Chris Jericho

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Shane McMahon Wanted to Buy UFC in 2004

On a recent episode of Something to Wrestle With, WWE executive Bruce Prichard revealed that Shane McMahon, son of chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, pushed for WWE to purchase UFC in 2004.

Prichard explained how the negotiations went and why WWE ultimately didn't purchase the promotion (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News):

"Bob Meyrowitz was putting UFC out there in wanting to sell and also looking at ways to change, and, what have you. So, I know that Shane was definitely interested in buying the UFC and during that time, we had meetings with Meyrowitz and Campbell McLaren. I think that, first of all, originally they weren't asking for a whole lot. They weren't asking for a lot, but it was more than Vince was willing to pay at the time, and the overhaul on the UFC that the Fertittas were able to pull off, and Dana White with the overhaul with the rules and the presentation and everything else, was the best thing that could have happened to them. I don't know that we as a company, could have overcome the stigma of WWE owning UFC and been able to make all the changes that UFC needed to make."

UFC ended up exploding in popularity with White at the helm as president, and it is now among the most successful sports leagues in the world.

When UFC was up for sale in 2004, it was struggling to reach the mainstream. At the time, linking up with WWE could have potentially gone a long way in terms of generating interest and getting eyes on the product.

As Prichard mentioned, however, UFC ended up making all the right decisions, and it has exceeded WWE in popularity and mainstream success over the past 17 years.

Shane McMahon is a longtime MMA fan, which is why he was the weekly host of Raw Underground last year until the concept was scrapped.

Raw Underground was very much inspired by MMA, but the concept didn't necessarily work within the realm of professional wrestling.

Had WWE bought UFC, it is possible that they couldn't have both succeeded in the same universe, so perhaps it was for the best that the sale never happened.

Triple H Talks Cena at WrestleMania 37

John Cena has not competed inside a WWE ring since last year's WrestleMania 36, but an appearance at WrestleMania 37 in April could potentially be in the cards.

In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, WWE legend and executive Triple H discussed the possibility of Cena partaking in the upcoming show in Tampa, Florida: "I won't put words in John's mouth, but I can speak to his passion, and it's WWE and WrestleMania. Once you do this at a high level, and John does it at the highest, it's very hard to put down. If there is a way for him to be there, he will be there."

Cena wasn't a part of WWE programming leading up to WrestleMania 36, but he still showed up in the weeks before the event to set the stage for a match against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.

When Cena vs. Wyatt was announced, the plan was for WrestleMania to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in front of thousands of fans. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic forced WWE to move WrestleMania to the WWE Performance Center with no fans in attendance.

That allowed WWE to get creative with Cena and Wyatt by making it a Firefly Funhouse Match, which was more of an experience than an actual match.

It would have been difficult to pull that off with fans in attendance, but WWE made the most of the situation and produced a "match" or segment that was widely praised.

This year, plans are in place for fans to be live at Raymond James Stadium, meaning WWE will undoubtedly want as much star power on the card as possible.

Cena is among the most polarizing performers in WWE history, but he is also one of the most popular, and he would add a ton of value to WrestleMania 37.

There is no shortage of potential opponents for him to face, and if he becomes available, WWE will certainly find a spot for Cena on the card.

Jericho Responds to Cornette's Criticism

All Elite Wrestling star Chris Jericho took to Twitter on Monday to respond to Jim Cornette's recent criticism of him personally and in the context of professional wrestling.

Jericho took the "killing him with kindness" approach by opting to put a positive spin on the situation:

Cornette has worn many hats in the wrestling business over the past few decades, including manager, announcer and booker. He even owned a wrestling promotion in the 1990s called Smoky Mountain Wrestling, which is where Jericho got his first big break in the United States.

In recent years, Cornette has primarily been in the news due to his Jim Cornette Experience podcast. On the podcast, Cornette displays his unmatched knowledge of wrestling history and also gives his opinions on the current state of wrestling, and many of those opinions are quite controversial.

Cornette is a known detractor of AEW and he has spoken out against Jericho's involvement in the company because of his belief that it cheapens his legacy.

Cornette has also criticized Jericho for making sizable campaign donations to former President Donald Trump. Per Sai Mohan of WrestlingInc, Cornette said: "You [Jericho] are a filthy human being for supporting a filthy disgusting pig. And that's why you get my f--k you. We are no longer friends and will never be friends again."

Jericho hasn't just caught flak from Cornette for some of his recent decisions, including having Donald Trump Jr. on his podcast and performing a concert at the Sturgis motorcycle rally at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While some of Jericho's fans are able to put his personal decisions aside in favor of enjoying his work as a pro wrestler, Cornette is clearly in the opposite camp.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Jericho Praises Mark Henry

AEW star Chris Jericho chimed in Monday night amid the ongoing war of words between Mark Henry and Ryback.

