The Road is Jericho DVD (Disc 3) Review

Match 1: Raw 2008 - World Heavyweight Championship - Street Fight - John Cena (c) vs. Chris Jericho
I love when the WWE put out dark matches on DVDs, you never really know what you're gonna get. I never felt like these two had the best chemistry together but listening to Chris Jericho talk about his love for dark matches made me intrigued by this one against the face of the company in John Cena. However, this match was basically Jericho beating down Cena for the entire match before getting hit by an Attitude Adjustment. They really didn't do much aside from Jericho toying with Cena's dad at ringside. I know it was a dark match but I don't really see how this one was worthy of being placed on the DVD.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: *1/4

Match 2: The Bash 2009 - Intercontinental Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
It's been years since I last saw this match and it always hits home when I do go back and check it out. I recall watching this back in 2009 and being completely mesmerized by this match, it definitely holds very dear to my heart. They had an amazing feud back in 2009 which centered around the mask of Rey Mysterio. Chris Jericho noted how much he enjoyed working with Mysterio in the interview before the match on this DVD and how he had to convince Vince McMahon why exactly he wanted to take the mask from Mysterio. Simply put, because he could. The action was fast and furious, it almost felt like I stepped into a time machine and was watching an old ECW match. It's super rare to see matches like this in this era of the WWE, two veterans pretty much breaking out all the stops and showing just how athletic this sport truly is. This is one of those matches where I don't even need to explain what exactly they did. Rather, I'm just going to tell you to go out of your way to watch this. I do want to mention how awesome the finish was, Jericho had Mysterio in the Walls of Jericho before pulling off the mask of Mysterio. Jericho looked in awe at the mask he had pulled off before realizing that Mysterio had another mask underneath. Mysterio hit the 619 and scored the win and the Intercontinental Championship. The look on Jericho's face after was priceless and he held on to the mask he had pulled off. Fantastic stuff.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Rating: ****3/4

Match 3: Raw 2009 - Chris Jericho & The Big Show vs. D-Generation X vs. John Cena & The Undertaker
Chris Jericho noted how this match was included on the DVD because of what it represents, not necessarily the match quality. The absolute biggest stars in the company in the grandest arena in the entire world on the flagship show. I remember watching this on television and being so inspired by the all of this. Jericho was right, the match quality won't blow you away but the sheer quality in the star power and the stories that were being told will definitely blow you away. Just simply listening to the crowd react to everything in the match to the druids being sent out for The Undertaker's entrance, this was big time. All six men would go on to compete against each other for their respective brand's titles at the following PPV in Survivor Series. This also marked the first time Shawn Michaels would face The Undertaker in the ring since WrestleMania. John Cena scored the win for his team after landing an Attitude Adjustment on Triple H. The Undertaker then hit a Tombstone on Cena right after the victory. Incredible. They teased Triple H facing off against The Undertaker and they teased Cena facing off against The Undertaker. We would later go on to see Triple H go against Undertaker for two consecutive WrestleManias in the next couple years while we have yet to seen Cena face off against Undertaker. Maybe we will never get to see it? Maybe this Tombstone was the closest we would ever get to that super match. Gotta love how things play out like that.
Winners: John Cena & The Undertaker
Rating: ***1/2

Match 4: Extreme Rules 2012 - WWE Championship - Chicago Street Fight - CM Punk (c) vs. Chris Jericho
I think I've gotten to the point where I'm just over watching CM Punk matches. It's hard to watch somebody who could give two shits about the wrestling business, regardless of when the match was or how good it was. Still, they put on one hell of a show and a great street fight with the PG restrictions still in place. Chris Jericho had an incredible match against Shawn Michaels that was similar to this one. Both were personal and really violent without the blood. This one was a bit different, they relied more so on spots and took advantage of the Chicago crowd. They were hot and they popped big for every spot. They made sure to break out all the stops here. I always felt like their WrestleMania match was underwhelming and didn't live up to the potential with all the hype around it. However, this one felt more personal and at the same time, more entertaining. Punk gets the win as Jericho suffers another loss. Good stuff but for me, this isn't a match I'll be replaying anytime soon.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: ****1/4

Match 5: Raw 2013 - Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam
I remember watching this match back in 2013 and just reminiscing about watching these guys go at it on the early days of the 2000s. This match was on an edition of Monday Night Raw that would see John Cena choose his opponent for Summerslam. Chris Jericho noted how this match became a lengthy one as it went through three commercial breaks, a rarity in today's age. It's almost hard to believe that these two guys would have the longest match on a broadcast of Raw in 2013. They showed off their athleticism and their experience, adjusting to the longer time they were given. It just shows how good these guys are to space out the match and not make it feel like it was dragging on for too long. Good television contest that saw Rob Van Dam score the win after hitting his patented Five Star Frog Splash. I also believe this was Van Dam's first match on Raw in several years.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Rating: ***1/4

Match 6: Raw 2014 - Steel Cage - Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
This is another Raw match I can clearly remember watching. I wasn't too particularly big on Chris Jericho feuding with The Wyatt Family but this match maybe justified it for me. I'm a sucker for big matches on Raw and this one definitely had a different type of feel to it, it felt like watching a PPV match with a hot crowd to go along with the ride. Good action from the start of the match that saw Bray Wyatt hang with the legend in Chris Jericho. The moment of this match that really made things stand out was when Jericho looked to escape the cage only to see Luke Harper & Erick Rowan waiting for him at the bottom. This allowed Jericho to pay homage to Shawn Michaels and give the crowd a shrug before leaping off onto Wyatt. An awesome moment that Jericho proudly put over in the interview right before this match on the DVD. Wyatt would eventually scored the win after climbing over Jericho through the door before pounding on Jericho's wounded knee. Can we seriously get rid of winning this match through exiting the door? Other than that, it was a great match and very much worthy of being placed on here.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Rating: ***1/2

Match 7: Night of Champions 2014 - Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton
I would love to know how many times these two have gone at it on television or PPV. I quickly recall their match in 2007 at Armageddon as I watch this. Can you believe it's nearly been seven years since that match as they wrestled here? They also have beef going back to 2010 when Orton punted Chris Jericho out of the WWE for a good while. Those matches were pretty underwhelming, they never really clicked like it did here. For whatever reason, everything just gelled nicely. They didn't bring any crazy tricks out of the bag, they simply did their thing the way veterans normally do. A slow start that gradually picked up and finally hit its peak as Orton landed a sweet RKO on Jericho who tried to slingshot himself onto Orton. Orton then posed after the RKO and covered Jericho for the win. Like I said, two veterans doing their thing out there and just straight up reminding us why they're the best in the game.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ****

Overall Thoughts and Rating:
It's interesting to see how Chris Jericho stands as a wrestler. If you notice, he loses so many of his matches yet his credibility is never played into question. He's just that good and this DVD amplifies that fact. Disc 3 is a great representation of how Jericho is one of the best in the game at adapting and changing. From being the serious heel to being the underdog against The Wyatt Family. His personality ranges and it has just become such a rarity in today's game. Would I have preferred some other matches on here? Sure, but I can't argue with what we got. Especially taking into consideration that they were Jericho's choices and they each told a different story. Check this DVD out.
Rating: 7.25/10