Millennium Man: What Chris Jericho’s WWE Debut Teaches Us About Marketing

“…cuz I knew, if I hit a home run, I’m made. If I don’t, if I hit a double or a single, I might not get another shot.”

-Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast episode “Countdown to Y2J”

If you were a wrestling fan in the 90s, you remember the Monday Night Wars. You remember flipping between World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Monday Night RAW and World Championship Wrestling’s (WCW) Monday Nitro. You remember when Hulk Hogan was the New World Order’s (nWo’s) “third man,” when Brian Pillman pulled a gun on Stone Cold Steve Austin, when Tony Schivone spoiled the ending of Mankind vs The Rock.

WWE and WCW did everything they could to become the kings of wrestling. Wrestling debuts were a massive part of their marketing.

Sometimes, companies didn’t announce wrestling debuts beforehand. They were a surprise on the night, like when Lex Lugar and Rick Rude jumped from WWE to WCW.

Sometimes, however, a debut would be teased with vignettes. Then fans could talk to each other and fantasy book who they thought the new wrestler would be.

A vigorous fan discussion happened in 1999 when Chris Jericho decided to leave WCW and sign with WWE. WWE fostered the discussion by building a robust marketing plan to draw attention to Jericho’s August 9th, 1999 debut.

When Rocksteady marketed Batman: Arkham City, its marketing campaign became a sticky sensation. When WWE signed Chris Jericho, its marketing department created a similarly sticky campaign. WWE’s official YouTube video of Jericho’s debut has, as of June 24th, 2024, 8.4 million views.

Let’s look at how WWE’s marketing machine went into overdrive for Chris Jericho.

The Lead-up to August 9th, 1999

After building his brand in Mexico, Japan, and American independent wrestling promotions, Chris Jericho worked in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1996 through 1999. He joined their cruiserweight division and built rivalries with Dean Malenko, Juventud Guerrera, and Ultimo Dragon.

But WCW became top-heavy as Hollywood Hulk Hogan and his wrestling faction, the nWo, grew in popularity. The cruiserweights became a novelty for WCW, and the company viewed Jericho as a mid-card wrestler, not a main-event talent.

Jericho was ready to leave WCW when his contract expired in 1999: “It didn’t matter if [WCW President Eric Bischoff] gave me $5 million…it was time to go. I knew it…At that point and time, I wasn’t looking forward to anything…”

-Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast episode “Countdown to Y2J”

Millennium Man

Good wrestling gimmicks are facets of the wrestler’s true personality, with the dial turned up to 11.

Good wrestling gimmicks also steal from the zeitgeist. In 1999, we were all worried about what would happen when the internal clocks of computers went from 11:59:59 PM on December 31st, 1999, to 12:00:00 AM on January 1st, 2000. There was fear all financial systems would stop working. That doomsday was upon us.

This fear created an idea in Jericho’s head.

“I remember standing in line at the Post Office, and there was a clock that said countdown to the millennium. And it was, I don’t know, three months, four days, five hours, and 16 seconds…15 seconds…14 seconds. And I remember thinking that would be a great way for somebody to come into the WWE. It would be a great way for me to come into the WWE. And that’s when I said, ‘I’ll be the Millennium Man.’ The countdown to the new Millennium, that’s me. And the Millennium Man is going to be a change. Get rid of all the old and bring in the new.”

-Chris Jericho on the Broken Skull Sessions podcast with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Quote taken from “Inside The Ropes.”

Jericho’s August 9th, 1999 Debut

The marketing push didn’t stop with the countdown clock. To keep his theme of bringing a jolt of newness to the WWE, Jericho patterned his opening promo on that premise.

“One of my opening promos was everybody in WWE was boring and I was the most entertaining guy and all this other stuff, and it came from the post office. I called Vince Russo and I told him this idea, and he thought it was great. He called Vince [McMahon] and here’s the genius of it. We calibrated it so [the countdown] would end at the beginning of RAW, and I would open the show.”

-Chris Jericho on the Broken Skull Sessions podcast with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Quote taken from “Inside The Ropes.”

Jericho wanted to be the first wrestler fans saw when he debuted on the August 9th, 1999 episode of “Monday Night RAW.” Vince McMahon, the disgraced former WWE owner, had other plans.

“But Vince said, ‘No, you’re gonna come out in the middle of the show, and interrupt a promo by The Rock.’ Which to me is the genius of all geniuses.”