In a tweet, Jericho had nothing but good things to say about The World's Strongest Man:

Ryback, in a series of deleted tweets, claimed that John Cena didn't want to work with Henry because he thought Henry was "the s--ts" and that a WWE producer called Henry a "fat piece of s--t" when he saw him napping before the WrestleMania 29 match between Ryback and Henry, per WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton.

Henry responded on SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio and debunked Ryback's accusations. Henry talked about how he was the one who helped get Cena noticed initially by bringing his rapping ability to the attention of WWE. He also said he would nap all the time and that his naps were a running joke within WWE.

Additionally, Henry said:

"Sometimes the things that make you better and the things that make the world interesting is a conduit, something that's in between greatness and talent and what do you do to bring them together? In pro wrestling, that is the most important thing in wrestling because you have to have a guy that can lead somebody that's the sh--s and make them somebody that's great one day. We've all had our moments. There was a day when, guys, I hate to say it, I was the s--ts. It sucks to say it but I'll tell you what. At the end of the day, I was pretty f--king good. Even when I was working with people like Ryback, I could take a nap and be better than that mother f--ker any day of the week. Holla at you boy."

Later in his response to Ryback's comments, Henry added:

"You start talking about cutting promos. I'm not cutting a promo. I'm saying this from my soul. I will tear your flesh off bro and that's a promise. I'm not threatening you. I'm just saying as a reactionary thing, if you hit me, there will be hospital time. I'll make sure of it. That's my response to Mr. Ryback and I will never speak on it again because it's a waste of my energy."

Ryback fired off several more tweets in response to Henry, including one in which he called Henry a "paid puppet" to WWE.

Henry has been part of WWE since signing with the company in 1996 at the age of 24, but he is a widely respected veteran, and it isn't often that a bad word is spoken about him.

Ryback has taken issue with WWE since departing the company in 2016, so perhaps the perception that Henry is a company man is something that rubs Ryback the wrong way.

Whatever the case, one of the most respected wrestlers in the business has chimed in on the matter, and he appears to be in Henry's corner.

Kofi Discusses Jaw Injury

During this week's episode of the New Day: Feel the Power podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Sai Mohan), Kofi Kingston revealed how he suffered a broken jaw.

Kofi noted that a member of The Hurt Business was the culprit:

"Back to when I injured my jaw, so I got kneed in the face by Cedric Alexander, three weeks ago. A couple of my teeth were chipped. It was fine. It was cool. The point of impact was really sore. So, I thought, 'Okay, it's a bruise or whatever'. The next week, we had a six-man match and everything was fine. A little pain, but not terrible."

Kingston tried to work through it, but he said the injury became a nuisance and expressed his belief that not having live fans in attendance hampered his ability to ignore the injury:

"Then, the next week, right before we went out, it just kept feeling like it was loose. As soon as we get out there to the ring, I'm moving around and now, I'm feeling it kind of come out of place and feel like it wasn't set in.

"I feel like if the fans were there, I wouldn't have felt that [pain]. Throughout the whole match, every time something would happen, where I would get hit or whatever, I would just grab my jaw. The entire match, I'm thinking about it the whole time, but if we had fans there, I'd been not necessarily injured, but been hurt in the match. You just feel the adrenaline of the crowd and it just makes you will your way through it. So, I don't know."

Kofi has not wrestled since the Jan. 4 episode of Raw when he and New Day teammate Xavier Woods defeated The Miz and John Morrison in a tag team match.

Last week, Woods wrestled a singles match against T-Bar of Retribution and came out on the losing end. He lost to Retribution's Mace this week as well.

Mustafa Ali cut a promo in which he said he wanted to further hurt Kofi by targeting one of his closest friends in Woods. That suggests New Day may feud with Retribution once Kingston returns.

Neither Kofi nor WWE have given a timetable for his return, but given his penchant for remarkable feats of athleticism in the Royal Rumble match, it would be a huge loss to not have him available for that bout in two weeks.

Shamrock Teases Potential AEW Involvement

Impact Wrestling star Ken Shamrock tweeted Monday about recently meeting AEW President Tony Khan:

AEW and Impact have been working together to some degree in recent weeks with AEW world champion Kenny Omega appearing on Impact and Don Callis and The Good Brothers appearing on AEW Dynamite.

It is unclear what the exact nature of the working relationship between the two companies is, but Shamrock's tweet suggests he may have some interest in working with AEW in the future.

The 56-year-old Shamrock returned to the wrestling limelight in 2019 when he signed with Impact Wrestling, and he has been a big part of the company ever since to the point that Impact inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

Shamrock is best known for starring in the infancy of UFC before moving on to a career in pro wrestling with WWE.

The World's Most Dangerous Man was a WWE Superstar from 1997-99, and he accomplished a great deal during his time in the company, winning the Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships as well as the 1998 King of the Ring tournament.

While Shamrock is nowhere close to being the same performer he was during his prime, he is still in impressive shape, and his name carries plenty of star power.

