Stuff of Legend

**Stuff of Legend** were a tag team consisting of Chris Jericho and Christian, who mainly performed on the SmackDown brand. As a team, they are the inaugural and final SmackDown Tag Team Champions on WWE 2K17, while Christian found individual success in WWE 2K19, becoming a one-time (and the final) WWE SmackDown Champion. Kevin Owens was a one-time member of the team, as he originally formed Stuff of Legend with Jericho, before Jericho broke up the team and revived it, although with Christian as his partner.

## WWE 2K17

### Formation and quick break up

The tag team originally formed on Episode 4 in Series 1 of WWE 2K17 Universe Mode. Chris Jericho called Kevin Owens to the ring to form a tag team, which the latter accepted. The name was derived from Jericho's promo, where he said that he and Owens "[would] be the stuff of legend". Immediately after forming their team, they lost a match against the Dudley Boyz, where they would compete for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules had they won. After the loss, Jericho accused Owens of holding him back and being the problem in the team, and broke up the tag team as a result.

### Reunion of tag team with Christian

Jericho reformed Stuff of Legend with Christian at Extreme Rules, after the Dudley Boyz needed new opponents due to them beating Owens and Jericho on SmackDown six episodes prior. Earlier in the pay-per-view, Jericho and Christian were seen conversing, presumably forming the team. They defeated the Dudley Boyz to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. They defeated the Dudley Boyz in a rematch at Payback (Episode 17, Series 1 - WWE 2K17) to successfully retain their tag team titles. The Dudley Boyz were going to face Stuff of Legend for a third time at Money in the Bank, but had their title match revoked after John Cena defeated both of them in a handicap match. Because of this, Perkins had to think of new opponents for Stuff of Legend, who turned out to be The Usos. Jericho and Christian controversially defeated the Usos, after the kickout metre lagged, though no repercussions came of it, so Jericho and Christian remained tag team champions as a result. In an earlier episode of Universe Mode, Jericho had gone into SmackDown GM Triple H's office and asked to be inserted into the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match, which was granted. He failed to win, however, as Rusev ended up claiming the briefcase.

### Second break up

On Episode 18, Jericho called out former Stuff of Legend tag team partner, Kevin Owens, who was the WWE Champion at the time and his opponent for the title at SummerSlam. After a ridiculous promo, where Jericho went "bzzzzz, bzzzzz" and Owens said he'd rather kill himself than listen to Jericho talk, he was hit with a low blow by Owens. At SummerSlam, Jericho and Christian were set to face the rebuilt Wyatt Family (Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman) for the titles, however, Jericho walked out as Christian was about to tag him in, leaving Christian to defend the titles by himself. Christian ended up losing the match and the tag team titles, ending Stuff of Legend's reign at 30 episodes. Similar to how Jericho got himself into the Money in the Bank match, Christian went to Triple H's office in a prior episode of Universe Mode and was given a spot in the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam, turning it into a Triple Threat match between himself, Jericho, and Owens. Christian prevented Jericho from winning the title, but was unable to win it himself, as Owens pinned Christian to retain the title. Stuff of Legend officially broke up after the match.

### Series 2; Stuff of Legend...Maybe; final episodes of 2K17

#### **Chris Jericho**

In Series 2 of 2K17, Jericho turned face once again after losing the WWE Championship to Austin Aries at Backlash. SmackDown GM The Miz refused to give Jericho his rematch and appeared to have a vendetta against Jericho for most of the series. He eventually announced the Trials of Jericho, a series of three matches that Jericho had to take part in to win back his rematch clause. Jericho had to win at least 2 matches to win his rematch clause back. He won the first match against Cesaro at the SmackDown exclusive Unforgiven event, but lost to Kevin Owens on Episode 31 (SmackDown). He won the final match at SmackDown's No Mercy event, meaning he got his WWE Championship rematch clause. He won the championship back from Bray Wyatt at King of the Ring, going on to hold it for 27 episodes. He dropped the championship to Neville, and failed to regain it. After losing the title to Neville, Jericho failed to be named number one contender to any other championship on SmackDown.

#### **Christian**

Christian, meanwhile, formed Perfect 20 with Tye Dillinger, and the two won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in Series 1 at WrestleMania. They were then drafted to the Raw brand at picks 10 and 20 respectively, and were awarded the Raw Tag Team Championships, as the former champions American Alpha were drafted to SmackDown. Perfect 20 were two time Raw Tag Team Champions, with Tye Dillinger winning the titles off The Revival in a 2-on-1 Handicap match after Christian was assaulted backstage. After losing the titles a second time, P20 disbanded, and Christian left Raw to become an ambassador for WWE, going to 3 Star Wrestling once to wrestle Fandango in a losing effort.

