WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie Review

The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla turns Blu.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 12, 2015

Ask any number of wrestling fans to name their top three figures of the Attitude Era and chances are Chris Jericho won't crack many lists. And that's in no way a knock on Y2J. In any other era the Superstar might have been a consistent finisher at the top of the pile, but against names like Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Triple H, somewhere in the top ten isn't a bad place to be. In fact, Jericho ranked smack in the middle of WWE.com's very own ranking of the top twenty faces of the Attitude Era. But don't let that detract from his accomplishments. A storied figure, a classic heel, a tremendous technical performer, one of wrestling's best on-mic entertainers, one of the foremost showman in the WWE (who can forget his light-up jackets?), and the sport's first undisputed champion, Chris Jericho was easily one of the most visible, highly promoted, and consistently excellent wrestlers of his time, from his beginnings at the bottom of the WWE food chain all the way to the top with classic matches against the likes of modern Superstars Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton at the tail end of his sure-to-be Hall-of-Fame career.

Jericho brings the pain.

Though the release is largely a match compilation -- that takes up a good 90% or so of the runtime -- fans will be pleased that the remainder is filled by Jericho himself (from the backseat of his limo, of all places), chatting about the matches to come, the wrestlers featured in them, and some general thoughts on his career and the professional wrestling landscape. He speaks briefly about his days in the ECW and WCW before transitioning to the WWE. He speaks on the need to adapt a new style and his work both behind the scenes and in the ring with X-Pac to get him up to speed on the WWE way of doing things. He covers his relationships with a number of wrestlers -- Kane, The Rock, CM Punk, Rob Van Dam, Rey Mysterio, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton, to name a few -- and why he enjoyed performing with them. He speaks on a variety of ancillary topics, too, including the joys of performing in Madison Square Garden, "dark matches," his light-up attire, the importance of a good audience in making a great match, and what he would want from a possible return to the WWE.

Despite the fairly unorthodox style -- Jericho rides in the back of limo rather than sit planted in some stuffy studio -- the program works well, even if it otherwise follows the traditional WWE Home Video format that bypasses the full Documentary and instead relies on sound bytes to fill in the gaps. The limo makes for a nice little change of pace, and there's even a chase car that photographs the limo speeding by (unbeknownst to Jericho who, at one point, pauses to ask, essentially, why they're being stalked) while the interior cameras sometimes turn to look out the window rather than focus strictly on the Superstar hugging the passenger side rear seat the entire ride. Jericho speaks off the cuff, unrehearsed, openly, and honestly, sometimes claiming to not even remember any given match, a comment that, at one point, allows him to comically berate himself for having no memory of a match that pitted him against Stone Cold, one that also featured Mick Foley as a special referee. Still, he's a fountain of knowledge and a charming personality to boot. Combine that with some truly great matches along the way, spanning the entirety of his career, and even this imperfect release suddenly morphs into something that's more than watchable and one that longtime WWE and Jericho fans will treasure for years to come.

The following matches are included as part of The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J:

Disc One:

• ECW World Television Title Match: Chris Jericho vs. Pitbull 2. Hardcore Heaven -- June 22, 1996.
• WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Ultimate Dragon. Bash at the Beach -- July 13, 1997.
• WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko. Uncensored -- March 15, 1998.
• Steel Cage Match: Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac. No Mercy -- October 22, 2000.
• Last Man Standing Match: Chris Jericho vs. Kane. Armageddon -- December 10, 2000.
• WWE Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin with Special Outside Referee Mick Foley. RAW -- June 4, 2001.
• WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Booker T. RAW -- July 16, 2001.
• WCW Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle. Rebellion -- November 3, 2001.
• WWE Undisputed Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. The Rock. Royal Rumble -- January 20, 2002.
• Winner Faces Hulk Hogan for the Undisputed Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Triple H. SmackDown -- April 25, 2002.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy. RAW -- February 10, 2003.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. Edge. RAW -- March 7, 2005.
• Last Man Standing Match: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels. RAW -- November 10, 2008.

