While Chris Jericho is notorious for “working the Internet” and fueling misdirected speculation about his standing in pro wrestling, F4WOnline.com reports that he and WWE indeed had a breakdown in recent negotiations.
According to the report, “a situation went down” and plans for an early 2012 return have, at least temporarily, been taken off the cards.
The story says that Jericho’s major gripes involved his outside projects. Jericho does not want to give WWE the right to approve his outside endeavors, and when he does take part in them, he does not feel, at this point, he should have to give WWE a cut.
Sources say Vince McMahon, however, believes his company is responsible for Jericho’s success and should be entitled to some of the money he makes riding that fame. There is also a belief among some that NBC Universal wants some control over the talent to make sure its on-air characters cannot infinitely take part in gigs with competitive networks.
Many, nonetheless, are saying the “It Begins” video was designed for Chris Jericho, likely due to the fact that a similar “Save Us” campaign promoted his return a few years ago. WWE still wants Jericho to come in and will likely use that campaign to hype the return if negotiations improve, but for as long as talks are broken down, it will have to apply the hype videos to someone else–possibly Undertaker.