#### **Stuff of Legend...Maybe; reformation**

On Episode 231 (SmackDown), Royal Rumble winner Sami Zayn revealed himself to be El Generico, Kevin Owens' tag team partner and then-SmackDown Tag Team Champion, and vacated his half of the championship. This left Kevin Owens without a partner temporarily, until later in the episode when The Miz defeated Baron Corbin for the vacant half of the titles. The following SmackDown (Episode 233), a No. 1 Contenders match was held, with the winners facing the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz feat. Kevin Owens. Since there were no other tag teams on SmackDown free for the match, the reformed Stuff of Legend...Maybe defeated the Dudley Boyz to become No. 1 Contenders. The 'maybe' was added to Stuff of Legend's name, as they weren't going to stay reunited if they lost. On the second to last SmackDown of 2K17, Christian was jumped by The Miz feat. Kevin Owens before Owens' match against Jericho, which Jericho lost. Stuff of Legend fully reformed at WrestleMania, and beat The Miz feat. Kevin Owens to become the final SmackDown Tag Team Champions of WWE 2K17.

## Hiatus as a team (WWE 2K18 - WWE 2K19 (Series 1))

During the Series 1 Draft for WWE 2K18 Universe Mode, all three members of Stuff of Legend were drafted to SmackDown. However, they never performed on the brand as a tag team.

### 2K18

During 2K18, Owens held the WWE Championship once and the Intercontinental Championship twice after being traded to the Raw brand when he lost the WWE Championship. Christian held the SmackDown Tag Team Championship once with Edge. The reign was brief for him, however, as he was attacked before a title defense and was forced to allow Randy Orton to substitute for him. Edge and Orton ended up losing the titles. Christian wasn't seen much after that, and went undrafted in Series 2. Jericho found no success in 2K18, failing to win any championships and going undrafted in the Series 2 draft.

### 2K19

#### Chris Jericho

In Series 1 of 2K19, Jericho was named the SmackDown General Manager and found some success in that role, eventually becoming GM of Raw as well after defeating Goldberg at Survivor Series. He was also associated with The Sect for a period of time, though the group kicked him out after he repeatedly foiled their plans unintentionally. At the beginning of Series 2, Jericho inserted himself in a feud between then-WWE Raw Champion Pete Dunne and John Cena, booking himself and Dunne in a handicap match against Cena for the title. Cena won the match and Jericho was fired from his general manager roles as a result.

After being fired, Jericho won the Raw Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in later that night on John Cena, becoming WWE Raw Champion. He then injured Pete Dunne and aligned himself with Paul Heyman, Dunne's manager at the time. The two schemed and connived to hold onto the WWE Raw Championship, until Dunne won it back at Summerslam in a handicap match with Paul Heyman on Jericho's team, ironically winning the title the same way he lost it to John Cena earlier in the series. Jericho fired Heyman for being pinned and losing his championship, and began something of a losing streak at this point in time. At Cyber Sunday, he was one of the choices to face Randy Orton for the WWE SmackDown Championship, though he was hailed as SmackDown's mystery draftee. He appeared anyway on the SmackDown after Cyber Sunday, interfering in the SmackDown Championship match between Triple H and Braun Strowman, costing Triple H the title. He would subsequently lose his debut match against Rey Mysterio, who also came to SmackDown as a part of the Shake-Up, and would demand another debut match after accusing Mysterio of taking PEDs. Jericho would continue to lose on SmackDown and would continue to demand debut matches until he won.

#### Christian

Christian wasn't used much in Series 1 of Universe Mode, though he found some success in Series 2. He defeated Bobby Lashley to win the WWE Television Championship, though he was attacked by Edge after the match. Christian held the championship for quite some time, mainly due to him "being on holiday" and apparently catching the wrong flights to shows. Stand-in general manager of both Raw and SmackDown, Triple H, then forced Christian to defend his title against Brock Lesnar. Christian lost the title, though he claimed he never truly lost it as Lesnar left it in the ring after their match. Roman Reigns stood by Christian in his rally and promised to return the title to him if he won the vacant title against Edge and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match at Unforgiven. The match and the title were won by Edge, leading to Christian embarking on a feud with his former tag team partner. He ended up winning the title on an episode of SmackDown, disguised as 'El Burro'. The reign was short-lived, however, as Edge won the title back in an Extreme Rules match at Summerslam. Following his title loss to Edge, Christian declared that he was moving up to the SmackDown Championship scene, though he was squashed in his first match after losing the Television Championship and was not seen for a while.

