While at least part of the gimmick behind Chris Jericho’s return on WWE’s first RAW of 2012 started to make sense to many as the segment unfolded, a number of fans and reporters seemed perplexed by the idea.
Some pointed to the segment as a downright failure, noting that Jericho “overstayed his welcome” and accidentally caused the crowd to turn on him. Others, including at least one major industry website, ignored the crowd reaction and simply played up how legitimately happy Chris Jericho was to be back on WWE television.
For the record, Jericho’s extended “celebration” was meant to come across as sarcastic, and WWE fully anticipated the deliberately over-the-top “milking” of the crowd reaction to produce boos by the segment’s end. The exact nature of the “parody” is not yet clear, but the segment was very much banking on the idea that shoving his excitement down the fan’s throats would produce some resentment.
In terms of confirmation, if the segment itself were not obvious, turn to WWE’s official RAW Results write-up:
“But as the Superstar – who was dressed in a dazzling, light-up, blinged out jacket – prolonged his homecoming, the WWE Universe’s chants of “welcome back” soon turned to boos. A smiling Jericho exited without addressing the Memphis crowd, leaving the irritated WWE Universe wondering why he’s back”
If WWE had fully intended for Jericho to receive a unanimous babyface reaction, it would not have drawn such obvious attention to his “prolonged” homecoming and the chorus of boos he received.
WWE’s actual direction for the storyline, including whether or not Jericho will be making a traditional “heel turn” remains to be seen, but obviously getting the crowd to boo his homecoming was an important first step in that storyline.
The connection to the “end of the world” theme from the “it begins” videos is also presently unclear, as is the identity of the “she” referenced in the latter few videos. The assumption has long been that Jericho would return to feud with CM Punk, identifying Punk as the false prophet in the process of building a WrestleMania match, but the “point A” to “point B” trajectory would still have to accommodate Dolph Ziggler, who wrestles Punk for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble.
