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After putting on one of the best Raw matches of the year with Rob Van Dam and following it up with a solid match on Smackdown against Curtis Axel, it seems that Chris Jericho is hitting the road once again. On July 17th, Jericho tweeted the following:
Chris Jericho @IAmJericho
“So long to @WWE for now…2013 was one of my favorite in ring yrs ever! Thx for always sticking w Y2J & see u on the road soon w @FOZZYROCK!”
The 42-year old, 9-time Intercontinental Champion and first ever Undisputed Champion will start up another tour with his band, “Fozzy”, and will be rocking the stage in Europe starting in August. Fozzy rolls into Canada for select dates starting in September.
The question remains; will Jericho come back to the WWE some day? My answer is “yes”, there is no doubt about it. Chris Jericho has wrestling in his blood and there will always be that drive and that passion inside of him. However, over the years, it has become increasingly visible that Y2J comes back for one purpose, and one purpose only – to put over talent that are either on the rise or are receiving a major push. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at his track record upon returning in 2013…
Royal Rumble: Entered 2nd and lasted 47 minutes. He was eliminated by Dolph Ziggler
Elimination Chamber: Fourth person to be eliminated, by Randy Orton
Wrestlemania: Lost to Fandango in a singles match
Extreme Rules: Defeated Fandango in a singles match, ending the feud
Payback: Lost to CM Punk in a singles match
Money In The Bank: Lost to Ryback in a singles match
It’s quite evident when you look at the statistics. Yes, he did compete in a few matches that included multiple opponents in different circumstances, but for a man of his caliber returning to the WWE and only having his arm raised once in six PPVs, it raises some eyebrows. PPVs don’t always tell the story because there are still 6-8 televised events between each PPV. Although he wasn’t booked to compete in every Raw and Smackdown over the 6-month span, when he did wrestle, he posted a 2-8-1 record. It is to be noted that one of the losses came from a tag team match when he was teamed up with rival Ziggler and he walked out on Dolph, who proceeded to take a chokeslam from Kane and get pinned. He also was in competition for the Intercontinental Title, which was held by Wade Barrett at the time, but he failed to capture the gold for the 10th time in his career. Leading up to his departure and as noted before, Jericho also took a pair of losses on Raw and Smackdown, losing in singles contests to Rob Van Dam and current Intercontinental Champion, Curtis Axel.
When Jericho does come back to the WWE, will he be faced with the same booking as he has seen over the last two returns he has made, or will he get booked stronger than before and make a run as the Intercontinental Champion for a 10th time? At 43 or 44 years of age, whenever he decides to come back, he could put some serious prestige on a title like the IC strap or he could help out the tag team division by teaming with an up and coming star. Whatever may be, let’s hope it’s a better run than this last time around because he really looked out of place and sometimes, the booking just didn’t make sense (i.e. facing different opponents each week with not much build or none at all).
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