30 Years of Chris Jericho: His greatest moments ever

#25 Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania 19

Jericho laid the foundation with a kick down below (Pic Source: WWE)

Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels' feud got going a few years later, but their match at WrestleMania 19 started it all. Shawn Michaels, who hadn't wrestled in years, made his return to WWE in 2002 and never looked back.

Chris Jericho's match at WrestleMania 19 was incidental, but it was the start of something extraordinary between him and Shawn Michaels. The match was impressive in its makeup, but the ending was remarkable. It's a tribute to Jericho's manipulative abilities as a performer and knowing how to use emotional moments to his advantage.

Chris Jericho and Michaels feud began years earlier at WrestleMania 19

Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels (Match Guide)WrestleMania 19 (3/30/03)Raw #530 (7/21/03)Raw #591 (9/20/04)Judgment Day (5/18/08)Raw #783 (5/26/08)The Great American Bash (7/20/08)Unforgiven (9/7/08)No Mercy (10/5/08)Raw #807 (11/10/08)Raw #877 (3/15/10) pic.twitter.com/xzlacLvOuz

— Sixth Raikage (@AnwarStarwind) April 22, 2018

In his book, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 easy steps, Jericho explained how his embrace became a betrayal that set the stage for what was to come. He said:

"False finish after false finish unfolded until finally, Shawn rolled me up with a move I’d seen Owen Hart use fifteen years earlier. Afterwards, the crowd gave us a standing ovation. In the middle of the applause, we shook hands and embraced in a classic WrestleMania moment–until I kneed him in the plums. He collapsed and looked up at me with his puppy-dog eyes, asking, How could you?”

This moment will live on in WrestleMania history as one of the best and Chris Jericho was a big reason for that.

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#24 Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

An experiment that worked (Pic Source: AEW)

If there were any way to explain Jericho's prowess best, it would be his recently concluded feud with Orange Cassidy. While Jericho was skeptical about Cassidy at first, he grew on Jericho. Jericho felt that there was something about Orange Cassidy and thought that he could make him a star. He said:

And when we started locking up to Orange months and months ago before the pandemic, there was something about him that people liked and you can't analyze it, you can't justify it, and it doesn't matter. What's over is over."

Orange Cassidy defeated Chris Jericho in the first ever Mimosa Mayhem match.#AEW #AEWAO #AEWAllOut #AllOut #ImWithAEW #AllEliteWrestling pic.twitter.com/3BcyPFomez

— Mike Awesome stan account (@NotPunkAnymore) September 6, 2020

Chris Jericho was well aware that he could take Cassidy to the next level, and he did. He put him over with Cassidy winning two of their last three matches in AEW and becoming a bigger star in the process. And it culminated with the Mimosa Mayhem match, which was devised by Chris Jericho himself.

Chris Jericho's abilities haven't subsided as he's gotten older, but rather, he keeps improving it.