Wrestlers Who Had Heat With Chris Jericho

Now in his 50s, Chris Jericho's longevity in wrestling is something to marvel at. The 30-plus-year veteran of the industry has had stops all around the world. He has wrestled on some of the biggest stages imaginable at the highest possible level for as long as any wrestler in the history of the sport. With Jericho's longevity comes the opportunity to make enemies inside and outside the ring. Being the distinguished veteran he is, Jericho's personality is arguably his greatest asset, as his peers tend to have a strong opinion of him, whether positive or negative.

Though Jericho may not be everybody's cup of tea, he has more than done his part to smooth things over with former foes. Several wrestlers have made nice with Jericho over the years, and even if they have not, many would be hard-pressed to deny Jericho's standing as one of the greatest, most influential wrestlers of his time. Nevertheless, one typically does not reach the heights Jericho has in professional wrestling without ruffling a few feathers along the way.

Here are 18 wrestlers who have or have had heat with Chris Jericho over Le Champion's three decades in wrestling.

One of Jericho's most notable enemies outside the ring in modern times is MVP, who worked with Jericho on numerous occasions during his time in WWE. The beef between the two is said to have begun on Twitter in 2020 over the results of the U.S. Presidential Election. When Jericho questioned the validity of the election results, MVP tweeted at his former opponent, "Delete this," resulting in him being promptly blocked by "Y2J." Jericho's political beliefs have drawn the ire of many wrestlers in recent years, but perhaps none more so than MVP, who decided to take matters into his own hands.

Two years later, Jericho and MVP reportedly had a confrontation in a Houston, Texas hotel lobby, with Houston being the site of that evening's "AEW Dynamite" taping. MVP, who coincidentally resides in Houston, dropped by after the show to have words with Jericho. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported the altercation occurred while Jericho was waiting for the elevator. "Nothing bad happened even though it was a tense situation," Meltzer said. "Jericho did tell him that he doesn't fight jobbers when he got in the elevator and MVP was screaming about it in the lobby." While neither side has commented at length on what actually happened, MVP did not deny there being an altercation of some sort but suggested Meltzer's account of the story was uneven at best. "Even when they get the story right, they get the details wrong," he tweeted. "Gotta love the dirt sheets."

The relationship between CM Punk and Chris Jericho has been tense, at best, ever since Punk's controversial exit from WWE in 2014. Perceived beef between the former WrestleMania opponents began when Punk made a vague remark about cutting people out of his life with agendas in his infamous appearance on Colt Cabana's "Art of Wrestling Podcast." "So if you're out there and I stopped talking to you, it's because you had an agenda," Punk said. "You weren't checking in on me because you were f*****g concerned about me. You wanted to be like 'oh, I spoke to Punk' and you wanted to use our private conversation as some sort of a weird f*****g way to grab hits, or whatever the f**k you call them." Enough people perceived the comments to be about Jericho that it caused "Y2J" to respond via the now-defunct TweetSecret app to deny having any sort of agenda when it came to Punk.

Seven years later, Punk and Jericho once again found themselves on the same wrestling television show. Upon arriving in AEW, Punk became the biggest signing in company history since Jericho and began to quickly assert himself backstage. However, Punk now appears to be on the outs with AEW after his infamous press conference and subsequent backstage brawl with The Elite at "All Out" in 2022. After the altercation took place, Fightful Select reported that Jericho, unhappy with Punk's actions, approached him, calling him "a cancer to the locker room, and a detriment to the company." 

Meanwhile, Jericho has also spoken on tensions between himself and Punk dating back to WWE stemming from an incident at a live event revolving around watching the gold medal men's hockey game at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

With Chyna, real name Joanie Laurer, having passed away in 2016, Chris Jericho was never able to smooth things over with his fellow former WWE Intercontinental Champion. Shortly after making his white-hot debut for the company in 1999, Jericho entered a program with Chyna, which served as a point of frustration for Le Champion. Jericho opened up on his frustrations with Chyna during a recent appearance on the "True Geordie Podcast." "Terrible, she was terrible to work with," Jericho said. "She wasn't good but she thought she was. And she was also in a position where she was being pushed really big so she could beat up guys. She couldn't, and like I never got that credit. No one ever said I made her look good, it was the other side of the coin."

