What’s the story?
Chris Jericho has extended his career by several years because of his frequent breaks from the ring over the past few years. Jericho has been with the WWE since 1999, but since 2005, he has taken many breaks from the company.
According to a report from the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Jericho is preparing for another hiatus after WrestleMania.
In case you didn’t know...
The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla has several different interests outside of the ring, which primarily includes his band, Fozzy. Fozzy has been producing music since 2000. Along with his music career, Jericho has also had several hosting gigs on different television programs, as well as contributing to the VH1 Series, Best Week Ever.
Chris also appeared on Dancing With The Stars in 2011. In 2013, Jericho started his own podcast, Talk Is Jericho. The podcast is said to be one of the most wildly successful pro wrestling-related podcasts there is.
The heart of the matter
Fozzy will be touring fairly extensively during the month of May. The band will be playing twenty-two shows during the month, with no shows on Monday. The fact that Monday nights were left open on the schedule has been the cause for a lot of speculation surrounding Jericho recently.
It was initially thought that Jericho would be taking time off specifically so his band could tour, but the convenient holes in Fozzy’s schedule led many fans to hope there was a chance that Jericho would still be able to appear on Monday Night Raw. Dave Meltzer stated that is not the case.
Meltzer clarified on the most recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that Jericho is not being advertised for any episodes of Raw while Fozzy is on tour. Meltzer also indicated that Jericho is currently booked to work the Extreme Rules show on June 5th, and that he may return to television just before that pay-per-view event.
What’s next?
Chris Jericho is scheduled to defend the WWE United States Championship against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 33. Y2J taking another break means he is set to drop the title to KO, which was always the obvious thing to do.
Sportskeeda’s take
This news isn’t really surprising, considering that Jericho has stated in the past that he doesn’t want to wrestle while he’s touring, as he wishes to keep wrestling and his musical commitments separate.
While we’ll miss him while he’s gone from Raw, absence does make the heart grow fonder.