Disc Two:

• Street Fight for the World Heavyweight Championship (Dark Match): Chris Jericho vs. John Cena. RAW -- December 29, 2008.
• Mask vs. Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio. The Bash -- June 28, 2009.
• Triple Threat Tag Team Match: Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. John Cena & Undertaker vs. D-Generation X. RAW -- November 16, 2009.
• Chicago Street Fight for the WWE Championship: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk. Extreme Rules -- April 29, 2012.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam. RAW -- July 15, 2013.
• Steel Cage Match: Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt. RAW -- September 8, 2014.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton. Night of Champions -- September 21, 2014.

WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J doesn't begin well. Aliasing plagues a cityscape shot and the following lower grade HD video footage falls flat with a notable lack of crispness and lifelike definition. When the program transitions to the limo, viewers will find a consistently mediocre picture. Detail suffices but never excels, failing to reveal Jericho or his surroundings with the sort of lifelike, pinpoint definition found on the best high definition presentations. Light microblocking and noise are apparent in the car. The limited color palette proves adequate as it generally mixes only a few elements, including the black leather seats, Jericho's mildly orange skin, and his tattoos. The matches are a mix of standard definition 4x3 footage and high definition 1.78:1 content. The program is linear, and the switch to HD comes with the last match on disc one. These matches run the gauntlet of picture quality, with the crummiest pictures coming first, followed by a modest uptick in SD stability and detail in the WWE, and then a minor and gradual increase in quality in the HD content where stability improves, true sharpness increases, and compression issues decrease as it moves along to the most recent matches. Note that older SD footage is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio outside of matches, but the matches proper retain their original broadcast ratios.

WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack paves the way for The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J. WWE Home Video's soundtrack adequately conveys the stories and matches but doesn't do much more. Opening music offers fair clarity and placement. Light background sounds of the limo cruising down the road make for a light and welcome support piece underneath Jericho's memories. His speech comes through clearly and accurately with no perceptible slips in intelligibility or center placement. The matches feature a wide range of sonic detail, from the muddy, indistinct music, dialogue, and crowd sounds of the earliest matches to the significantly more lively, detailed, and robust pieces in the newest matches form only a few years ago. Listeners will note the gradual increase in quality and envelopment as the program moves along.

WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J contains several bonus matches and "deleted scenes" on disc two, all listed under the "Blu-ray Exclusives" tab (1080i, 1:31:24 total runtime).

• Landing Butt-First: Jericho recounts an incident when his rear end smacked into a ladder.
• Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Christian. Unforgiven -- September 12, 2004.
• Band Collage: Jericho shows off some of his tattoos.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio. RAW -- June 15, 2009.
• Pushed Out of the Nest: Jericho discusses helping young wrestlers along with their careers, with emphasis on Evan Bourne.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne. Fatal 4-Way -- June 20, 1010.
• The Ultimate Violation: Jericho discusses an idea in which he would have tattooed CM Punk.
• Career Match: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk. WWE Payback -- June 16, 2013.

WWE: The Road Is Jericho - Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Certainly a proper career retrospective documentary would have been preferred, but even in limited face time, Chris Jericho manages to tell a quick and incomplete but nevertheless satisfying story of his career. The film is built in classic WWE Home Video style with matches dominating and relatively quick bits of information rapidly delivered in between, oftentimes centered on the upcoming opponent but frequently also covering some of the more interesting little behind-the-scenes tidbits and insights that separate meaningful programs from junk releases. The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J works well given its style and constraints. Fans will rightly be left wanting more, but as what is mostly a match compilation, this one's pretty good. WWE Home Video's Blu-ray release of The Road Is Jericho: Epic Stories & Rare Matches from Y2J features adequate video, good audio, and a few supplements that amount to four deleted limo scenes and four extra matches. Recommended.