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Last week on Monday Night RAW, Chris Jericho attacked Randy Orton after a match, laying him out with three Codebreakers. Chances are, this was going to lead to a match at No Way Out between the two, likely to do with the fatal 4-way title match at Over the Limit that saw Jericho get pinned.
As it turns out, that may be the last time we see Jericho in a WWE ring.
In case you hadn’t heard, Jericho is currently facing a 30-day suspension in WWE, his first punishment since signing with WWE back in 1999, and possibly his first punishment in wrestling on a whole, as Jericho has generally always played by the rules. However, Jericho got into a little bit of trouble when, on May 24th at a live event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jericho was facing WWE Champion CM Punk in a title match and a Brazilian flag was thrown into the ring by someone in the crowd. Punk held up the flag to get a cheer from the crowd and Jericho, playing the part of the heel, yanked the flag off the ropes (where Punk had draped it), threw it on the ground and proceeded to stomp on it.
Almost immediately, local police officers stormed the ring, informing Jericho he could be arrested for what he just did. As it turns out, disparaging the national flag in Brazil is a crime, one that can come with immediate incarceration. However, with the police likely knowing Jericho didn’t know the law and understanding what he was trying to do, told him that if he apologized immediately, he would not face jail time. Jericho did as such, and the match continued, with Punk eventually winning. Jericho was then immediately escorted out of the building and on his way to the next show in Ecuador.
However, he was sent home from there instead of continuing the tour, and it was announced the next day that he had been suspended. Although Jericho apologized to the live crowd as well as on Twitter, WWE still went through with the suspension, more as “damage control” and saving face than anything else, especially with Linda McMahon’s upcoming run for the U.S. Senate.
While Jericho could return to action next month, he is insisting over his Twitter account (@IAmJericho) that, suspension or no, he is done with WWE. Going one step further, Jericho has been counting down the days on Twitter until his suspension/WWE career is over, with each day including facts that have to do with the day number in question. For example, he posted the following tweets on Sunday and Monday:
On Sunday: “27-My Dads number when he played in the NHL. Also my ranking in the top 50 WCW superstars of all time. Also today’s date.”
On Monday: “Day 26 is an R&B group formed by P-Diddy in 2007. I was also 26 years old when I won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time.”
Although the WWE seems to be hopeful of Jericho’s return, the odds are unlikely. Jericho is currently signed to a short-term deal, a deal that was scheduled to end this summer anyway.
Although Jericho has tried to trick/tease fans over Twitter in the past with cryptic tweets, there’s a very strong possibility that he really isn’t coming back.
