Featured Article   Chris Jericho

WCW Title brings Jericho full circle
By Matt Duda

ST. LOUIS -- Only minutes had passed since Chris Jericho won the WCW Championship from The Rock on Sunday at No Mercy. He was asked for his reaction, and he didn’t have to think up a response.

"First of all, I want to dedicate this victory to Eric Bischoff and shove it up his ass because he said I could never do it," said Y2J about the former WCW President.

During his three-year stint in Ted Turner’s WCW, Jericho never received a shot at the company's most illustrious title. Although given a few matches with the United States Championship hanging in the balance, Jericho could never obtain a major WCW belt.

"I didn’t mean that maliciously although it came out that way," said Jericho about his sentiments toward Bischoff. "As long as I was in WCW I was never even given a title shot, never mind being thought about winning it."

Ironically, it took World Wrestling Federation management to pave the way for Jericho to win the WCW Championship. Since debuting in the Federation in August 1999, Y2J has also held that company’s Intercontinental Championship and technically the Federation Championship.

"It’s poetic justice. It’s probably, if not the greatest match of my career, top three for sure. It’s the best match I’ve had here since Last Man Standing," said Jericho, referring to his narrow loss to Triple H.

The new champion has stated publicly in the past that he dreamed of becoming the Federation Champion. This honor, however, may equal that achievement. "This is the most important belt in the Alliance and the most important -- if not, the second most important -- belt in (sports entertainment)," Jericho said.

"I still think the Federation Championship is my other ultimate goal, he added. But for now, this is a dream come true."

Part of his mission as WCW Champion, Jericho said, is to continue elevating the belt’s status and building more respect for it. The Rock helped do that during his two-month reign with the championship. Jericho also mentioned Ric Flair and Bret Hart as some of the great past WCW Champions who he would like to follow.

"Now it’s my job to continue that lineage and not end up like a David Arquette," he said.

Making the win even sweeter was the fact that Jericho and The Rock locked themselves in a heated feud that included some common criticisms of Y2J. "I think the one good thing about this whole situation is that it’s a real-life angle," Jericho said. "As far as never winning the big one like I said last week on SmackDown!, that’s pretty much the truth. For whatever reason, there are a lot of Jerichoholics in the crowd every night. I think those people were excited to finally see Chris Jericho win the big one so to speak. Even if it was against The Rock, it was like ‘Good for Jericho.’"

Jericho believes that the reaction of the fans at the Savvis Center after Sunday’s match is reason to continue his present strife with The Rock. "Sometimes they were cheering for The Rock, sometimes they were cheering for Y2J. The one thing it wasn’t was silent. With two weeks of build-up, and how pumped up they were, I think this is the beginning of the story rather than the end of it."

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