Jericho went on to say he had been given specific instructions to wrestle Chyna as if he was wrestling a man, not a woman. As a result, Chyna ended up with a black eye after a match between the two, landing Jericho in hot water backstage. Jericho also once remarked on his podcast, "Talk is Jericho" that he believes Chyna attempted to sabotage his match with her ex-boyfriend, Triple H, at "Fully Loaded" in 2000. "There was a big sign in 'Gorilla position' that said: 'Stay away from the Spanish announce table,'" Jericho said. "The match before us was Chyna versus Perry Saturn, and guess what Chyna did not do? She did not stay away. They hit this table and collapsed it and something in my head makes me think she might have done that on purpose because it was her ex-boyfriend that was in the next match. Maybe, I don't know."

Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho are on good terms these days, but Van Dam used to take issue with "Y2J" for the ways in which he would involve himself in backstage politics. One particular encounter between the two ended with an irate RVD beating the tar out of Jericho on live television. 

The story goes that Van Dam was booked to do a run-in during a Jericho match on "WWE Raw" in an attempt to showcase the angry, more aggressive side of his character. Agents and producers had already been in Van Dam's ear throughout the day, reminding him to think of something that makes him angry before hitting the ring. "Jericho said something to me before he went out there," Van Dam explained on "Monte & The Pharaoh." "I already at this time was having issues adapting to the politics there that Jericho had already been familiar with. Chris said to me, 'pretend like I hit on your wife.' It was the last straw."

Van Dam proceeded to do exactly what he was instructed to do, but carried the anger with him for days following the angle and has openly spoken about his strong distaste for negative energy. Jericho and Van Dam have since buried the hatchet with Van Dam having made a few appearances on "Talk is Jericho" over the years. 

Despite being employed by two different wrestling companies, Chris Jericho and Larry Zbysko had a notable public spat in 2011. However, the issues between the two began 10 years prior when Zbysko filed a lawsuit against WWE and Jericho in 2001 over the "Living Legend" nickname. With WCW having recently closed its doors, Zbysko wanted to continue using the "Living Legend" moniker on the independents, but the nickname became a short-lived part of Jericho's gimmick. Zbysko claims that when plans fell through for him being brought in to wrestle Jericho, he opted to sue the company in an effort to get them to back down. Still, Zbysko claimed he had no animosity toward Jericho or the WWE at the time.

Things changed when Jericho criticized Zbysko's work on the WCW announce desk in his book, "A Lion's Tale." Jericho referred to "The Living Legend" as "one of the worst (or maybe the absolute worst) wrestling announcers ever." Zbysko, as one would expect, did not take kindly to Jericho's criticism. "Jericho is a f****n' idiot," Zbysko said in a video uploaded to Scott Hall's YouTube channel in 2011. "Anytime this f*****g' five-five-foot-two-inch f****n' punk wants to get in the ring with me, I will show him exactly what it's like to 'dance with the stars.'" 

In the years that followed, Zbysko contended that Jericho's gripe with his WCW commentary had to do with him pointing out the size discrepancy between cruiserweight wrestlers like Jericho and Dean Malenko more standard heavyweights like Kevin Nash and Sid Vicious. However, Zbysko claims any instruction he received to do so came from WCW higher-ups.

The animosity between Chris Jericho and Bill Goldberg began in WCW, where Jericho had a front-row seat to Goldberg's main event push. While in WCW, Jericho poked fun at Goldberg, at times parodying his entrance and introducing Ralphus, an overweight middle-aged man, as his own personal security. By the time Goldberg reached WWE, Jericho had a four-year head start and was already established as one of the company's top heels. During Goldberg's first night on "WWE Raw," Jericho recalled in his book, "Undisputed: How to Become World Champ in 1,372 Easy Steps" that Goldberg had been ranting about his perceived inability of Jericho to properly sell for his opponents.

