Former WWE Champion Chris Jericho almost ended up wrestling at WrestleMania 34.
On the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan was the special guest.
Right out of the gate, Jericho dropped some interesting news about how he almost competed at the biggest event of the year for the sports entertainment company, WrestleMania 34.
He noted that he was the backup plan to be Bryan’s tag team partner at WrestleMania 34 in a match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
Originally, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon was supposed to be Bryan’s partner but that idea was in jeopardy due to McMahon’s health problems leading up to the show.
If you recall, in March, just one month before WrestleMania 34, McMahon was dealing with acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia.
McMahon had an infection due to acute diverticulitis and was hospitalized for several days in Antigua as he was on vacation with his family before being flown back to a New York-area hospital, where he was being treated with heavy doses of antibiotics.
There was some concern that he would miss WrestleMania 34. Thus, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reached out to Jericho about possibly replacing Shane in case he couldn’t work.
“A few weeks before WrestleMania, maybe three or four weeks, I get a call from Vince. And he’s talking about Shane and his appendix, or not his appendix, his diverticulitis, and he had an infection in his hand and he had… a staph infection and he had… a hernia. And he goes, ‘Listen, we don’t know if he can do ‘Mania.’
And he had somehow looked, or got someone to look at my schedule, and we had a Fozzy show that day… So he was like ‘I know you’re doing a Fozzy show, and you’re gonna watch WrestleMania with your fans,’ he goes, ‘what would you think about coming to New Orleans if Shane can’t do it?’”
At this point in time, Jericho was last seen on WWE television during a backstage segment with Elias at the 25 Anniversary episode of Monday Night Raw in January. He last wrestled in a WWE ring back in July of 2016.
Outside of WWE, Jericho made several surprise appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling including his match against Kenny Omega at the Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome.
This was a big match for Bryan as it was his first bout back since he had to retire from in-ring competition due to his history with concussions. However, after two years of fighting for his dream, he was medically cleared.
Bryan chimed in by stating, “We’re in this stage now where they don’t tell the boys anything. So they keep all the secrets from the boys because they’re afraid all the boys are talking to the dirt sheets. And so I asked, cause when Shane called me and told me, he said ‘I’m in the hospital right now. I got diverticulitus while I was in Antigua, and then when they were giving me IVs I got a staph infection from the IVs, and then I have this hernia that’s coming out of my stomach… but don’t worry I’ll be ready for ‘Mania’…”
Jericho continued by saying, “And it’s funny because we were looking, we were googling airports, and it was in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, like the most out of the way place. We were looking up airports close to Hampton Beach and how long is the charter to get there [New Orleans], and he [Vince] was like ‘Okay, you can make it right on time and we’ll give you a police escort, and you’ll basically have to go right into the ring.’
And I said ‘Listen, I’ve got no problem with that, and I know that Bryan has no problem with it. Kevin and Sami – especially Sami – are gonna have heart attacks calling a WrestleMania match in the ring.’ I mean, obviously we would think of some stuff beforehand, but like, I can do it. I don’t have a problem, so can you. We could do it now. But like, Sami is going to die of a frickin’ aneurysm is we do that!”
H/T to CageSide Seats for the transcribed quotes.
What are your thoughts on Jericho being the backup plan as Bryan’s tag team partner at Mania? Sound off in the comment section below.