Chris Jericho Initially Turned Down All In Appearance; Cody Originally Wanted Him As Burnard The Business Bear

Fans were stunned to see Chris Jericho show up at All In and attack Kenny Omega. 

On the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho, the man himself detailed how the arrangement came about and how they made it work logistically. First, Jericho explained that when he got the initial call from Cody Rhodes, he turned him down.

“Months ago when All In was announced, Cody called me and said, ‘Do you want to be involved?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not really one to work any shows in the states that aren’t WWE shows, for various reasons I just didn’t feel like it was where I was at career-wise.’ I told him that I appreciated the offer, but I’m not going to do it. I also got asked to do Long Beach and those New Japan shows as well.”

As time wore on, Jericho changed his stance on working non-WWE US shows. “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. I thought I would consider it, but the idea has to be right.”

The idea fans saw was Jericho, dressed as Pentagon Jr, attack Omega following his bout with the aforementioned luchador. However, that was not the original idea Cody had for Y2J.

“Cody called me again and originally asked me if I wanted to be Burnard (The Business Bear),” said Jericho “The idea was to do something in the main event where the Bucks come down with Bernard The Bear and then I attack Kota Ibushi. I was like, ‘Why don’t I attack Kenny?’ And they said, ‘(Kenny vs. Pentagon) is not really an angle match.’ We just couldn’t figure it out. I said, ‘I’m not really interested in it again.'”

Jericho explained that if the final idea involved attacking Ibushi, he probably wouldn’t have done it. Jericho noted that he has no match with Ibushi to build towards. Eventually, Cody and Jericho agreed to an idea that suited all parties.

“Cody called me again and I started thinking, ‘I wonder if I could make this work.’ The idea was ‘what if I could come in earlier in the show and attack Kenny?’ The idea was to keep the angle alive from the Tokyo Dome to the Cruise.”

To make this work, Jericho had to push back the start of his Fozzy concert in Kansas City on the same night. Furthermore, the Omega-Pentagon match had to be moved from the co-main event to an earlier spot. 

Originally, the lights were supposed to go out and Jericho would appear in the ring to attack Omega. It was Nick Jackson who advised Jericho to dress in the Pentagon Jr. gear. 

Jericho will team with The Young Bucks to face Omega, Cody, and Marty Scurll as part of the Jericho Cruise.