Chris Jericho had always said that he would not wrestle anywhere in the United States except for the WWE out of respect for Vince McMahon.
That all changed last weekend when Jericho shocked the professional wrestling world and appeared at the All In pay-per-view that took place in Chicago. That event was booked by the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes and was the first American appearance of Jericho in a wrestling ring for a company other than the WWE in over a decade.
Jericho spoke about this appearance on his Talk is Jericho podcast (via Sportskeeda) and explained why he changed his mind on being WWE-exclusive in the United States.
Jericho said that Cody Rhodes had asked him months before the event if he wanted to appear and he turned the offer down. Jericho also said that he turned down the offer from New Japan Pro Wrestling to appear at their California shows and mentioned not wanting to wrestle for anyone but the WWE in the United States.
That changed right before All In.
“Over the course of the last few months, my mindset has changed a bit to where I’m enjoying being part of this new revolution of wrestling,” Jericho said. “I thought I would consider it, but the idea has to be right.”
Jericho then showed up. The lights went out after Kenny Omega beat Pentagram Jr. and when they came back on, Penta jumped up and attacked Y2J and hit the Code Breaker. While the lights were out, Jericho switched places with Penta – wearing the same mask and outfit – and attacked Omega.
The two men wrestled in the Tokyo Dome already, with Omega winning, and this will now lead to their second match which will take place on Jericho’s Rock and Wrestling cruise later this year.
As for the WWE, PWInsider reports that they had no idea that Chris Jericho was going to show up at All In. Mike Johnson reported that he started to get contacted by WWE officials who asked for confirmation that Jericho was really at the show after it hit social media.
Chris Jericho is not under contract to the WWE and just makes appearances for them on a case-by-case basis and can wrestle anywhere he wants without restrictions.