So, as you can probably tell from some of the articles popping up around this place, Gaming Respawn is branching out a little bit into other areas of entertainment. In recent weeks we’ve seen reviews of movies, board games, and even wrestling shows.
As a big fan of the grappling arts, I decided I’d also throw my hat into the ring for a quasi-regular feature where I look back at classic wrestling rivalries. In most sports, rivalries between individuals and teams are what get recounted and retold as the generations ebb on. Whether it’s the Lakers and the Celtics in the NBA, Celtics and Rangers in the SPL, or even Ali and Frazier in boxing, rivalries form a big part in sporting pantheons.
Though professional wrestling isn’t strictly a sport per se, it is modelled after one for narrative purposes. The term “Sports Entertainment” may cause some to crinkle their noses, but I find it a suitably apt term to convey what wrestling is. I’ve always considered it to be a physical performing art, a morality play set in the form of an athletic contest. For this reason, rivalries (some just for show and some even real behind the scenes) are a core part of the drama and also are recounted by fans long after the wrestling bouts have come to a close.
Rivalries are what separate your standard wrestling storyline from a truly memorable one, and today I’m going to look at one that sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to discussions of greatest rivalries. Today, I’ll be looking at the war waged over the rings of World Championship Wrestling during the spring and summer of 1998 between Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko.
The rivalry itself had been bubbling under the surface during the first quarter of 1998, but it really took the next step at the WCW Uncensored Event from the Mobile Civic Centre on the 15th March 1998. After some exciting opening bouts, Chris Jericho came down to the ring to defend his Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho at this point in time was a villainous “heel” character after turning to the dark side in January of the same year. Prior to that point, Jericho had been a glad-handing “face” who had fought for the forces of good. However, at the turn of 1998 he had gone on somewhat of a losing streak and hadn’t taken well to it.
After losing each bout Jericho would lose his temper a little more each time until he was partaking in full on tantrums. On one such occasion he tore the shirt of the ring announcer, Dave Penzer, and on another occasion he started swinging a chair around ringside into the ring post and guardrails while screeching that everything wasn’t fair. After each occasion he would calm down and apologise, but the fans of WCW were not buying in to Jericho’s faux apologetics. Eventually, Jericho would find himself greeted to a wall of boos every time he made his entrance to the ring. Those boos only intensified when he both defeated and injured the popular Rey Mysterio Jr, gaining the trophy of the Cruiserweight Title as consequence.
Jericho taking on Mysterio at Souled Out 98
Jericho continued to collect trophies. He defeated the masked luchador Juventud Guerrera and took his prized mask as his property. Fans’ dislike for Jericho only continued to grow, and they longed for someone to come along and finally defeat the hated “Lionheart”.
On the night of Uncensored, the challenge was answered by “The Iceman” Dean Malenko. Malenko, son of the Great Boris Malenko, had acquired his nickname due to the icy precision with which he took his opponents apart in the ring. When Malenko walked to the ring, he showed little to no emotion and was 100% focused on whoever was unlucky enough to be his opponent. Whereas Jericho was loud, outlandish, and entered the ring to a rip off version of Pearl Jam’s “Evenflow”, Malenko was silent, measured, and entered to some ominous classical sounding music. The two characters could not have been more polarising, and fans hoped that the clinical Malenko would finally be the one to put an end to Jericho’s shenanigans.
Alas, it was not to be as Jericho won the bout on this night. Not only that, Jericho won the match cleanly with his famed “Lion Tamer” submission hold. There was no excuse and no foul play, Malenko was beaten by the better man. As Jericho ran into the night with his victory, Malenko was interviewed by WCW interviewer “Mean” Gene Okerlund. Gene, showing little sympathy for Malenko, aggressively quizzed him on why he had failed to win not just this match, but matches on previous big WCW events. Dean, looking disconsolate, simply had no answer for Gene’s questions. Finally, Gene exclaimed, “Where does Dean Malenko go from here?”.
Malenko gave a single word as his answer before walking to the back a defeated man:
“Home”.
Home? Did this mean Malenko was retiring? Did it mean he was taking a sabbatical to get his head together? WCW fans were left without an answer, as a flustered Gene was left to scoff the word again in confusion.
Jericho defeats Malenko at Uncensored 98
Jericho was under no confusion though, as he giddily declared the next night on WCW’s flagship show “Nitro” that he had a new trophy to go alongside Rey’s title belt and Juventud’s mask, that being Malenko’s dignity!
Over the coming weeks Jericho would continue to gleefully badmouth the fallen “Ice Man” at every occasion. Eventually, this raised the ire of the young Cruiserweight known as Prince Iaukea. Iaukea, son of legendary wrestling icon Curtis Iaukea, had been trained by Malenko and didn’t take kindly to Jericho’s continued debasing of his mentor. This all came to a head at the Spring Stampede Event on the 19th April 1998 from Denver, as Jericho defended the Cruiserweight Title against the vengeful Iaukea.
