5 Times Chris Jericho Got Betrayed

There is very little that Chris Jericho hasn’t accomplished in the professional wrestling world during his 30+ year career. The Ocho has won World titles, rubbed shoulders with all-time greats, and main-evented some of the biggest shows for wrestling promotions all over the world.

While he started his mainstream career as a white meat babyface in WCW, Jericho gradually evolved into a fast-talking superstar who became quite adept at playing a heel and a babyface with the same aplomb.

He has also had his share of embarrassing moments though, having been betrayed in storyline by multiple wrestlers over the years – While it has never reached WCW Sting’s level of incompetence, AEW recently dipped into that well to have Sammy Guevara double-cross Jericho. This list takes a look at 5 other times the former Y2J found himself betrayed in the ring.

1. MJF

Sammy Guevara wasn’t the first man to betray Jericho in AEW – that honor goes to the current World Champion, MJF. During his Inner Circle days, Jericho received persistent requests from MJF to let him join the group and eventually was allowed to do so.

The angle seemed intriguing despite being a little too self-indulgent. It all came down to a convoluted end when MJF was recorded asking other members of the Inner Circle to betray Jericho, only for them to inform Jericho of the plan. This seemingly led to Jericho and the rest of the Inner Circle getting the upper hand on MJF, but the latter had a plan B.

Cue the formation of The Pinnacle as FTR, Shawn Spears, and Wardlow came out to beat down Jericho and his group. Jericho wasn’t the gullible babyface on this occasion, but he did get outsmarted by the future Devil.

2. Kevin Owens

Possibly the most memorable betrayal in this list happened in 2017 when Kevin Owens drove Jericho’s face through a TV monitor during the famous ‘Festival of Friendship’ segment. Owens and Jericho’s tandem had organically become the most popular act in the WWE and they were at the height of their powers, with Owens holding the Universal title and Jericho being the United States Champion at the time.

However, tensions had been simmering for some time, with KO most upset at Jericho accepting an Owens vs Goldberg Universal title match on Owens’ behalf. It became apparent that the WWE was building to an Owens vs Jericho program at that year’s WrestleMania, but the manner in which they got there was shocking.

Jericho had gotten the ‘List of Jericho’  – names of people he hated – massively over with the fans and Owens would present Y2J with a new list – ‘The List of KO’ during the ‘Festival of Friendship’ segment. The list contained just one name – Jericho’s. A shocked Jericho would be beaten up by Owens moments later, before being shoved face-first into the TV monitor.

Owens would lose his title to Goldberg and would face Jericho for the US title at ‘Mania instead.

3. Lance Storm

A forgotten match, Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho was the opening bout of the widely acclaimed ECW One Night Stand PPV in 2005. While the match had no build on RAW or SmackDown, it was important on a personal level for both Storm and Jericho. The two had been tag team partners on the Canadian independent scene before becoming famous and more over, Storm had decided to retire from his active wrestling career after the event.

Jericho was frustrated at being allotted just 7 minutes for the match and while everyone expected it to be a fair fight, Storm had other plans. His former ECW tag team partner Justin Credible was ringside and hit Jericho with a kendo stick, allowing a vigilant Storm to pick up the victory.

The commentators expressed their bemusement at Storm cheating to beat his former partner in his final match, but Storm celebrated with not a care in the world. It was yet another night to forget for Jericho in an ECW ring.

4. Trish Stratus

At WrestleMania 20, WWE executed a turn that not many people saw coming. After stealing the show at the previous WrestleMania against Shawn Michaels, fans were a little disappointed when Jericho’s WrestleMania program that year turned out to be a match against Christian, who was considerably lower in the pecking order.

Creative did build a great story around the match though, with Jericho and Christian being heel tag team partners for a considerable time before the feud started. Christian’s frustrations at Jericho’s feelings for Trish Stratus affecting their tag team title aspirations would lead to him turning on his best friend prior to WrestleMania.

Christian would even resort to putting Trish in the Walls of Jericho, forcing an irate Jericho to accept a match against his former friend.

The shock happened at Mania when Trish’s attempt to help Chris Jericho allowed Christian to roll up a distracted Y2J for the pin. While a third straight defeat at WrestleMania was bad enough for Jericho, Trish put the exclamation mark by slapping Jericho across the face after the match, shocking the crowd. A cheeky Christian soon returned to the ring to deliver an Unprettier to Jericho.

The segment ended with Trish and Christian confirming that they were a couple, with Chris Jericho remaining dumbfounded in the ring – possibly his least favorite WrestleMania moment next to his defeat at the hands of Fandango a decade later.

5. Chyna

At the first SmackDown after WrestleMania 2000, Jericho put his newly won European title on the line against Eddie Guerrero. Jericho would have Chyna in his corner, improving his odds. While Jericho and Chyna had a feud the previous year, the two had eventually become tolerant of each other, with them even being co-Intercontinental champions for a time.

With the referee knocked down in the match, Chyna entered the ring to seemingly help Chris Jericho – but she ended up delivering a low blow to Y2J instead. This was followed by a DDT which led to Guerrero getting the pin and the belt.

As if to underscore the importance of the turn, a rematch for the European title at the very next RAW episode ended the same way – with Chyna getting the better of Chris Jericho once again to ensure that Guerrero remained champion.

Jericho never got the upper hand on Chyna and the two went on to different programs almost immediately.

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