The Mystery Behind Many Nicknames of AEW Superstar Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho is one of the most experienced professional wrestlers in the world. However, he still remains a prized asset for wrestling promotions around the world.

Despite the many things fans know him for, one of the factors that define Chris Jericho is the number of nicknames he has collected for himself throughout his career. Just one of them being Y2J, he has over 17 nicknames! 

1. Y2J

The most famous Jericho nickname originated when he debuted for WWE back on August 9, 1999. He interrupted The Rock during a promo and iconically greeted everyone to ‘Raw is Jericho’, calling himself Y2J.

This was a play on the Y2K bug, which was a discrepancy or disparity in the shift of calendars to the new millennium for computers.

Since then, Jericho has been called Y2J, which has become an integral part of his character. It really is that simple, no bigger backstory than that.

2. First Ever Undisputed Champion 

Chris Jericho has the dignity of being the only Superstar to beat “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock both on the same night. What’s better was that he became the first-ever Undisputed Champion in WWE history, earning him this nickname.

Although both victories weren’t clean, they still stand, and the nickname has a lot of weight to it.

3. Mongoose McQueen 

Mongoose McQueen is one of the many personas of Jericho. This persona is primarily created for his band Fozzy, of which he is the frontman. Mongoose McQueen is a special character, and Chris Jericho considers it a split personality. 

When he is in character as Mongoose McQueen, he doesn’t acknowledge the existence of ‘Chris Jericho’ and it stays that way. Weirdly enough, Jericho acknowledges the existence of McQueen and actively states that he is a huge fan of the frontman! 

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4. The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla

Jericho takes inspiration from the Mad Max 2: Fury Road character- the leader of the antagonists, who calls himself ‘The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla’ for this nickname. Jericho introduced the name on his WWE debut in 1999.

Although it could be for other reasons, this is the most probable influence. Y2J has long seen himself as a rock-and-roll character and has shaped his wrestling gimmick off rock legends. This nickname could just be a product of that. 

5. Corazón de León, Leon D’Oro, He-Man, Chris Power 

This interesting set of nicknames came from Jerichos’ Mexican conquest. In 1992, fans voted for Y2J to be called Leon D’Oro, meaning “Golden Lion”. The other options available were ‘He-man’, and ‘Chris Power’.

He was later called ‘Corazón de León’ meaning ‘Lionheart’ when he competed for other companies there. 

6. The Man of 1,004 Holds 

This came from an iconic and hilarious promo when Chris Jericho took on Dean Malenko in WWE. Malenko, known as ‘The Man of 1000 holds’, was bested by Jericho, who claimed to know 4 more! 

He then proceeded to list all of those holds in a huge paper scroll! He also went out and called Malenko for knowing just 60 and not 1000. 

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7. Sexy Beast 

At some point during one of his many WWE returns, Jericho began calling himself ‘Sexy Beast’, but the nickname got popular through the T-Shirts of the same name which sold like hotcakes. 

8. The King of the World

This name manifested itself out of Jericho’s heel run where he considered himself the best for his accomplishments and experience. Nothing much behind it, although it did match well with one of his theme songs which was ‘King of My World’ by Saliva.

9. Le Champion

The latest and greatest nickname for Jericho comes from his stint in AEW. As AEW Champion, he began calling himself ‘Le Champion’, which is just French for ‘The Champion’. The rest of his faction, The Inner Circle, also called him this, and it stuck on.

 

The other nicknames that Y2J has collected over the years through either promos or one-offs are ‘Mr. Canada’, ‘C Man’, ‘The Highlight of the Night’, ‘The King of Bling Bling’, ‘The Living Legend, Larger than Life’, and ‘Vitamin C’. 

One thing’s for sure- Chris Jericho never has a problem with ring introductions as he walks towards a fight! It would be quite hilarious for every one of those nicknames being announced during one of his matches, perhaps his last, as a dream send-off.

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