Prince Iaukea didn’t take kindly to Jericho insulting his mentor
Jericho would once again emerge victorious and took another trophy for his ever growing collection in the form of Iaukea’s ceremonial entrance attire. Jericho was in his full arrogant splendour the following evening on Nitro, as he not only wore Iuakea’s garb down to the ring with him, but he also brought out an easel with a picture of Malenko on it, making a zinger that Malenko had an interview lined up at a popular fast food restaurant the following day.
Jericho would go even further in a following Nitro show by coming down to the ring to Malenko’s music and mocking his mannerisms for a bout with luchador sensation Psychosis. He then followed that up the next week by not only mocking Malenko but his father Boris as well. Jericho brought down a Malenko lookalike called “Bore-us”, a jab at Dean’s supposed lack of personality, and finished the imposter off in quick succession before further taunting the absent Dean.
Jericho defeats Prince Iaukea at Spring Stampede 98
This insult prompted Dean’s brother Joe, also a respected wrestler from his time teaming with Dean in the rings of Japan, to come on to Nitro the following week and defend both his brother and father’s honour. Jericho, ever devious, laughed off these threats and then hit Joe with a prosthetic leg he had been carrying around to signify the injury he caused to Rey Mysterio Jr!
By this point fans were salivating for someone to finally come along and put a stop to Jericho’s shenanigans. Amazingly enough, despite never being on television since Uncensored, Malenko was almost even more popular than prior to that show as fans hoped he would return to avenge all of Jericho’s horrid antics.
Unfortunately, it seemed like Malenko was truly gone for good. As Jericho had no real #1 Contender lined up for his title, it was decided that at WCW’s Slamboree Event on the 17th May 1998 from Worcester would see an invitational Battle Royal where the winning Cruiserweight would receive a shot at the title immediately afterwards.
The highlight of the Battle Royal portion of the match was certainly Jericho himself introducing each of the competitors in humorous fashion. For example, Jericho declared that luchador competitor Silver King needed to only win twelve more matches before he could be upgraded to Gold King, and that the diminutive El Dandy once won a Lou Ferrigno look-alike contest.
Jericho found himself without a challenger at Slamboree 98
The Battle Royal itself was a plodding and unedifying affair, as most Battle Royals tend to be, and the numbers gradually dwindled away until only two men remained, one being former Jericho victim Juventud Guerrera and the other, strangely enough, being the masked luchador Ciclope. This was strange because Ciclope had never been a pushed commodity in WCW, and it seemed peculiar that he, of all the Cruiserweights, would be able to make it this far in the match. For all it seemed, this would be a standard walk in the park for Juventud to get another crack at vengeance against Jericho. However, then something even stranger happened, Juventud jumped over the top rope and out of the ring to eliminate himself!
Ciclope was hardly a pushed commodity within the Cruiserweight Division
The announcer team of Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay looked on confused, as did the sold out arena of WCW fans. Why had Juventud stepped aside to let Ciclope of all people get a shot at the champion? Suddenly, a crackle of anticipation started to spread amongst the amassed crowd. Surely not?
Ciclope bent over and slowly began to untie his mask, and the anticipation rose amongst the fans. Suddenly, Ciclope threw off his mask to reveal…Dean Malenko! The building erupted as the fans put two and two together, Malenko had just won the Battle Royal and he was going to get a chance to defeat his long time agitator!
To this day, I love watching that reveal for two reasons. Firstly, the crowd reaction is fantastic, with people losing their minds with joy, but also the reaction of Tony Schiavone is even better as he excitedly screams, “THAT’S NOT CICLOPE!!!”.
Ciclope himself must have loved the moment too, as it was probably the most his name had ever been mentioned on a WCW broadcast up to that point!
Backed into a corner, Jericho had no choice but to do battle with his hated foe, and Malenko unleashed months of pent up fury on the arrogant champion before finally evening the score from Uncensored by forcing Jericho into a submission defeat from his famed “Texas Cloverleaf” hold.
Jericho is finally vanquished by Malenko at Slamboree 98
Malenko celebrated with his newly won title along with Juventud and the exuberant Worcester crowd as Jericho skulked to the dressing room a defeated man. The rivalry would continue to rage for the remainder of the summer, but this was surely the peak as Malenko got a hero’s welcome and a deserved title win after months of abuse from the hated villain.
Even a silly luchador outfit couldn’t ruin Malenko’s title win
A big, BIG, shout out to www.ddtdigest.com which was invaluable in helping me write this article. Please, give that site a goosey gander, it’s a destination all WCW fans should visit!
Also, give Dom’s excellent review of WWE Backlash a looksee, you can read it all by clicking right HERE