"I marched straight into the dressing room and saw [Kevin] Nash sitting in the corner like a giant praying mantis acting like he owned the place, while Billy Boy [Goldberg] sat across from him with a self-indulgent smile on his face," Jericho wrote. "Throwing caution to the wind, I stood in front of him and stared directly into his eyes. 'I heard you were saying some stuff about me during my match. I don't know if you realize it, but things have changed. This isn't WCW. If you have something to say to me, say it to my face.'" Jericho went on to detail the "fight," which ended with Jericho catching Goldberg in a front face lock. 

Years later, Goldberg appeared on "Talk is Jericho" to bury the hatchet with Jericho once and for all, even admitting to "Y2J" getting the better of him in the fight. "You know, things in life happened for a reason and I believe that one was because of the true animosity you and I had for each other," Goldberg told Jericho (h/t TJR Wrestling). "It was a stage that was set by other people and we just followed out the storyline. You know, I will apologize to the end of my days for that."

Jim Cornette might have been as influential as anybody to Chris Jericho's career prior to his arrival in WCW. Upon receiving tapes from Lance Storm, a little-known Canadian wrestler at the time, Cornette invited Storm and his tag team partner, Jericho, to wrestle for him in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Jericho and Storm became known as the Thrillseekers and were booked as a strong babyface tag team up until Jericho broke his arm practicing a move in the ring before the company's "Night of Legends" show at the City Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. Though Jericho would not be long for SMW, he and Cornette remained close through the years, at least up until Jericho began wrestling for AEW.

Cornette, not one to shy away from making his opinion heard, has since become one of Jericho's biggest critics. While he never claimed to be a fan of the AEW product, Cornette left Jericho to his own devices up until the Stadium Stampede match at "Double or Nothing" in 2020. Cornette cursed everything about the match and everyone involved in it. Jericho, meanwhile, bit back at anyone who had a negative opinion of the match, remarking that anyone who did not like the match had no soul. Cornette and his "Jim Cornette Experience" co-host, Brian Last, have since taken repeated shots at Jericho, many of which "Le Champion" has publicly responded to. 

Braun Strowman is probably not the most popular man in his own locker room right now, let alone in the modern wrestling landscape. Strowman, who recently returned to WWE, has made his share of controversial remarks in the past, but put a target on his back when he sarcastically tweeted that his match with Omos at Crown Jewel in 2022 received a 47-star rating. He also took shots at wrestlers with a more acrobatic style, referring to them as "flippy floppers" who bag groceries at Kroger.

Several wrestlers, many of which share a locker room with Strowman, did not take kindly to "The Monster Among Men's" comments, but Chris Jericho also took the time to weigh in. In response to Strowman's tweet (which has since been deleted), Jericho himself tweeted, "I used to bag groceries." Jericho and Strowman have worked together in the past on "Monday Night Raw." Jericho even tried to give Strowman one of his scarves in an attempt to appease the monster in a memorable "Raw" segment. 

Following Strowman's divisive tweet, it appears questionable whether the two will ever be spotted in the same ring again. However, with several wrestlers having made amends with Jericho over the years and vice-versa, anything is possible.

Booker T and Chris Jericho worked for several years together in WWE, and even held prominent roles in the infamous "Invasion angle." However, Booker T was initially apprehensive to working with Jericho in WCW, though his reasoning had less to do with Jericho himself and more to do with the backstage narrative at the time and the positive and negative stigmas surrounding the cruiserweight division. "Chris Jericho, back in the day, was not one of my favorite people," Booker T said on an episode of "The Hall of Fame Podcast." "He wasn't high on my list, we were not breaking bread together, we were about to fight." While matches in the division received a positive critical response, many of WCW's top stars shied away from working with "cruiserweight" wrestlers due to the perception that small wrestlers could not draw money.

Booker T has long since changed his tune on Jericho, and even recently went as far as to call "Le Champion," "the smartest guy in [AEW]." Additionally, both men have made appearances on each other's podcasts. On another episode of "The Hall of Fame," Jericho jokingly chided Booker T over his apprehension towards working with the cruiserweights, a fact the former five-time WCW champion could not deny. "I remember the first time they put me and you [Booker T] together and you said, 'C'mon man, I ain't no cruiserweight," Jericho told his friend. "I remember I said to you, I weigh 225 pounds, how much do you weigh? I'm not that much smaller than you if I'm even smaller at all. Then we went out there and had this great match and it was never an issue ever again."

