Sometimes, a great rivalry can be started by the most offhanded of incidents. A coffee spill, a stolen tag, a mispronounced name and the perceived rejection of a heartfelt gift have all led to some of the most ferocious collisions WWE has ever seen. It’s a tried-and-true rule of the ring, and Chris Jericho and Ryback are the latest additions to the pantheon of opponents whose conflict began rather unceremoniously. History will show their battle began on the June 24 edition of Raw when they both barged in on Vickie Guerrero with a bone to pick and ended up slated to meet at Money in the Bank 2013.
On first glance, the match seems like an impulsive bout made by a managing supervisor who is under more and more scrutiny from the McMahons as each week passes. Jericho and Ryback both demanded matches at Money in the Bank — Jericho in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the WWE Championship Contract, and Ryback against John Cena for the WWE Title — and Vickie, seemingly in a last-ditch effort to appease both frustrated Superstars and WWE’s first family in one fell swoop, pitted the two against each other. The decision may smack of desperation on the “Queen Diva’s” part, but at second glance, a Jericho-Ryback tilt makes perfect sense.
Jericho is coming off a hard-fought (and high-profile) loss to CM Punk at WWE Payback (his fourth consecutive to The Straight Edge Superstar), one in which the inaugural Undisputed Champion seemed to almost be banking on his opponent not showing up at all. Ryback’s rampaging challenge for the WWE Title met its abrupt end in the bay of an ambulance when Cena vanquished the beast in a Three Stages of Hell Match, but his own problems run deeper than that: Since mounting his first conquest for the WWE Title at Hell in a Cell 2012, Ryback has not won a single pay-per-view match.
At Money in the Bank, an event where the future of both World Title pictures will be decided, two perennial contenders will go head-to-head to avenge their previous misfortunes. Victory will not be a given for either; Ryback towers over Jericho in stature, but Y2J has slain giants before. And as Daniel Bryan previously showed, all it takes is a little heart to leave a big man down. But whether that will be enough for Jericho — or whether Ryback’s frustrations will carry him back to long-awaited glory — is a matter for July 14 in Philadelphia. Until then, all the WWE Universe can do is wait and wonder which of these two hardheaded Superstars will be left in the lurch, and who will be in the proverbial money as the final bell tolls.
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