WWE News: Chris Jericho recalls going off-script and 'roughing up' Michael Cole
What's the story?
On the latest episode of his podcast 'Talk is Jericho', WWE Superstar and current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho shared an interesting anecdote about the time he roughed up commentator Michael Cole for bashing one of his segments. The segment also involved his guest on the show - former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett.
Apparently, Cole said what he said as per Vince McMahon's instructions, but Jericho was unaware of that fact. Read on to find out what exactly transpired.
In case you didn’t know…
The segment in question was apparently an edition of Highlight Reel involving Jericho, Barrett, then Raw GM Brad Maddox and The Miz. Jericho explained that the segment involved him playing a clip of Barrett's movie Dead Man Down.
Apparently, the segment was a bust and was not received well by Vince backstage. But what Jericho did not know, was that the Chairman had instructed Michael Cole to call the promo the 'worst segment in Raw history'.
The heart of the matter
Jericho went to explain that when he later found out that Cole had called his segment the worst ever on Raw, he was obviously angry.
The next night on SmackDown, while wrestling a match, when he saw the announcer sitting at the commentary table, Y2J lost all control. (H/t Wrestling Inc.)
"The next night on SmackDown, I was wrestling a match and it was one of those, I was just, no pun intended, stewing, and I was just looking at Cole and I ran over. And I ripped the top of the [table] off and slammed the desk, 'you f---- a--hole!' He was like, 'what are you talking about?' I said, 'you mother-----!' I roughed him up a bit. I lost my mind!"
Y2J went on to add that people backstage were obviously displeased with his actions and that Vince knew why he had reacted the way he did.
"And I go to the back, and, of course, everyone's mad at me. And then, of course, Vince knows why. I go, 'why would you say it's the worst segment in RAW history?' And he said, 'well, it was pretty bad.' I said, 'Vince, of all the s--t you've had on this show and of all the stuff I've done for this show, you're going to call it the worst segment in RAW history?' And he goes, 'well, maybe I overreacted.' I go, 'you're damn right you overreacted!' I was so mad! I didn't tell anybody. It wasn't one of my proudest moments."
What's next?
When Daniel Bryan attempted something similar (as part of kayfabe, to sell the segment more) during his time as a member of the Nexus, he was let go from the company as his actions had been deemed too violent for the PG Era. So, it is lucky that Jericho did not get fired for losing control the way he did.
Jericho is currently the IWGP Intercontinental Champion, having won the title from Tetsuya Naito at Dominion 6.9. A title defence has not yet been announced.
Do you think it is time for Y2J to return to WWE? Or should he continue working for NJPW?