Undisputed_ How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps - Chris Jericho [67]
So you can thank Buff Bagwell for the brand extension.
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The Invasion began in the summer of 2001. In the classic tradition of most wrestling “invasions” (i.e., NWA, UWF, New Japan), instead of milking it for all it was worth, the WWE guys completely dominated the WCW guys and ended what could’ve been a year-long angle in about four months. After all those years of Bischoff guaranteeing he’d put the WWE out of business, Vince ended WCW as quickly as he could, and who can blame him?
He won the wrestling war for good and got a stranglehold on the entire business as a result. He could now acquire any talent in the world and put together any match he wanted.
Except one.
I had a dream one night that Vince had signed the Loch Ness Monster to a multiyear deal so he could book the Loch Ness Monster vs. Chris Jericho—Live on PPV. I was very concerned about the professionalism of my opponent and was not happy when asked to do the job, especially when Vince explained that the finish would be Nessie swallowing me.
“Vince, you can never trust the Loch Ness Monster! How am I supposed to just let him put me in his mouth and swallow me? I mean, I personally don’t have a problem with it, but my character would never do that!”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do, pal. I went in his mouth earlier today to test him out and he was fine,” Vince said confidently.
I didn’t want to tell Vince that I was terrified of the water boast, so I hesitantly agreed—but I wasn’t happy about it.
Chris Jericho vs. the Loch Ness Monster took place in a floating ring in the middle of a lake. It was a seesaw match back and forth, and Nessie was getting the upper flipper, so I dove out of the ring and climbed up a bridge. Nessie swam underneath and rammed it with his tail, causing me to tumble into his open mouth, as the ref counted to ten and ruled him the winner by ingestion. When we went to commercial break, Nessie spit me out into the drink and smiled.
“That’s how you do it, kid,” he said before submerging himself beneath the waves. As I was treading water I looked up and saw Vince smoking a cigar while giving me the thumbs-up.
The next day when I told him about my dream, he looked at me thoughtfully and nodded his head.
“Hmmmm, the Loch Ness Monster, huh? Is he available?”
I officially turned heel on The Rock during the Invasion angle by attacking him at the end of a match where if he lost, WCW would officially take over the WWE. Obviously he didn’t lose, but the damage was done and our feud was off and running. I finally had my sustained angle with The Rock and it was a huge chance for me. But there were forces at work, hoping to see me blow it.
A week into the program, agent Gerry Brisco (who had accompanied Jim Ross when he came to Tampa to recruit me years earlier) took me into a corner of the arena to have a private conversation.
“You’ve got to really step it up, Chris, because there are people on the inside that want to see you fail. They don’t believe in you. They’re burying you behind your back and telling everyone that you’re the shits.”
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
I thought that the target on my back from when I arrived in the WWE had disappeared, but Gerry’s words reminded me that it was still there. As always, I would have to be extra careful and work extra hard if I wanted to keep my head above water in the WWE. But that was no problem for me; I’ve always liked a good fight.
Speaking of which, I notice you’ve been looking at me funny for the last few pages, hambone—you wanna go?
Later that night during a match with Kane on Raw,