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In recent months, Chris Jericho has often effusively referred to his Undisputed Title victory at the Dec. 9, 2001 Vengeance PPV where he defeated The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night to become the first modern-era Undisputed World champion.

Seven years ago today, Jericho's title victory was considered a shocking decision to bypass the likes of Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and Kurt Angle for the first honor to be recognized by WWE following the incorporation of WCW into WWE storylines.

In December 2001, about eight months had passed since the acquisition of WCW and the subsequent "assimilation" process of WCW talent that led to the botched Invasion angle.

The official Raw and Smackdown brand splits were coming up soon, but Jericho's title victory was the main story at the time. Why was Jericho chosen to head up a new era in wrestling as the premiere face? The same reason why he's held the World Title twice in the last few months.

From Torch Newsletter #683 dated Dec. 15, 2001: "Jericho has won over McMahon and management in general by being a low maintenance hard worker who has earned the praise of many who were initially critical of both his in-ring aptitude and his attitude when he first arrived in the WWF over two years ago. He also is the freshest option and seems to have the best fan following of any candidates. "

Sound familiar? From several interviews just a few weeks ago in November, Jericho described his relationship with Vince McMahon in the same glowing terms.

"I've always had a great relationship with Vince," Jericho told Mike Mooneyham in November. "I think I was one of the only people who ever left on great terms and kept in contact with him the whole time I was gone.

He continued: "I enjoy working for Vince. ... I was really happy to come back when I came back, and Vince was really happy to have me. I feel like I could talk to him a little bit more now as a confidante and someone who, if I don't like something, will be happy to tell him that."

Seven years ago, Jericho's title victory was viewed as a safe bet, where any combination of Austin, Rock, Hunter, and Angle chasing the title would presumably help boost business.

Eventually, that culminated with Triple H capturing the Undisputed Title from Jericho at WrestleMania 18 four months later.

But, the events leading up to Jericho's Undisputed Title reign were called into question related to how WCW wrestlers were brought into the fold. Vince McMahon defended the universally-panned WCW Invasion angle in a Torch cover story via an interview with Wade Keller.

"We thought we'd have more access to more big names (from WCW)," McMahon said in Torch Newsletter #678 from November 2001. "We want to get back to things that make sense. One way or another, we're getting back to normal after Survivor Series."

One of the ways they were planning to "get back to normal" was to admit mistakes with the WCW Invasion and create separate brands on TNN (Spike TV) an UPN for Raw and Smackdown, respectively, utilizing the WWE, WCW, and ECW talent on the roster.

"We can't have them all on one show," McMahon said. "It would be good in many ways to have Rock on Thursdays, but not on Mondays."

He added: "There is nothing compelling enough between Monday and Thursday. You can catch up on what you missed on Thursday if you don't watch on Monday. If we split the talent, then viewers would have to watch both shows to see (all of their favorites)."

In recent years, the brand split has been muddied with several wrestlers appearing on Raw, Smackdown, or ECW throughout the week. It's difficult to name what brand certain wrestlers, such as The Miz & Morrison, are officially a part of without having to think.

It doesn't help that the regularity of Raw's three-hour specials have increased, meaning more mixing of talent, exemplified by a Smackdown-centric feud closing last night's Raw six days before the Raw brand's Jericho vs. Cena was expected to sell this Sunday's Armageddon PPV.

Seven years after Jericho won the first-ever Undisputed Title, he finds himself back in the mix with two more World Title reigns on his resume this year.

His consistency, solid relationship with Vince McMahon, and ability to reinvent himself and his character have made him an easy and popular choice to be a top player.

Now, if only WWE can do something about getting back to the basics of the brand split and creating a firm separation that will actually create meaningful cross-promotion matches down the road.

Torch VIP members have access to nearly 1,000 Torch Newsletters from the past 20 years in the Torch VIP Appendix to read up on historically significant events that are within the context of today's wrestling environment. Torch Talks and big-name interviews from the past 20 years include Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, The Rock, Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan just to name a few of the hundreds of names. For membership information, click here.

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