CHRIS JERICHO (C) VS. RIC FLAIR

 These two faced off at Summerslam, in a match which Ric Flair won and they are intertwined with the World Heavyweight Championship feud involving Triple H and Rob Van Dam. That would lead to Chris Jericho dethroning RVD for the Intercontinental Championship on the Raw before the Pay-Per-View.

Before the match, Stephanie McMahon is backstage giving Billy & Chuck a pep-talk about winning the match for Smackdown. Billy Gunn says she just doesn’t want to kiss a lesbian. If they win Eric Bischoff will have to kiss Stephanie’s butt.

Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler are on commentary for this match, and King doesn’t care who wins the interpromotional match with those stakes.

Anyway, Chris Jericho makes his way out. The Fink is our ring announcer because stipulations don’t stick in wrestling. Ric Flair makes his way out and we see him putting the Figure Four on Jericho 3 weeks ago on Raw. Charles Robinson is our referee and you bet your ass I’m reviewing that one day.

 

CHRIS JERICHO © VS. RIC FLAIR

WWE Intercontinental Championship)

WWE Unforgiven 2002 (22^nd September 2002)

  They lock up and Jericho backs Flair into the corner, Jericho with a pat to the chest but Ric Flair slaps him across the face. Chris Jericho locks up with Flair again. Chris Jericho puts the headlock on but Flair sends Jericho off the ropes. Chris Jericho knocks Naitch down with a shoulder tackle before getting his steps in.

  Ric Flair sidesteps Jericho, sending him over the top rope. Chris Jericho lands on the apron and gets to the top rope, the flying fuck all into a right hand to the midsection from Flair, who picks up Jericho for some chops against the ropes. Jericho reverses an irish whip but eats shit on the dropkick, Ric goes for the Figure Four, but gets kicked through the ropes. Chris Jericho gets to the ropes, but Flair cuts him off with a right hand but is dropped from the apron with a Triangle Dropkick. Jericho goes to work at ringside with right hands and a chop, he takes it back to the ring and hits a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Chris Jericho chokes Flair across the middle rope and hits the running knee before taking some time to gloat. Chris Jericho fires right hands in the corner as JR talks about Y2J’s training in Calgary. Jericho works an abdominal stretch until Ric Flair can fight out with a hip toss. He gets a shot in on Jericho and backs him into the corner with chops.

  Chris Jericho goes to the eyes so he can catch a breather and sends Flair into the corner. Ric Flair goes over to the apron and ducks Jericho’s clothesline attempt, knocking him down with a weird-looking shot. He gets in the ring, hits another chop (of course) and sends Chris Jericho over the corner to the floor. Fuck that. Flair takes a more conventional route to ringside and sends Jericho into the ring steps before a chop near the crowd. Ric Flair brings it back into the ring and hits the running knee drop. He brings Chris Jericho down in a snapmare and hits a knee drop from the middle rope for a nearfall. Ric Flair goes to work in the corner with a chop, a right and a left. Chris Jericho is sent across the ring, he jumps to the middle turnbuckle but is cut off as Flair  forearms his knee and brings him down to the mat with a shinbreaker. Jericho counters a Figure Four Leglock into an inside cradle but only gets 2. Ric Flair is first on offense with chops, but he is sent off the ropes into a back elbow. Ric Flair rolls out of the way of the Lionsault but Jericho lands on his feet.

  It looks like Jericho tweaked his knee and he begs off from Flair, shouting that he heard something pop. After an annoying amount of time, Charles Robinson finally calls for a trainer as Ric Flair backs off. Chris Jericho jumps to his feet and trips Flair, putting him in the Walls of Jericho for the win.

WINNER: CHRIS JERICHO (STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion)

This was a nice back and forth match, for the time that they had. The finish really sucked and took too long but until them it was going as well as expected for 2002 Ric Flair. It was very chop-heavy whilst Ric was on offense but Jericho is a great person to be in there with and work around. [*] 2/10