10 Best Wrestlers Who Beat Chris Jericho For A Championship
In an over 30-year career, Chris Jericho has accomplished just about everything there is to accomplish in the wrestling business. He's won every championship imaginable. Many of them on multiple occasions. He's also main-evented some of the biggest shows in wrestling history, including WrestleMania.
RELATED: 10 Things Chris Jericho Never Accomplished In Wrestling
In total, Jericho has won 36 major wrestling championships throughout his legendary career, in various promotions. That means he's also lost 36 major championships throughout his career. Every time Jericho has lost a championship though, it's been to an extremely talented opponent. These performers are the 10 best opponents to ever beat Jericho for a championship.
10 Kevin Owens
Becoming overly invested in an onscreen pro wrestling friendship will only break your heart in the long run. Fans of the Chris Jericho/Kevin Owens friendship in 2016 learned that firsthand. That year, Jericho befriended KO and helped him enjoy success as the second-ever WWE Universal Champion. During this time, fans would fall in love with Jericho's character despite him being a heel.
Eventually, though, Owens would turn on Jericho, ending their friendship in the process. At WrestleMania 33, the two would clash over Jericho's WWE United States Championship. After a hard-fought match, Owens would beat Jericho and take his title. Jericho would win the championship back at Payback 2017 but ultimately lose it to Owens again a few days later.
9 Kane
Kane is undoubtedly the greatest spinoff character in pro wrestling history. Furthermore, he's arguably the greatest monster heel ever. One thing Kane wasn't though, was a great WWE Intercontinental Champion. During his career, Kane had two less-than-stellar runs as IC Champ. Still, that doesn't take away from his overall greatness.His second reign as Intercontinental Champion started when he defeated Chris Jericho on the 9/30/2002 episode of Monday Night Raw. The win would lead to Kane becoming the number-one contender for Triple H's World Championship. Unfortunately, Kane wouldn't capture the World Title. Instead, Triple H would win and unify both titles.
8 Rob Van Dam
The early 2000s featured some of the greatest mid-card performers ever. Despite being a multi-time World Champion, Chris Jericho often found himself in the mid-card during this time. That only speaks to how absolutely stacked WWE's roster was at the time. Rob Van Dam, who's one of the greatest performers ever, also found himself in the mid-card at this time.
On the 10/27/2003 Raw, the two legends would have an interesting night centered around the WWE Intercontinental Championship. At the start of the show, Jericho would beat Van Dam to win the title. The two would run it back inside a steel cage to close the show, however. That's where Van Dam would get the best of Jericho to recapture the Intercontinental Championship.
7 Rey Mysterio
It isn't talked about much nowadays but Chris Jericho still holds the record for most reigns as WWE Intercontinental Champion. In total, "Y2J" won the prestigious championship a whopping nine times. His final reign took place in 2009. At Extreme Rules 2009, Jericho would win a No Holds Barred Match against Rey Mysterio to notch his record ninth reign.
RELATED: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio: 8 Things Most Fans Don’t Realize About Their Rivalry
Just three weeks later though at The Bash 2009, The two would have a rematch. This would be a Mask vs. Title Match. In the end, Mysterio would emerge victoriously, keeping his mask and walking out with Jericho's championship in the process. Jericho would hold an Intercontinental Championship one more time in his career, though not in WWE.
6 Tetsuya Naito
Where did Jericho win another Intercontinental Championship you ask? Well in New Japan Pro Wrestling of course. After leaving WWE in 2017, Chris Jericho shocked the international wrestling world by popping up in NJPW. He would have a marquee feud with Kenny Omega over the IWGP United States Championship but failed to win the gold.
Jericho would then shift his focus to Tetsuya Naito and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho would beat Naito to win the title. The two would work towards a huge rematch at Wrestle Kingdom 13. That night, Naito would earn arguably the biggest win of his career when he pinned Jericho to regain his Intercontinental Championship.
5 Kurt Angle
In 1999, pro wrestling's first and only Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, debuted in WWE. That also happened to be the year Chris Jericho debuted in WWE. Within a few months of debuting, Jericho would win his first WWE Intercontinental Championship. Similarly, shortly after arriving in WWE, Angle would capture the WWE European Championship.
At No Way Out 2000, both champions would clash for Jericho's Intercontinental Title. In the end, Angle would best Jericho to walk away with the gold. Angle would become the third man ever to simultaneously hold the WWE Intercontinental and European Championships. He'd carry both belts into WrestleMania 17 where he'd lose both without being pinned.
4 Batista
At times, WWE can do an exceptional job of weaving between storylines to create a spectacular big picture. That was the case at Unforgiven 2008 when Chris Jericho took a beating at the hands of Shawn Michaels early in the show. On the same show, World Champion. CM Punk was attacked backstage and taken out of the Championship Scramble match for his World Title.
Jericho would be a last-minute replacement in that match and pick up Batista's scraps to steal the World Heavyweight Championship. At Cyber Sunday 2006, Batista would beat Jericho to become World Champion for the fourth time. Unfortunately for "The Animal," his reign would end just eight days later when Jericho regained his title inside a steel cage.
3 Jon Moxley
In 2019, AEW became the first legitimate alternative to WWE since WCW closed in 2001. In order to immediately legitimize the promotion, Chris Jericho was chosen to be the first AEW World Champion. It was a great choice as Jericho would go on to be a phenomenal champion who helped set the company on the right course. The man who beat Jericho would only help legitimize the title further.
RELATED: 5 Best Moments Of Jon Moxley’s AEW Career (& 5 Worst)
In early 2020 Jon Moxley set his sights on Jericho's championship. The two would have a very entertaining feud that culminated at Revolution 2020. That night, Moxley would emerge as the second AEW World Champion. He would enjoy a 277-day reign as AEW World Champion. He's arguably the greatest Champion in AEW history to date.
2 John Cena
John Cena and Chris Jericho had an interesting history in WWE. In 2005, Jericho set his sights on Cena's WWE Championship. He'd challenge Cena unsuccessfully at SummerSlam 2005. On the 8/22/2005 episode of Monday Night Raw, Jericho challenged Cena again. This time in a "You're Fired" Match. Jericho would again come up short and be "fired" from WWE.
After a hiatus, Jericho returned to WWE in 2007. In September 2008, Jericho would find himself as World Heavyweight Champion. He would trade championship wins with Batista but ultimately hold on to the title. At Survivor Series 2008 though, Jericho ran into his old nemesis, Cena, who again beat him and became World Champion.
1 Triple H
Similar to John Cena, Triple H and Chris Jericho have a storied history in WWE. When Jericho first became a babyface in the company, dumping on Triple H's wife, Stephanie McMahon was one of Jericho's favorite pastimes. This obviously led to on-air friction between him and Triple H.
With the exception of a Dusty finish over the WWE Championship, Jericho never had much success against "The Game." Triple H would beat him for the Intercontinental Championship in 2001. In 2002, the pair would main event WrestleMania 18 for Jericho's Undisputed Championship. Triple H would again emerge as the winner. He and Cena were two hurdles Jericho could never truly overcome in WWE.
