From the WWE rumor mill:  The backstage reason why Chris Jericho was brought back last week

What's the story?

Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer recently talked about Chris Jericho's surprise return to the WWE on last week's SmackDown Live. Ringside News reported on the story where the WWE brought Jericho back for one night only for a couple of reasons.

In case you didn't know...

The last time we saw Jericho was on the episode of SmackDown Live right the Payback pay-per-view this past April. Jericho defeated Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship at the PPV but lost it to Owens on SmackDown Live two days later.

Owens would deliver a beating to Jericho after the match; which resulted in Jericho leaving the arena on a stretcher.

The heart of the matter...

The first reason why the WWE brought Jericho back was to get a nice pop from the crowd since it was a huge surprise. Jericho's latest evolution in character has been one of his most popular, so the WWE knew they'd get a huge reaction by having him be a surprise return after Battleground.

The other reason they brought Jericho back was so the WWE could avoid Owens from taking the pin in the triple threat match to continue the Owens / AJ Styles feud through SummerSlam. It became official on SmackDown Live this week that the rematch is going to happen with Shane McMahon as the guest referee.

Jericho's appearance was a one-off because of a busy schedule this late summer and early fall outside of the WWE. There is a book signing tour at the end of August; while Fozzy is going on tour in the US from September 16th until October 8th. Considering the SummerSlam card is already filling up, we may not see Jericho until the end of the year.

What's next?

The next official item on Jericho's list is the signing tour for his latest book "No Is A Four Letter Word." He will appear at the Barnes & Noble on Warren Street in New York City on August 29th, the same day as the release date for the book.

Author's take...

I will take Jericho as little or as much as I can, so I won't complain at all! Not only was it a great surprise, but a great triple threat match as well. Hopefully, after his outside commitments, he'll be able to return to the WWE to set up something for Survivor Series.