Chris Jericho Reveals Back And Forth With Cody Rhodes About "All In" Appearance
There were many surprises at All In, but perhaps none were bigger than Chris Jericho's appearance. Though not currently under contract with WWE, Jericho is still a "WWE guy" and had turned down previous opportunities to appear at other events. On his Talk is Jericho podcast, Y2J discussed what he told Cody Rhodes when first asked to be a part of All In months ago.
"No, I'm not really wanting to work any shows in the states that aren't WWE shows," Jericho told Cody." I told him I appreciated the offer, but I'm not gonna do it. I also got asked to do [Strong Style Evolved] and those New Japan and all that other stuff as well, so that was kind of the thing. But over the course of the last few months, my mindset's kind of changed a bit to where I'm enjoying being a part of this kind-of new revolution of wrestling that's going on... So I just thought, well, you know, I'll consider it, but the idea has to be right.
"So Cody called me again and originally asked me if I wanted to be Bernard the Bear? So the idea was maybe do something in the main event where The Bucks come down with Bernard the Bear or something and then I [reveal myself as the bear] and attack Kota Ibushi, obviously Kenny's partner in The Golden Lovers. I was like, 'Why don't I attack Kenny?' It was like, well, it's not really an angle match and whatever – we just couldn't figure it out, it's like, 'Nah, I'm not really interested in it.'"
After two failed attempts, finally the third time was the charm for Cody as Jericho was sold on the idea of attacking Kenny Omega as that would also further promote Omega's appearance on Jericho's cruise.
Now that Jericho was sold on appearing at All In, there were still logistics to work through, namely that Fozzy was performing in Kansas City that same night. Kansas City is 500 miles away from Chicago so Jericho arranged with Cody to have his spot in the All In card moved earlier and then arranged with his concert promoter to have Fozzy perform later than scheduled. That enabled him to do his spot with Omega, hop on a private plane to Kansas City and walk on stage to perform with Fozzy. Jericho revealed that he even suggested that Omega face Pentagon at the show.
With everything lined up, Nick Jackson finally added one last wrinkle to Jericho's appearance and it involved Penta. The original plan was for the lights to go out and when they came back on Jericho would be in the ring, as himself, attack Omega and then say see you at the cruise.
"[Nick said] Why don't we have lights go out, lights go on and Penta's still in the ring? Penta attacks Omega in a mask and you're Penta. I said, 'That's amazing. Because I had done something like that with Seth Rollins as Sin Cara a couple of years ago.'"
All the parties agreed to that plan and that's how the spot was carried out at All In. Omega defeated the real Penta, the lights went out and when they came back on Jericho was then dressed as Penta. Jericho then hit Omega with the Codebreaker and said "I'll see you on the Chris Jericho Cruise."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Talk is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk is Jericho