Why Chris Jericho Was Pulled From Casket Match Against The Undertaker

Chris Jericho is an incredibly busy guy and always on the go. There is no way to even guess where Y2J will pop next at this point and who he’ll be working with. But one thing you can be sure about is that no matter what Jericho says you always have to consider an underlying intention.

The Ayatollah Of Rock n Rolla is in constant “work mode” which is a very nice and professional way to say that he lies all the time for the good of the business. Pro wrestling is incredibly unique and similar in that regard to many other areas of industry.

When I had the chance to interview him in last month he told me that he had no intention of going back to New Japan. “Yeah you know it was a good idea,” he said during his interview with Still Real To Us. “It was good when it happened — we had a blast but sometimes things just don’t work out. You know, so New Japan was a lot of fun… not to say that I wouldn’t go back there again but as of right now our relationship is pretty much finished at this point.”

But it looks like Jericho knew all along that he would be returning to attack Tetsuya Naito and set up a match. Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Chris Jericho told WWE as a courtesy that he would be working the New Japan match with Naito and then a few hours later, they pulled him from his casket match at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

This is doubly unfortunate for my interview with Jericho because he also hyped his match with the Undertaker in Saudi Arabia calling himself the King Of The Casket Match in the process. But the kicker is the fact that Jericho was pulled from the match in Jeddah mere hours following the time period I spoke to Chris Jericho. So he either told WWE about his New Japan plans either just before or after my interview with him.

What makes it even more interesting is Dave Meltzer also noted Jericho was told the Saudi Arabian representatives requested for Rusev to be in the match instead of Jericho. This is odd considering the fact that this request for Rusev apparently came from the same people who asked for The Ultimate Warrior, Yokozuna, and Hulk Hogan to make the show as well.