champion in the past -- and I've beaten him. Same goes for Guerrero. So who's to say I couldn't also beat Curt Hennig?" Jericho said. "I've been a champion in Japan and Mexico, and now the United States as well. I enjoyed the taste of the wine that is being a champion in WCW. Now I want some more wine. That's why I can say that my drive is as strong as ever. It's probably doubled or tripled what it once was. I think I have more to prove now.

"Wrestling against Curt Hennig means wrestling against the entire NWO. And that's always a major factor because, if he starts losing, the rest of the usual gang of idiots can run out at any time."

But Jericho has been relatively successful against the NWO. For instance, Jericho was one of the first to defeat an NWO member (Nick Patrick) and Jericho also was one of the first to swipe a championship belt from a member of The NWO (Syxx). Not to mention the recent victory of Scott Hall.

And Jericho is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to get there. Such as signing last-minute contracts for matches, as he did in Las Vegas at Halloween Havoc against his long-time Japanese rival, Gedo.

Jericho ultimately scored the PPV victory, but not before suffering a near-fatal fall from the top rope as he tried to apply his patented super-frankensteiner. The result, in one of those squirming scenes: Jericho seemingly applying a DDT to himself off the top rope.

"It's wrestling, things happen," Jericho said, understandably not wanting to talk about the face-fall.

"The road ahead for Chris Jericho hasn't gotten any easier; it's gotten a lot harder. It's not that I'm on my way to the top ... I've been there and I want to return."



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