EP.1 - Jericho vs Malenko: “The World’s Toughest Pumpkin”

Reliving the classic feud between Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko that took place in WCW during the spring and summer of 1998.

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Transcript

ep-1-jericho-vs-malenko-the-world-s-toughest-pumpkin
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Benza Lance: [00:00:00] Hey, this is Ben with Feud Rewind, with a quick word from our first unofficial sponsor. Water. You need some. I need some. We all need some. We're made of it. Guess what? It comes in a bunch of different varieties. Hot, cold, frozen. You can get it flavored, you can get it plain. With bubbles, no bubbles, out of your tap, out of a bottle, out of a box.

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June 14th, 1998. WCW's Great American Bash pay per view explodes out of the Baltimore arena. Din Milenko is about to lose his temper, his mind, [00:01:00] his base of being a man all over Chris Jericho via chair shot. How was the typically ice cold demeanor of Milenko pushed to this brink by Jericho?

Sounds like we got to rewind this feud.

Now to really grasp the gravity of the situation, you have to appreciate the entire picture. At this time in 1998, this was the early part of it. We were just at the tail end of that 80 plus week period where WCW was absolutely spanking the WWF [00:02:00] in the ratings. They were doing this by and large with pushing, uh, at the time, an edgier product, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall had formed the NWO.

And they were doing great business. I mean, they were doing really, really intriguing TV. And as a young man, I was 13, 14 at the time. Um, it was something that held my attention. One thing that WCW did better than WWF at the time. I think some would argue that WCW did this almost accidentally, where at the time wrestling by and large was still a land of giants.

Unless you were 6'7 270 pounds. You weren't going to be smelling the main event scene. It just wasn't going to happen. [00:03:00] What WCW had done with Nitro at the time was the first hour was almost entirely dedicated to either competitors from the world of Lucha or, in this case, competitors that were, incidentally, WCW.

The same size I was under six feet, definitely not nowhere near 300 pounds, but guys who were equally as skilled, equally as tactical. And most importantly, we're able to tell a really good story. The main two characters of what we're focusing on today are Dean Malenko and Chris Jericho. Milenko, definitely one of the greatest unsung wrestlers of the last 30 to 40 years.

At this time, in 1998, he was 37, 38. He was playing that grizzled, [00:04:00] uh, Road warrior type of veteran. I'm just a prior year, 1997 pro wrestling illustrated had voted him the number one wrestler on the planet. Now, would I agree with this? I would say at the time he was definitely on the short list as far as just, uh, in ring tactician, someone who.

Maybe doesn't look like a million bucks, but he definitely looks like somebody who could stretch you if he wanted to, and it could do it really easily. Incidentally, one of his men main nicknames was a man of a thousand holes, which we'll be coming back to in a little bit.

Now, up until this point, it's been said Milenko was a well beloved performer. If you've never seen Dean Milenko, all you need to imagine is that he is the Canadian [00:05:00] version of John McClane. Of course, that means that Jericho is going to end up being his Hans Gruber, but we'll get to that in a little bit.

Malenko was revered for his in ring work, but he had begun to go on a little bit of a losing streak. He was starting to have some self doubts creep in, maybe some thoughts about retirement, being as, as of the recording of this, I am roughly, if not a little bit older. Then Dean was when this feud was happening.

I can tell you as a late 30, soon to be 40 year old man that the doubts, the self awareness. Particularly in a negative type of mind frame. Uh, it can be really debilitating. Um, [00:06:00] of course, as a young teenager watching this, I'm not intuitively putting this all together. However, I think. Anyone who's ever had to compare themselves to their peers, and maybe just had that little, that little whisper in the back of your head.

That's, that's just saying maybe. Maybe not. I think really deep down, we can all empathize with that. Who hasn't been in that situation? It gives this character so much meat to chew on that you can't help but to feel for him. I mean, he's just looking like an average man, except he goes out there and he ties people up.

And of course, the man that Dean would be facing across the ring for this feud is [00:07:00] the one, the only, Chris Jericho. In so many ways, the polar opposite to everything that Milenko is. It's almost like these characters were perfectly written for this time, for this moment in history. Now Jericho wasn't a rookie by any stretch of the imagination by this point.

He was already 28, an eight to 10 year veteran, done some great work in Japan and Mexico. And at this point, Jericho was starting to get some shine state side. He was the current cruiserweight champion, and currently he was a baby face quickly turning into a heel at the sold out pay per view on January 24th, 1998.

He had a match against Rey Mysterio, which he won, and then assaulted Rey after the match, particularly focusing on his knee. He also [00:08:00] had a title defense versus Juventud Guerrero, which was a mask versus title defense. Jericho won. The Jews had to lose his mask. And this just made everybody hate Jericho, obviously.

This is a man who gives. little about history or the respect of Lucha, and he gives even less about any type of manly respect. It's literally a match made in heaven. You have the grizzled veteran, the plucky young heel, and they circle each other. And it comes to a head. March 15th, 1998. WCW runs their uncensored pay per view in Mobile, Alabama.

