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Chris Jericho may be in AEW right now, but most casual wrestling fans will always refer to him as a WWE Superstar. Having won nearly 30 titles in the company over his (almost) two-decade stint, Le Champion is certainly a prime candidate for the WWE Hall of Fame.
Chris Jericho has had no qualms about putting people over on his way out of the company - He has lost two 'loser leaves town' matches in his WWE career, suffered WrestleMania defeats at the hands of questionable opponents and even lost to an NXT rookie while he was a 'pro' on the show. He has had more than five separate stints with the sports entertainment giant. Whether it's his 'Y2J' persona from 1999 - 2005 or his comedic 'List' gimmick from 2016-2017, Chris Jericho has certainly left his mark in WWE.
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While he might not have gotten a classic Shawn Michaels-type exit from the company, Chris Jericho never failed to put someone over any time he took a hiatus from WWE. This list looks at Y2J's top five WWE stints, along with his final opponent in each one of those stints.
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#1 1999 - 2005: John Cena
Chris Jericho made his WWE debut in 1999 and won the Intercontinental, European, Tag Team, and the Undisputed World Championships during his first run in addition to putting on great matches.
However, Jericho was rarely a part of the World title picture beyond 2003 with superstars such as Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar rising to the top. Jericho eventually became "disenchanted" with professional wrestling.
With his rock band Fozzy needing more attention, Y2J decided not to renew his WWE contract in 2005. As a goodbye gift to him, Jericho was put in the WWE title picture with an objective to get the new WWE Champion John Cena more over with the fans. Jericho and Cena had three WWE Championship matches - at Vengeance, SummerSlam, and the RAW after SummerSlam.
Their third match had a 'loser leaves town' stipulation attached to it. Cena won the match and Chris Jericho was the one who got fired. Y2J would not be seen in WWE until 2007.
#2 2007 - 2010: Randy Orton
Chris Jericho's second WWE run lasted from 2007 - 2010 and is considered to be his best work in the company. He re-debuted in his Y2J persona, confronting then-WWE Champion Randy Orton and inserting himself into the WWE Championship picture right away.
Jericho would later describe in his book that while his return pop was good, it wasn't as loud as he had expected it to be. After sliding down the card following the Orton program, Chris Jericho decided to freshen up his character and turned heel during a legendary feud with Shawn Michaels. Gone were the long pants and his rockstar persona - Instead, Chris Jericho would wear pretentious suits, speak big words with a slow tone as opposed to his iconic style of delivering promos, and wrestle in trunks.
The program with Michaels became so hot that WWE decided to put the World title on Jericho - In fact, he would win the title three times in this stint, beating the likes of Batista, Kane, Rey Mysterio, JBL, and The Undertaker for the coveted prize.
After a compelling program with Rey Mysterio, a fun tag team run with the Big Show and a World title feud with Edge, Jericho started playing a 'fading wrestler' gimmick in 2010, facing unexpected losses on RAW and pay-per-views. In real life, Jericho once again wanted time to dedicate to his band and pursue an acting career.
Before departing, Jericho was used for adding an extra layer to the Sheamus vs. Randy Orton WWE title feud. In the final match of his second stint, Jericho faced Randy Orton, who would not only beat him but also proceed to hit Le Champion with a punt kick, writing him off TV as a result.
#3 2012: Dolph Ziggler
Chris Jericho returned to WWE in January 2012 following another set of cryptic vignettes. On his return, Jericho proceeded to soak in the crowd applause and did not speak on TV for a couple of weeks. He finally revealed that he was going to enter the Royal Rumble match that year to earn the right to challenge WWE Champion CM Punk at WrestleMania 28.
Although Chris Jericho failed to win the Rumble, he did start a widely-appreciated program with Punk for the WWE Title on the road to WrestleMania 28. Jericho would also be involved in the World Heavyweight title picture prior to the summer of 2012, feuding with the likes of Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Randy Orton.
This stint lasted less than a year, with Jericho's final feud being with Dolph Ziggler on the road to SummerSlam 2012. Ziggler would point out Jericho's unsuccessful attempts at capturing titles after returning. The two would have a match at SummerSlam, with Jericho walking away as the winner.
The following night on RAW, GM AJ Lee booked Jericho vs. Ziggler in a career vs. Money in the Bank briefcase match where Ziggler would come out on top and Jericho would leave the company for another five months.
#4 2013: Curtis Axel
Around five months after the match with Ziggler, Chris Jericho returned to WWE as a surprise entrant in the 2013 Royal Rumble match where he reignited his feud with Dolph Ziggler. He had a strong showing in the match in question but was eliminated by Ziggler.
In the same run, Chris Jericho would lose against Fandango at WrestleMania 29, fail to capture the Intercontinental title from Wade Barrett, and feud with the likes of Ryback and Curtis Axel. All things considered, Chris Jericho's 2013 run with WWE was among his least memorable ones.
Jericho's send-off would come in the form of a defeat to Curtis Axel and a post-match attack by Ryback.
Jericho would continue making occasional appearances in 2014 and 2015 and feud with the likes of the Wyatt Family and Randy Orton. He would also join forces with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to take on the Wyatt Family at Night of Champions 2015.
#5 2016 - 2017: Kevin Owens and AJ Styles
After his house show contract expired at the end of 2015, Chris Jericho signed another full-time contract with WWE in January 2016. While this was also intended to be a short-term deal, Jericho ended up staying for over a year.
Post-Brand Split, WWE made the wise decision to pair Jericho up with Kevin Owens which created the most entertaining alliance in WWE for quite a while. Jericho relished in his role as the comedic side-kick of Owens after the latter became the Universal Champion.
In the same run, Chris Jericho would introduce his legendary 'List of Jericho' and multiple catchphrases like 'You just made the list', ' Drink it in, man!' and so on. Interestingly, he would even beat Roman Reigns to capture the United States title.
Following Royal Rumble 2017, Jericho would be attacked by his 'friend', Kevin Owens during a well-appreciated 'Festival of Friendship' segment, resulting in the two feuding over the US title on the road to WrestleMania 33.
After losing the title to Owens at WrestleMania 33, Jericho would regain the belt in an acclaimed match at Payback. However, Owens would recapture the title on the following Tuesday on SmackDown, and Le Champion would be carried off on a stretcher.
Chris Jericho would make his TV return a few months later in a one-off appearance, where he would unsuccessfully challenge for the US Championship in a triple threat match also involving Kevin Owens and AJ Styles.
Chris Jericho would make a handful of appearances in 2018, with the 'Greatest Royal Rumble Match' being the final time that we would see Jericho in a WWE ring.
