Chris Jericho

Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and rock musician.

He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he was the leader of the Jericho Appreciation Society and the Inner Circle stables.

Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, in-ring technical wrestling prowess, and his ability to reinvent his character throughout the course of his career, Jericho has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.

Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple.

He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side.

His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of Jericho's birth.

When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up.

He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships.

Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves.

In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler.

His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda.

During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico.

He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a diploma in Creative Communications.

At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day.

He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.

Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta, as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm.

The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact.

In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.

In the winter of 1992, Jericho traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he initially wrestled for several small wrestling companies in Nuevo León.

In March 1993, Jericho appeared with the Universal Wrestling Association.

In April 1993, Jericho began competing in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).

At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year.

In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night.

Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and the Elimination Chamber matches and the shows itself.

The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward.

In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.

He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.

Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times.

He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history.

Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars.

He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.

After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships.

Jericho joined and has been with AEW since its startup in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year.

While in AEW, Jericho would also capture the ROH World Championship (the main title of AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor) at the 2022 Dynamite: Grand Slam event.

All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW, AEW, and ROH, Jericho has held 35 championships (including eight World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).

According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho".

He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween.

Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino).

The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).