SmackDown is in London tonight. So is Chris Jericho. But we’re not sure if they’ll combine parties.
Jericho posted to Instagram broadcasting to his followers that he is indeed in London. Jericho has made a handsome living toying with people and this picture should keep the wrestling world’s wheels spinning until SmackDown goes off the air.
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Jericho is prone to making surprises but we should consider his SmackDown involvement a true coin toss.
Jericho did join WWE for the Greatest Royal Rumble in April. He was only there to make a fun cameo in the Rumble itself but for a few days, he was set to face The Undertaker in a Casket Match. For whatever reason, WWE nixed that idea and flipped back to Rusev vs. Taker leaving fans to wonder what caused the switch.
A few days after his Saudi Arabian appearance, Jericho was seen back in Japan tormenting Tetsuya Naito. That attack lead to the booking of Naito vs. Jericho at NJPW’s Dominion June 9 show.
Jericho hasn’t been around much since his WrestleMania 32 match with Kevin Owens. Jericho defeated Kevin Owens to win the United States Championship at the Payback pay-per-view in April 2017. Jericho would make a leap to the SmackDown Live roster, only to drop the title two nights later and be attacked by Owens after the match, giving him a kayfabe injury excuse to go back on tour with his rock band Fozzy.
Jericho then pivoted to a surprise return to New Japan Pro Wrestling that November, though he assured in interviews afterwards that the WWE was well aware of his jump to the Japanese wrestling promotion.
He went on to be in the co-main event of New Japan’s equivalent of WrestleMania, WrestleKingdom 12, and put on a five-star rated No Disqualification match against Kenny Omega.
Jericho sat down with Rolling Stone back in December to discuss his life as wrestling’s renaissance man. However, when the topic turned to his future, Jericho shared a sobering revelation.
“I haven’t been full-time with the WWE since 2010. That’s something a lot of people don’t realize,because when I come back there’s always a good angle. And 2016 was one of the best years of my career, so people are always asking when I’m going back but there were no plans to go back. There still isn’t,” he said.
While Jericho hasn’t been “full time” he’s still been an integral part of WWE for most of this decade. While Jericho doesn’t have an explicit agreement with WWE, he still seems optimistic that he will eventually make a return.
“…Will I go back? I’m sure I will, but if I don’t it wouldn’t bother me either because I’ve had a lot of great times there, but I’ve got a lot of stuff on the horizon that’s building as well,” explained Jericho.
Photo: Chris Jericho/Instagram