Matt Riddle and Chris Jericho ended up in the crosshairs of one another in 2019 despite working for two different companies. Riddle is one of Bill Goldberg's biggest critics, but upon trashing Goldberg for his performance against The Undertaker at "Crown Jewel" 2019, a Twitter user tweeted Riddle a passage from one of Jericho's books about his experience with Bob Brown in Winnipeg. In the passage, Jericho wrote of the importance of building up opponents instead of cutting them down for factors such as age and physical attributes. Jericho, perhaps unaware of the context, quote tweeted the user, telling Riddle to "listen and learn."

Riddle did not take kindly to Jericho's tweet and responded in a lengthy video dressing down former WCW wrestlers such as Goldberg, Jericho, and Lance Storm. "Jericho, you came at me," Riddle said. "'Listen and learn, kid.' I'll beat the s**t out of you. I don't understand that; I don't get it. You're soft as hell. Maybe [you could pose a threat] back in your prime but even then, I would have beat the s**t out of you then, so listen and learn from me, bro. Shut your mouth." Jericho then responded with a video of his own, mocking Riddle's physical appearance while referring to him as a "minor league wannabe" in the video's caption.

Ric Flair has developed a habit in recent years of bringing his issues with certain wrestling personalities to the forefront. Juxtaposed with his current feelings on frenemies such as Eric Bischoff and Mark Madden and his friend Jim Ross, Flair's thoughts on Chris Jericho come off as tame. Flair initially blasted Jericho on social media after Le Champion tried to brand himself with a new moniker, "the GOAT." Flair tweeted about Jericho back in January of 2022, calling him a "Shawn Michaels wannabe" and a "Ric Flair never will be."

Flair clarified on his anti-Jericho tweet to former co-host Mark Madden on an episode of "Wooooo Nation Uncensored." "Take my name off. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and [Ricky] Steamboat. There is nobody, not just Chris, that is ever going to be one of them," Flair said. "Nobody. Not me. I was never as technically gifted as any of them. My gig was I brought the show. Was I good wrestler? Yes. Did I work hard? Yes. Did I have trademark sayings that I still make money with today? 'To be the man,' I wrote that down 25 times yesterday at a signing. Forget that Chris said it, other people are saying it." When Madden challenged Flair on the fact that Jericho could merit consideration among the greatest ever, Flair was not willing to give the former AEW champion his due. "Punching and kicking are the fundamentals of the business," Flair continued. "Neither of which he is very good at."

Chris Jericho recently found himself in the middle of another social media spat with a member of the WWE roster when Shotzi Blackheart made a joke about a fall he took in the 2021 Blood and Guts match. Without replying directly to a clip from the match, Shotzi posted a GIF of a young woman gracefully falling backward onto a bed. Wrestling fans quickly caught on to what the GIF was in reference to, however, grabbing the attention of Jericho himself. "Y2J" took major offense to the tweet, telling his fans during his "Saturday Night Special" stream on his YouTube channel that anyone who wants to chide wrestlers for putting their bodies on the line "can really f**k off." "I could say some names," Jericho added. "There's a couple of chicks in WWE who said some stuff and they should probably not have said that. They probably weren't trained any better, and in six months they'll probably be asking us for a job anyways and I'll remember that, so we'll leave it at that."

Jericho's strong response prompted Shotzi to explain herself in an interview with talkSPORT. "I meant no offense to Chris Jericho," Shotzi said. "I thought, honestly, the match was great. But, you know what, like, take a joke. Take a joke, bud! It's just a GIF. Laugh at it and move on. It's live TV. Things happen, it's pro wrestling. Don't take life too seriously is all I have to say." 

