Chris Jericho was ready to kill a WWE main event after somebody in the crowd drilled him in the back of the head with a battery — and apparently there was only one guy backstage capable of changing his mind.
Jericho told the story during Wrestling Observer Radio while discussing just how deep he went into his hated suit-and-tie heel character. Jericho said he was refusing merchandise, publicity and even friendly fan interactions because he wanted people to genuinely despise him. That approach worked a little too well one night at the Cow Palace.
“I remember coming back so angry at everything that I’d have to go into a room by myself and just be like, ‘Calm down. Just chill out. Just come out of it. Come back up to the surface.’ The only time that was ever thwarted was we were in the Cow Palace and I was doing a promo and somebody threw a battery, one of those big D batteries, and hit me right in the back of the head.”
Jericho was done. As far as he was concerned, whoever threw it had just cost everybody the main event. Jericho told Undertaker exactly what happened and made it clear that he had no intention of going back. That was apparently all it took.
“I was like, ‘All right, you just lost your main event.’ And I go walk out, and people are booing, and I’m like, ‘I’m not wrestling them. Forget it.’ I walk out of the ring and Undertaker’s standing there and he goes, ‘What are you doing?’”
“I said, ‘I’m not wrestling tonight. They just hit me with a battery.’ ‘Are you sure about that?’ I go, ‘What?’ ‘You sure you’re not going to wrestle tonight? You sure you’re not going to walk back to that ring?’”
“I’m going back to the ring. Undertaker was the only guy that could.”
Jericho didn’t need a long speech, a meeting with management or somebody begging him to reconsider. Undertaker asked him whether he was really sure about walking out on the match, and Jericho immediately understood the assignment.
What would you have done if you were Chris Jericho in that situation — gone back out or refused to wrestle after being hit with a battery? Leave your feedback below.
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