The Road Is Jericho DVD review

Not many WWE Superstars and pro wrestlers are as busy as Chris Jericho. Between his WWE career, his band Fozzy, Talk Is Jericho podcast and book deals, not many people in all of entertainment have as much going on as Jericho. He\’s also one of the few to wrestle for all three major promotions from the Monday Night War era- WCW, ECW and WWE. He\’s also one of the most decorated professional wrestlers in recent memory- holding some of the most titles among any active wrestler and WWE has released a 3-disc DVD collection- The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J– chronicling Jericho\’s career and some of his favorite matches from his career. Most of WWE\’s DVD\’s feature a documentary on just the first disc and the second two feature nothing but matches. However, this one is completely different. It opens by meeting Chris Jericho coming out of a coffee shop and getting into a limo for an interview on the way to a Fozzy concert that night. The interview is spread out across all three discs and features some of Jericho\’s favorite matches he\’s handpicked- surrounding the interview. Jericho talks about one match and storyline, which is followed by that match. After each match, Jericho talks about the next one, which leads into that match- and so on, making for a unique experience. There\’s one match from ECW- an ECW Television Title against Pitbull #2 and two from WCW- a match from Bash At The Beach 1997 vs. Ultimo Dragon and Uncensored 1998 vs. Dean Malenko, which Jericho is spefically proud of as he\’d finally gotten the heel push he\’d been wanting. He goes on to say that Dean Malenko is one of the best- if not the best technical wrestler of all time. Matches in WWE include bouts against Kurt Angle for the WCW title (which had to have been a strange feeling defending the WCW title in WWE, having come from WCW), Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, X-Pac, Booker T for the WCW title (one of the first times two former WCW guys fought for the title after WCW\’s demise), Kane in a Last Man Standing Match and more. Jericho is very candid in the interview portion of the DVD- saying Rey Mysterio is hands down the greatest high flyer of all time and also admitting that he\’s included some of the matches because he either hasn\’t seen them since they happened or that he doesn\’t remember them at all because there were so many against certain wrestlers- like the RAW match from 2001 against Austin with Mick Foley as the special guest enforcer. He also talks about certain aspects he put into place- like the boards on top of the steel cages so wrestlers can balance themselves atop the steel structure- which he had put in for his match against X-Pac at No Mercy 2000. Jericho also discusses in detail the struggle of coming over to WWE from WCW and how much differently things were run in WWE- down to the details of how matches are conducted. X-Pac was specifically chosen by Vince McMahon to work with Jericho to help Jericho learn the WWE way of working matches- even the matches he didn\’t have against X-Pac, he would have to run through the matches with him, which he admits helped him in the long run. In the end, The Road Is Jericho is a completely different look at Jericho\’s career and is a completely different approach than recent DVD releases and one that pays off in the end. Anyone who\’s been a Jerichoholic at any point will love The Road Is Jericho and those who didn\’t follow his career in WCW or ECW will get a lot out of it while those who\’ve followed him from the beginning will have a fun trip down memory lane. But one thing\’s for sure- after watching it you\’ll never….EVER be the same again. -Reggie Edwards