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By Root 1777 0

to Washington, D.C., had been canceled. Eddy Guerrero and his wife, Vicki, were booked on the same flight, and the four of us decided to stay at the airport Marriot instead of driving back home. We had a great conversation that night and the next morning they were sitting in front of us on the plane. Throughout the flight Eddy kept turning in his seat excitedly to explain the psalms in the Bible that were really inspiring him. He had gone through a recent resurgence in his faith and was very excited about his new spiritual commitment. We shared a laugh about how we’d been in the same company for years but were hardly ever on the same show. When he was on Smackdown! I was on Raw, and vice versa, and aside from when he “stole” Chyna and the European Championship from me in 2000, we had never worked a program together in the WWE.

I was happy that our original flight got canceled, as it was great talking to him and spending quality time together.

It was the last time we would get that chance.

Cena and I had a great match at SummerSlam. He was much maligned at the time by critics and peers as being a subpar worker, but I didn’t agree. “It’s bullshit, when people say you can’t wrestle,” I told him. “You’re a really good performer, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Maybe your style is unorthodox, but it works. Don’t limit yourself.”

John’s style was unconventional, but so was a little rattlesnake named Steve Austin, and he ended up being one of the best workers of all time.

We built up the match beautifully with our promos, establishing exactly who was the heel and who was the babyface. But despite our hard work, our match started the tradition of certain fans booing John and cheering for his opponent. Halfway through, dueling chants of “Let’s Go, Cena!” and “Let’s Go, Jericho!” resonated throughout the crowd.

I was a little miffed at first, because I never liked getting cheered when I was working as a heel. But in retrospect I think the fans were rooting for me because, like me or hate me, they respected all my years of hard work and legitimately wanted to see me win the title.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, and Cena beat me clean with the FU.

The match was a special one, and when we went through the curtain we got a standing ovation. Benoit, Eddy, and Dean (who had started working as an agent) congratulated me en masse and Jessica snapped a picture. It was amazing to have my three best friends in the business surrounding me and sharing in my triumph. Chris, Eddy, and I had been world champions and Dean was now in Vince’s inner circle. We had been through so much together and had risen above all of the bullshit to get to the top of this industry.

The four of us shared a group hug and Eddy gave me a huge smile.

“I’m so proud of you for all you’ve done, bro. I’m also proud of you for walking away on your own terms. I love you, man.”

I gave him a big hug and told him I loved him back.

I never saw him again.

The next night in Hampton, Virginia, I had my last match for twenty-seven months. Despite Cena’s reservations about having a rematch after our classic the night before, I think Cena-Jericho II might’ve been even better. The story was that Bischoff and I were in cahoots, stacking the deck to get the title off Cena and get him out of the WWE at all costs. I agreed that the loser would get fired, figuring there was no way that could ever happen with Eric by my side. Unfortunately for me, Bischoff’s interference went awry and cost me the match. But before he could fire me, I went down on my hands and knees and begged for mercy.

“Please, Mr. Bischoff. Please don’t fire me … I have a son … I have a family! You can’t fire me!”

But Eric stood firm and told a battalion of security to escort me out of the arena. The crowd was taking great pleasure with my misfortune, so I decided to take my exit a step further.

I whispered under my breath to the guards, “Pick me up and carry me out of here.”

It took them a few seconds to figure out I was serious, as we hadn’t discussed it in rehearsal, but they eventually lifted me up