Classic of the Week: Dean Malenko vs Chris Jericho Uncensored 1998

In 2015, thanks largely to WWE's revisionist history, WCW is considered the home of illogical stories, inappropriate celebrity appearances and nepotism, much like WWE in 2015! However, in its heyday, WCW had a lot of great things going for it, particularly the Cruiserweight division.

Formerly known as the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship returned to television screens in 1996 after a near four year absence when Shinjiro Otani defeated The Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit). The return of the WCW Cruiserweight, precipitated by the influx of Japanese and Lucha Libre wrestlers, represented a paradigm shift from the traditional light heavyweight style to a faster paced style usually presented at the beginning of the show to light up the crowd.

For me, I much prefer WCW's showcasing of cruiserweight talent to the majority of main event angles they ran; I would take Jericho, Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon over anything the NWO ever did any day.

Despite the overwhelming success of the division, many of the wrestlers believed the championship prevented them from moving up to main event scene with the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Sting and Savage. As noted in WWE's The Rise and Fall of WCW, both Malenko and Jericho firmly belonged in this camp. Conversely, the argument could be made that, without their achievements in the WCW Cruiserweight division, the likes of Jericho, Guerrero and Mysterio would never have achieved what they did with WWE.

So this week, considering Chris Jericho's surprise return at Night of Champions, we have a topical classic of the week. This week, we take a look at one of the finest Cruiserweight rivalries in the history of WCW that produced golden moments such as this.

Dean Malenko vs Chris Jericho (C)

WCW Cruiserweight Championship on the line

WCW Uncensored 1998

Available to Watch here.

After defeating Rey Mysterio in January '98, Chris Jericho entered into a rivalry that helped redefine the division in the Spring of '98 against former three time WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Dean Malenko.

Jericho and Malenko couldn't have been more different as opponents; Jericho was the arrogant, self-absorbed crybaby champion where as Malenko was the no frills, silent assassin focused on wrestling alone.

Their rivalry reached its peak at WCW Uncensored 1998 in arguably their finest match in WCW.

Austere, stern and unrelenting, Malenko, the man of a thousand holds, was the first to make his way to the ring. Jericho, with his golden hair, lavish attire and 1004 holds adorned across his backside, made his way to the ring next. Spotting a "Jericho Rues" sign in the front row, Jericho tore up the sign before claiming to be too good to be that guy's role model.

As the match began, both men go hold for hold early on before Dean Malenko, systematic as ever, began work on Jericho's arm. Malenko's technical acumen embarrassed Jericho early in the contest,
a factor that was further aggravated as he missed a cross body and ate a face full of canvas.
Humiliated by Malenko's technical nous, Jericho determined enough is enough, grabbing his title and heading up the ramp before deciding better of it by returning to the ring.

Jericho gained the momentum after withstanding a flurry of offence with a spine buster followed by a vertical suplex. Lionheart, Chris Jericho, then delivered the lionsault for a close fall which Malenko broke by putting his foot on the rope. After celebrating a premature victory, Jericho was informed he hadn't won the match by the referee before going to work on the lower back of Malenko in preparation for the Liontamer.

A slap to the face rejuvenated Malenko before he executed a belly to belly suplex for a near fall. After unloading a series of chops in the corner, Malenko delivered a belly to back suplex this time before a vertical suplex attempt was blocked and reversed into a floating suplex by Jericho.

Malenko desperately scrambled to the ropes before Jericho could apply the the Liontamer. Jericho, after delivering a series of forearm blows culminating in a springboard forearm, positioned Malenko for a saito suplex from the top rope but Malenko blocked whilst knocking Jericho to the floor with a cross body. Malenko missed a drop kick allowing Jericho to attempt to lock in the Liontamer once again but this time, ingeniously, Malenko uses what little remaining strength he has to block the attempt by placing his hands behind Jericho's calf so Jericho can't turn him over.

Again, Jericho lifted Malenko up top, perhaps looking for a frankensteiner, but his efforts are foiled once again as Malenko reversed into a double knee gut buster. A second missed drop kick cost Malenko dearly as this time Jericho was successfully able to apply the Liontamer submission to retain his WCW Cruiserweight title.

Eventually, Malenko regained the WCW Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Jericho at Slamboree '98 under the mask of Ciclope before being striped of the title for 'not earning the shot as himself'.

Both Malenko and Jericho would never win the title again.

As the Monday Night Wars came to their conclusion, both men went to WWE and enjoyed varying degrees of success. Chris Jericho became the first, and only, man to ever beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night to be crowned the undisputed WWF Champion at Vengeance 2001. Malenko, on the other hand, languished in midcard purgatory.

In my opinion, Dean Malenko was one of WWE's biggest missed opportunities and a victim of the sports entertainment culture that permeated wrestling culture in the late 90's and today. Given the right platform, Malenko could have thrived in WWE as a no nonsense ass kicker much like he did in ECW and WCW. Malenko is symptomatic of a problem that still plagues WWE today, see Cesaro for example. Vince McMahon has categorically distinguished between "sports entertainment" and wrestling; the WWE is a sports entertainment show, not a wrestling show and, as a consequence, wrestlers are often over looked for sports entertainers.

This goes a long way to explain why a Chris Jericho succeeded in WWE and why Dean Malenko failed to reach the heights many expected him too.