From the WWE Rumor Mill: Chris Jericho not under a WWE deal despite scheduled to return to the company next week

What’s the story?

During today’s episode of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reportedly confirmed the news that WWE veteran Chris Jericho is currently not under a deal with Vince McMahon, despite being set to make his return to the promotion later this month as part of Monday Night Raw’s 25 Anniversary episode.

In case you didn’t know…

Chris Jericho's last appearance for a Pro Wrestling company was when he appeared at NJPW’s New Year’s Dash event on 5th January 2018. Jericho, who has been recently performing under the New Japan banner, first wrestled Kenny Omega to a brutal match at this year’s WK 12 event on 4th January which was seemingly followed by Y2J attacking LIJ leader Tetsuya Naito the very next day at the Korakeun Hall.

Additionally, Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega also got a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer for their IWGP US Title match at this year’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 show at the Tokyo Dome.

The heart of the matter

During this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE announced that Chris Jericho is all set to be a part of Monday Night Raw’s upcoming 25th Anniversary show, which takes place on the 22nd of January. However, according to respected Pro Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, WWE has announced the return of Chris Jericho without there being a deal in place for Y2J’s return. But, Meltzer has also claimed that a deal could have been signed earlier in the week if it hasn’t been already.

On the other hand, New Japan Pro Wrestling officials apparently were aware of the news that Jericho was all set to appear at Monday Night Raw’s 25th Anniversary show. Also, it has been confirmed that The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla isn’t under any sort of exclusive contract with NJPW and he’s currently also not signed to a WWE deal.

What’s next?

As for Chris Jericho, it has now been confirmed that he is now all set to miss this year’s Wrestlemania due to being on tour with his rock band Fozzy. However, we can assume that Chris Jericho will make his return to NJPW in the future to continue to his on-going rivalry with Tetsuya Naito.

Author’s Take

A match between Jericho and Naito is destined for greatness in my opinion, on the other hand though, I don’t WWE has any sort of interesting storylines for Y2J as of right now, and it will be the best choice for Jericho to stay off the WWE radar for a while now.