Um, the third match of the night, Jericho wins via lion tamer. [00:09:00] About a 15 minute match. Match. Match. However you feel about the star ratings, Uncle Dave Meltzer gave it three and three quarters. I'd probably rate it a little bit higher, but that's just me. What makes this moment so magical is the post match, because Jericho peaces out, and Malenko is sitting there in the ring thinking, Nashing his teeth, sort of looking perplexed, sort of looking at a loss for words.

The classic mean Gene Okerlund climbs into the ring, and really he starts browbeating Dean Malenko a little bit. It's sort of surprising, but it kind of helps hammer home the point that Dean isn't just a And every man wrestler, but [00:10:00] really he is the proxy of the every man. And by him not winning, he's letting everybody down.

The promo ends when Mean Gene simply asks him, where does one go from here? And as a destroyed and distraught man at the end of his. Where does Dean Malenko go from here? Home. Is Malenko retiring? He was sort of hinting at that. Is he coming back? Did he leave the company? We have no clue. One of the benefits of the pre social media age was you could play an angle off like this, [00:11:00] and someone like Dean in this situation wouldn't necessarily have to Do anything abnormal in his life to sort of go radio silent, so to speak.

All I had to do was pretty much not be at a TV taping and they could play that angle off. And let me tell you, it was beautiful because Jericho, he just went on a rampage. He was a. Over the next couple of months, he just systematically and psychologically beats Milenko down and tears him apart. Kicks off with a fever pitch at the March 30th Nitro tapings out of the United Center of Chicago.

Jericho has a pretty quick and forgettable match with Marty Ginetti. And people only remember that because of what happened afterwards. Jericho grabs a mic and he delivers his. Now infamous, Man of a Thousand and Four Holes. I came [00:12:00] prepared, excuse me.

Malenko, you claim to be the man of a thousand holes, but I counted, and you know about sixty, but I know a thousand and four, and I wrote them all down, here we go. Hold one, arm drag. Hold two, arm bar. Hold three, the moss covered, three handled, family Grenunzel. Why doesn't he just mail us this list and we'll announce it?

He's just ranting. Number five, the Saskatchewan spinning nerve hole. This must be meathead microphone night. You think so? He's got 998 to go. Get the hook right out of here. Shut up. Get a haircut. Number 10, right handed punch. This is used literally just to get under Dean's skin. And they get Jericho some heat and it pays off very well.

This promo goes through a commercial break. And when we come [00:13:00] back from commercial break, I remember watching it as a kid. I couldn't. Believe that he was still going. We're back, fans! Goal number 712! Can we physically get him out of the ring? I can! Yeah, but you've got to announce. I know you can. Goal number 714!

Hey there, this is Benzo with Feud Rewind, coming at you with a quick word from our second unofficial sponsor, The Sun. That's right. Summertime is here, and the living, if you're living is like mine. is extremely difficult, but what's not difficult is popping in your earbuds, putting on those headphones, using a little Bluetooth speaker and going out into the sun while you're listening to this podcast, you and me, let's go [00:14:00] get some vitamin D while we enjoy The sun.

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This is the promo where every other hold is an armbar or a three fingered family credunzel. And the crowd is frothing at the mouth. They want to rip his throat out. At the time, I was loving it because even as a kid, I sort of, I always sided with the heels, but at the same time, part of being a fan was you always wanted to see the heels get beat up, and for a while they did the smart move and didn't have Jericho really goodness comeuppance.

In [00:15:00] additional added wrinkle to the story during this time was Jericho was starting his conspiracy victim side quest character so to speak. It was a classic conspiracy story that everybody was out against him and to get him. It helped add a little bit of humanity to the character But not sympathy. It just adds more depth and layers to this character that shows that he's not mythical.

He is a person. He might be a flawed, terrible person. Yet, he's still a person. It's little things like that, that help you care about what happens to that character. Without [00:16:00] that little bit of the conspiracy victim gimmick, if he had waited until later to do that. Maybe it could have stood on its own accord a little bit more.

I believe that part of the character persona for this version of Jericho worked wonders and was an absolute masterstroke. Over the next couple months he just systematically and Psychologically beats Malenko down and tears him apart. Kicks off with a fever pitch at the March 30th Nitro tapings out of the United Center of Chicago.

Jericho has a pretty quick and forgettable match with Marty Jannetty. And people only remember that because of what happened afterwards. Jericho grabs a mic and he delivers his now infamous man of a [00:17:00] thousand and four holds. This is used literally just to get under Dean's skin and they get Jericho some heat and it.

Pays off very well. This promo goes through a commercial break, and when we come back from commercial break, I remember watching it as a kid. I couldn't believe that he was still going. This is the promo where every other hold is an arm bar or a three fingered family credunzel, and the crowd is frothing at the mouth.