Much like Ric Flair in the present day, "Superstar" Billy Graham has had little trouble taking up personal issues with modern wrestlers of the last 20 years. He recently buried the hatchet with Chris Jericho, but the two shared words with one another over social media for years stemming from a Facebook post Graham made about CM Punk, of all people. "Superstar" had harsh words for Punk after the WWE champion at the time referenced Bruno Sammartino "only wrestling once a month in Madison Square Garden." In response, Jericho tweeted at Graham, telling him to "stop being such a mark." The two went back and forth with one another for years, with Graham, a born-again Christian, comparing Jericho to the devil in an interview with Devon "Hannibal" Nicholson. He went on to say he would be "happy to cut out his tongue and watch as he bleeds to death," among other things. 

According to Jericho in his book, "Undisputed: How to Become World Champ in 1,372 Easy Steps," his issues with Graham stem from Eddie Guerrero's funeral. Graham, a close friend of the Guerreros unbeknownst to Jericho, was tasked with splitting the speaking time and allocated just five minutes to Jericho. "Five minutes?" Jericho remarked. "What was he going to do if I talked longer -– go to commercial? It was a funeral, the last chance I'd have to see my friend and share my memories of him with others who loved him like I did. If I wanted to talk for an hour I would, no matter how much 'time' I had." 

In a follow-up interview with "Hannibal," Graham said Jericho approached him to apologize when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, though Graham's induction came in 2004, more than a year before Guerrero's funeral. In any case, the two seem to be on good terms with Jericho donating $1,500 to Graham's GoFundMe to help pay for medical bills.

Given the fact that Kevin Nash is the one who coined the term "vanilla midgets" used to degrade WCW's cruiserweight division, many might be surprised to find there is no current animosity between Nash and Chris Jericho. However, this was not always the case. 

Their political issues in WCW aside, the real beef between Nash and Jericho stemmed from an interview Nash gave to Grantland in 2012 when he said wrestling died when the late Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, two of Jericho's best friends in wrestling, became world champions. "Has business been the same since that WrestleMania?" Nash questioned. "Has it come close to the Austin era? Has it come close to the NWO or the Hogan era? You put two f*****g guys that were great workers that were the same height as the f*****g referees, and I'm sorry, man." He then compared wrestling promotions that put "a 5'7 guy as [their] world champion" to porn movies starring men with small members.

Jericho took offense to the comment, tweeting that the WWE's worst year for business was 1995, the year Nash, known as Diesel at the time, held the world championship. Nash has since clarified his comments in his episode of "Timeline: The History of WCW" for Kayfabe Commentaries. While he admitted he and Jericho never saw eye to eye, he did detail a story of drinking vodka with Jericho on a plane during the time Nash filmed his parts for "Magic Mike." Nash also came to the defense of Jericho after NBA Twitter shamed Le Champion for looking "old and fat."

Nash is not the only former NWO member Jericho has had words with over the years. Scott Hall had heat with Jericho for most of his life stemming from Hall's behavior in WCW and later WWE. Jericho opened up about his problems with Hall on an episode of "Talk is Jericho." While the two worked in WCW together, Hall reportedly threatened he would end Jericho's "little Terry Taylor push," prompting Jericho to stand up to him with encouragement from Scott Norton. Another time, Hall approached Jericho following a match with Jerry Lynn and told him nobody came to see him. "Why would you say that?" Jericho said. "I told Chris Benoit that, and Benoit was already furious with Scott Hall after Hall [urinated] on Chris Benoit's cowboy boots by the urinals."

Despite his various issues with Hall, Jericho was one of several wrestlers to pay tribute to Hall following his death earlier this year. Jericho admitted on Instagram that while he and Hall did not always see eye to eye, he was fortunate enough to have finally cleared the air with Hall towards the end of his life. Moreover, Hall's behavior may have been more symptomatic of the personal issues that plagued him behind closed doors than an actual issue he had with Jericho. Hall once spoke in an RFVideo shoot interview about changing the finish of a show in Philadelphia to give Jericho a victory over him, thinking his "Lionheart" gimmick would not be over with the Philadelphia crowd. While Hall may have been ignorant to the fact that Jericho worked several shows for Philadelphia-based ECW prior to arriving in WCW, putting Jericho over was a nice gesture from "The Bad Guy" nonetheless.