-Chris Jericho on the Broken Skull Sessions podcast with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Quote taken from “Inside The Ropes.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was one of the biggest WWE stars in 1999. Using Jericho’s debut to interrupt the Rock would signal how vital this signing was to the fans and the wrestling media.

And judging by the fans’ pop, it was a success.

Listen to their roar in this video as soon as “JERICHO” appears on the big screen.

The Postmortem

So, we know the WWE was excited to debut Jericho, Jericho was excited to debut, and the crowd popped hard when Jericho debuted. So, the marketing worked, and it was happily ever after, right?

…well, not exactly.

“When I look back on [the promo] now,” Jericho said on his podcast, “I don’t like it. I wouldn’t have done it that way…I remember when Rock started saying his lines, I was selling it. But almost selling it comedically. Cartoonish. Like [WCW] Jericho would. I still didn’t know who I was [in the WWE].”

-Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast episode “Countdown to Y2J”

Well, we can be our own worst critics. How did disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon feel about the debut? He must have been excited about his new star and the crowd’s reaction, right?

“I remember when I came back, everyone congratulated me, but Vince didn’t really say anything. But then, online later on that week, I heard that Vince did not like my reactions and thought I was too cartoony.”

Okay, they both had the same small critique of the debut. The disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon couldn’t ignore the crowd’s excitement, could he?

Yeah, he could.

“I would say…he probably made up his mind right then and there about where I was slotted [on the card]. Because if you look at what I did after that night, it was a downward spiral.”

Wait, WHAT?!? There was no denying how loud that crowd was for Jericho. And there was no denying the 6.53 ratings share for the debut.

But, because disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon made up his mind about Jericho based on some facial expressions, Jericho tumbled down the card.

It wasn’t low attention to the vignettes that killed Jericho’s push.

It wasn’t low KPIs or viewership numbers that killed Jericho’s push.

One man’s opinion, disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon, killed Jericho’s push. Because disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon has an idea for how his ideal wrestler looks, sounds, and acts. And, no matter how much planning and attention McMahon put into Jericho’s push before the debut, he wouldn’t continue the push once he saw Jericho and the Rock interact.

What Does Jericho’s Debut Teach Us About Marketing?

We can take a couple of lessons from Jericho’s WWE debut.

Have a plan for your campaign

Jericho’s debut was impeccably planned.

• WWE knew Jericho would debut on the August 9th, 1999, Monday Night RAW episode
• WWE showed Jericho’s countdown clock every RAW episode leading up to Jericho’s debut
• The creative team wanted Jericho to debut during a Rock segment, so they set up Jericho’s countdown clock to end during that segment
• The creative team tied Jericho’s countdown clock to the Y2K fear, giving fans the message that whoever was debuting would change wrestling in unanticipated ways
• Jericho and the Rock met before their on-screen meeting to go over what they were going to say so the segment would run smoothly

Jericho, the Rock, and WWE’s creative team worked together to plan and execute their marketing plan.

Good marketing ideas can come from anywhere

After the initial plan was conceived, Jericho and the WWE creative team added a few aspects to the debut:

• Jericho thought of the countdown clock when visiting the post office
• Jericho wanted to call his finishing move the “Y2J.” Disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon told Jericho no, that “Y2J” would be Jericho’s nickname

When you have your marketing plan in place, don’t be afraid to tweak it if good ideas pop up before you launch.

Bring your audience into the marketing

As I wrote in my breakdown of Batman: Arkham City’s marketing campaign, the most successful teaser trailer was Riddler’s. That teaser was successful because it immersed me in the marketing.

“If Batman is a detective, and I’m playing the game as Batman, that makes me a detective, too.”

While it didn’t help Jericho’s push in 1999, WWE has used the tease well over the years. The company went even further in marketing for Bray Wyatt’s 2022 return. They dropped multiple video teases, each with riddles the audience could solve.

Good marketing makes your audience part of the marketing itself.

Sometimes success isn’t recognized until later

You can measure what matters and find out that what really matters is the audience of one: the Boss.

In Jericho’s case, the only opinion that mattered was disgraced former WWE owner Vince McMahon’s. He thought Jericho was a low-to-mid-card wrestler, even though the company spent time, resources, and money producing and promoting Jericho’s debut.

Even if you have a plan, bring in the best ideas, and have the audience KPIs to prove your marketing campaign was successful, the boss might still call it a failure.

1999 didn’t go well for Jericho, but he kept pushing until he found success. In 2002, Jericho defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin to become the Undisputed WWE Champion.

Sometimes, good marketing takes a while to succeed. We just have to preserve.