They want to rip his throat out. At the time, I was loving it because even as a kid, I sort of always sided with the heels, but at the same time, part of being a fan was you always wanted to see the heels get beat up. For a while, they did the smart move and didn't have Jericho really goodness come up.

[00:18:00] It's a couple of weeks later, the May 4th nitro taping Jericho brings out a framed picture of Dean and he starts disparaging that primarily. He starts disparaging Dean's devotion and his love to his late father, who was also a professional wrestler by the name of Boris Malenko. Now, if you've ever had.

Anybody talk trash about a parent. If you have a good relationship with that parent, a good positive one, you know how much that cuts. Once again, through all this, there is absolutely nobody really defending Dean until a couple of weeks later. Where Joe Malenko, Dean's actual brother, attempts to defend his honor, and his father's.

It doesn't really end up very well for Joe, as he gets attacked by [00:19:00] Jericho. I mean, at this point, Jericho might be the most hated man on the roster. And, honestly, I can't blame anybody for hating him. I hated him too, even though I loved him. Another thing that I love is the old Slamboree pay per views.

This was a good one too in 1998. It came during May 17th out of Worcester, Massachusetts. The two matches of note that we have to talk about are going to be the third and fourth matches on the card respectively. The first match is a Battle Royale. To determine the number one contender for Chris Jericho's WCW Cruiserweight Championship.

This is your typical battle royale fare. A lot of lucha, a lot of speedy high flying moves. Ultimately it's going to come down to jumentude and ciclope. [00:20:00] What we're going to get is a good old fashioned standoff, stare down, handshake show of respect, and then a hoovey. He just eats himself out of there.

Cyclopes, you're winning. Now, what happens next? At the time, my 13 year old brain couldn't even comprehend, but it is still to this day one of the loudest bops I have ever heard in my life. The best part about this, is the match happens immediately after the match. The only thing that I'll give this match a negative review on is given the circumstances, I would have cut off a little bit of time, regardless, the [00:21:00] outcome is exactly what you would want to see.

In a story like this, where Malenko finally gets his revenge. Not only does he spend the better part of seven minutes just beating the absolute tar out of Chris Jericho, but he makes Jericho tap to the Texas Cloverleaf, getting back his championship, and it also gives us one of my favorite Bobby Heenan lines.

The world's toughest pumpkin. Now you would think this would be a pretty decent place to wrap up this few granted, it's only been a couple of months, but it had a pretty solid middle beginning and end. Well, not quite yet. Because what happens in classic. Too many cooks in the [00:22:00] kitchen. A slight overbook situation.

Is that the general manager for Nitro, J. J. Dillon? Declares that, well, since Cyclops and not D. Malenko won, D. Malenko is not the rightful cruiserweight champion. Even as a young kid, that didn't reconcile with me because if that was the case, then why did the match go through? I'm, like, uh, am I the only one thinking that, or?

Ah, anyway, regardless, the slight tinge of overbooking is sort of smoothed over where, when Dean, being the man of integrity that he is, Declares that if him giving up that belt is going to give him one last chance to get at Jericho, he's going to take it. And [00:23:00] let me tell ya, if you ever wanted to kick the snot out of somebody, and you got a second chance at that, I think you would take it.

So that's what brings us to To the culmination of this feud, the great American bash, June 14th of 1998. We're back in the Baltimore arena and the third match of our car tonight. Is the cruiserweight championship match. It is a relatively quick paced, 14 minute affair. Most of the time Jericho is going to be spent doing his typical heel shtick of just.

Talking nothing but mess to Dean Malenko, trying to get this man to break. They call him Malenko the Iceman because he shows no emotion. What we've been seeing, especially since he came back as Cyclops, was [00:24:00] Dean becoming a little unhinged. He's becoming unglued. Maybe he's not in touch with his emotions as much as we would all like to think that he is.

In a way, as a reflection of ourselves. Well, it comes to a head because Jericho says one too many things about Malenko's late father. And Malenko DQs himself, rightfully so, by taking a chair and just beating down on Jericho like it's an Arizona monsoon. Like, we are talking 1998 unprotected chair shots.

I'm not sure if that chair is gimmicked or not. That shit looked really, really painful. Now, you might be saying, well, that doesn't give us a good positive. Ending to our feud. I mean, Jericho wins via [00:25:00] DQ, and the good guy loses. And that is precisely why this feud works so well, and is so great, and is timeless.

Because if you're a halfway decent person, you've been the good person who doesn't win. And, let's be honest, if you've been the heel in a situation, sometimes you've come out on top, maybe in a circumstance where you shouldn't have. Regardless, this is a timeless story of good versus evil, life isn't fair, you gotta deal with it, keep going on, old trying to out duel young, a timeless battle, timeless set of matches.

A timeless feud and a timeless time [00:26:00] with me today. Hopefully that's not copyright infringement. Anyway, thank you for listening. This is the Feud Rewind. Once again, if you have any suggestions, any ideas, just want to say hi, you want to send me some hate mail, feudrewind at gmail. com. Thank you so much and have a good week.