Few wrestlers have spewed venom in Chris Jericho's direction in recent years the way Vampiro has. The two have long had issues with one another dating back to their time together in Mexico. Jericho detailed the initial heat between the two in his first book, "A Lion's Tale," accusing Vampiro of lying to his face, politicking behind his back, and intentionally pitching him bad ideas in an attempt to sabotage his career. Responding to comments Jericho has made over the years, Vampiro went on a pointed rant against Jericho in a shoot interview with Highspots. "This might sound rude, and I'm sure it's going to provoke a reaction, but [Chris] didn't exist for me," Vampiro said. "It's not that I had a bad thing to say, I just couldn't give a f***."

Jealousy, particularly on the music end of things seems to be the cause of Vampiro's past problems with Jericho, as detailed in an interview the Mexican legend conducted with Chris Van Vliet (h/t Fightful). "F*** Chris Jericho," Vampiro said. "I think he's an awesome role model for so many things. But me, as a person, who knows Chris, I think he's a poser in a lot of things. I don't believe in him as a musician or as a rock 'n' roll guy. He was the cool kid in school that I didn't want to be a part of, and that bothers him." 

Music-related jabs aside, the former "Lucha Underground" star has also gone on record to say he has no issues with Jericho in the present day. He even apologized in a follow-up interview with Van Vliet, crediting Jericho for "using his stardom to open other doors," and providing a template for younger wrestlers to follow.

Chris Jericho's long-standing rivalry with Triple H was rooted more in professional jealousy than personal animosity for one another, but the two former WWE main eventers had a strong dislike for one another during Jericho's formative years in the company. As part of "The Kliq," Triple H had a great familiarity with navigating the backstage political game necessary to becoming a main eventer in WWE. With Jericho chief among a slew of incoming WCW signings in 1999 and beyond, "The Game" appeared willing to do whatever it took to keep his spot, even if it resorted to borderline petty tactics. Former WWE executive Jim Ross chalked the initial Triple H-Jericho beef up to the former's jealousy for the latter's charisma and talent. "Triple H probably didn't like him because he's shorter and he's a hell of a hand, and somebody's gonna get to figure out what he's all about," Ross said on his podcast, "Grilling JR."

Jericho has commented on his beef with Triple H countless times on his podcast, "Talk is Jericho." He even had Triple H on his podcast in 2014 where Triple H got to weigh in on the differences that came between the two in the "Attitude Era." According to Triple H, his dislike for Jericho can be chalked up to the tribalism between WWF and WCW at the time, as well as the competitive "can-you-top-this" nature of the era. "The Game" said he considered Jericho "an outsider" and hinted at jealousy towards Jericho from several wrestlers for "Y2J" making his WWF debut in a segment with The Rock, one of the company's two biggest stars at the time. 

Jericho's perception of Triple H changed when Jericho and Chris Benoit took on Triple H and Steve Austin in a memorable "Raw" main event. Despite tearing his quad in the match's waning moments, Triple H not only finished the match but had Jericho lock on his Walls of Jericho submission hold, giving Jericho added credibility in the eyes of the fans.

For someone with no shoot-fighting background, Chris Jericho has certainly held his own in physical backstage altercations. Jericho and Lesnar worked in the same company for several years but it took until "SummerSlam" in 2016 for the two main eventers to end up on each other's bad side. The issue between the two began when Lesnar returned to the locker room following his controversial main event match with Randy Orton, which saw Lesnar bust "The Viper" open with a "hard way" elbow. Unaware that this was actually the planned finish to the match, Jericho confronted "The Beast Incarnate."

"I thought the finish of that match was very brutal and very violent," Jericho said on an episode of "You're Welcome! With Chael Sonnen." "I didn't know if Randy was okay and I was checking on Randy, my friend. [Randy and I have] always been pretty close. You know, I said something and [Lesnar] said something and the next thing you know we're nose to nose yelling at each other." Jericho went on to admit in the Sonnen interview and others that Lesnar would smoke him if the two actually came to blows. Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that backstage producer Michael Hayes escalated the situation. When Jericho approached Hayes asking about the legitimacy of the finish, Hayes gave a non-answer, setting Jericho off just in time for Lesnar's arrival backstage.