#### Kevin Owens

Owens was mainly around the world championship scene, unsuccessfully competing to become the first World Heavyweight Champion on Raw, as well as receiving multiple matches for the title. After defecting to the SmackDown brand towards the end of Series 1, Owens ended up becoming the final WWE Champion and subsequently the first WWE SmackDown Champion. After losing the SmackDown Championship to Randy Orton and failing in his attempts to regain the title, Owens was sent to Raw as a part of the Superstar Shake-Up.

## Reunion in WWE 2K19 (Series 2)

Chris Jericho received a United States Championship match after winning a battle royal on SmackDown during Episode #80, which was one of his many debut matches for the brand. The next episode (#81) at the Royal Rumble, Jericho lost his championship match due to a technical error that displayed TM-61's titantron and played their theme mid-match. Jericho was also scheduled to enter the Royal Rumble at #5, but had his number bumped up to #6 due to the fault of the production crew. Despite having his entry number increased, Jericho failed to win the match after he was quickly thrown out by Pete Dunne, Jericho's main rival during his time on Raw in Series 2.

To begin Episode #87, which was a SmackDown show, Jericho turned face and announced his retirement from the ring after multiple losses since being drafted to SmackDown in the Superstar Shake-Up. This was most likely a way for Gore and Perkins to write Jericho out of Universe Mode, as he won't be in WWE 2K20 since he is an AEW employee. Not long after Jericho made his announcement, Christian came to the ring and admitted that he was the one who was behind the distraction during Jericho's United States Championship match and claimed he did it to help Jericho, while also expressed his remorse for causing him to lose. Christian then told Jericho to not retire and offered to reform Stuff of Legend, which he accepted. On next week's SmackDown (Episode #89), the reformed Stuff of Legend were announced by Perkins to be number one contenders to Hollywood Hell's Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. The duo then defeated Breezango in a warm-up match, which was only Jericho's second win as a member of the SmackDown brand, as well as Stuff of Legend's first match as a tag team in almost 2 years. Despite the win on SmackDown, however, they were unsuccessful at TLC.

Following the loss at TLC, Stuff of Legend were forced to face one another in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match to enter the WWE SmackDown Championship Chamber match, which Christian ended up winning. Jericho supported Christian, lobbying for them to be co-champions when Christian won, training him in the gym, and even sorting out a diet to help Christian bulk up to 250 pounds. At the Elimination Chamber event, however, Jericho replaced Christian in the Chamber match due to an apparent case of food poisoning. Jericho was unsuccessful at winning the title on Christian's behalf. Vince McMahon accused Jericho of purposely poisoning Christian in an attempt to win the WWE SmackDown Championship, and allowed Christian an opportunity at the title before WrestleMania if Jericho could defeat then-champion Randy Orton. Jericho won the match, after Orton eventually laid down for him, thereby naming Christian the new number one contender. Christian defeated Orton to win the WWE SmackDown Championship, his first world title in nearly two years.

Following Christian's title win, Jericho initially supported Christian in his campaign to retain the SmackDown Championship and hold it going to WrestleMania. However, he quickly grew jealous of Christian's success and turned heel once again, revealing that he'd written a clause in Stuff of Legend's contract. The clause stated that if one member of Stuff of Legend were to win a singles title, the other would be able to challenge the champion at a time of the challenger's choosing. Jericho inserted himself into the already altered main event of WrestleMania (before Christian's title win made it a triple threat, the main event was supposed to be a one-on-one between Royal Rumble winner Cesaro and then-SmackDown Champion Randy Orton) to make it a fatal four-way. Jericho was unsuccessful at winning the title, though Christian retained, pinning Randy Orton to win the match. This marked the break-up of Stuff of Legend once again.

## Trivia

* All three members of Stuff of Legend held the WWE Championship at some point in time in WWE 2K17. Kevin Owens won the championship in Series 1 on SmackDown, Christian won it in the same series at Battleground, and Chris Jericho held the championship on two separate occasions during both Series 1 and 2 of WWE 2K17 Universe Mode.
* All three members were also drafted to the SmackDown brand in Series 1 of WWE 2K18 Universe Mode. However, none of them ended up teaming together.
* While they never teamed together, Kevin Owens and Christian had a lot in common in Series 2 of WWE 2K19 Universe Mode. Owens began Series 2 as WWE SmackDown Champion, while Christian ended Series 2 as WWE SmackDown Champion. The two also ended up as the final WWE Raw and SmackDown Champions.

## Championships and accomplishments

* WWE SmackDown Championship (1 time) - Christian
* WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Christian and Chris Jericho