If AEW is going to bring in anyone else from Impact, Shamrock's name recognition alone could make him worth a look.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

All Elite Wrestling star Chris Jericho announced on an episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast Wednesday he tested positive for COVID-19 last year.

Jericho discussed the situation during a conversation with Alex Patel, an intensive care unit doctor in Toronto:

"I haven't really told anybody this, but I tested positive back in maybe September. And I had zero symptoms. I'm one of the ones you said—I had my 10 days in isolation and stayed away from everybody—and I didn't even know that I had it.

"I went and got a test just in general, and it's one of those ones where they said you're positive and I'm like, 'Really? Are you serious?' And I had nothing. I didn't have a headache, I didn't have a cough, which I guess is a very lucky thing. But then on top of that though Alex, and you'll know this, once I did have it—and it wasn't a false positive because I took three different tests and they were all positive—but now I have the antibodies."

Jericho was previously criticized because his band, Fozzy, continued to hold live concerts during the coronavirus pandemic, including an August show during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

That event as a whole was ultimately linked to more than 250,000 COVID-19 cases nationwide based on a study by the University of Colorado Denver:

Jericho's revelation of his own positive test comes as all three major wrestling promotions in the United States—WWE, AEW and Impact Wrestling—are dealing with COVID-19 issues, per Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc.

Most notably, WWE champion Drew McIntyre missed Monday's episode of Raw after the company announced he was placed in quarantine after a positive test.

McIntyre is slated to defend his title against Goldberg during the 2021 Royal Rumble on Jan. 31, and so far, that match remains scheduled.

Meanwhile, on last week's Talk Is Jericho (via PW Mania), the former AEW world champion argued against continued lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic:

"Thankfully I live in Florida, so we're one of the few states that is not super-lockdown and we still have less cases than California and a few other states...and we're open. If the cases are going to be the same, then why not just stay open and protect the people that are at risk? But for me, as a very healthy 50-year-old guy who is training every week and wrestling every week, I don't see any reason why it should be shut down if I can keep the lights on for other people who can't work right now."

Johns Hopkins University's tracking data shows COVID-19 has accounted for more than 1.9 million deaths worldwide, including over 380,000 in the U.S., with the total number of cases topping 91.7 million.

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

Sting Recounts Conversations with McMahon over WWE Move

For more than a decade after WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, fans wondered whether Sting would follow many of his colleagues and wrestle under the WWE banner. It finally happened in 2014.

Sting revealed on a Christmas Eve episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast (via Wrestling Inc's Ross Kelly) that he and Vince McMahon had spoken about a move well before that:

"After [WCW] ended, we never did talk. There was never any discussion, at least not immediately after. It was, maybe, a year after that Vince reached out and we had a conversation and talking with Vince was always good. But then you get his group of attorneys and my attorney and it all kinda falls apart. Long story short, I wasn't willing to make the commitment that he wanted."

The Hall of Famer also recalled how he explained to McMahon at one point how he was going to sign with TNA, to which the WWE chairman responded, "BLAH!"

Stratus Talks Possible Banks Match

Trish Stratus' days as a full-time wrestler are over, but that hasn't stopped her from making the occasional appearance in recent years. She faced off with Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019 and teamed with Lita to take on Alicia Fox and Mickie James at Evolution.

During an appearance on Women's Wrestling Talk (via Kelly), Stratus expressed her belief that a match with Sasha Banks is something "fans want to see and I think deep down I would like to see." She added she respects Banks "as a person and as an athlete and as a performer and as a friend."

"And so, when we had a simple face-off at Royal Rumble and people are still buzzing about it how many years later and talking about it like it's a dream match. And so, I've always said since I have retired, if there was an opportunity for me to go back it would be for something that's challenging, stimulating, the fans want it. Something that's exciting and it does something for both parties involved. So, she kinda fits the bill in that regard. Not to say I'm coming back; I'm just saying that's someone that I think...Trish Stratus and Sasha Banks is a nice pairing."

It doesn't seem like it would take much for WWE to get the 45-year-old back in the ring for a marquee pay-per-view bout.

Jericho Intervened in Dynamite Match Booking

Chris Jericho and MJF earned a victory over Top Flight on AEW's Holiday Bash edition of Dynamite on Wednesday.

According to Wrestling Observer Radio's Dave Meltzer (via Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc), Dante and Darius Martin "had all kinds of ideas for the match" before Jericho weighed in to dictate how the bulk of the match would unfold.

Rather than attempting to take the spotlight away from Top Flight, Meltzer said Jericho was weighing in and using his experience to show how some of the spots were unnecessary to tell a good story during the match.

AEW star Chris Jericho was not about to just stand by while people were body-shaming him on Twitter.

In fact, he made sure to let them know he can do more push-ups, weighted squats and incline sit-ups:

Kellie Haulotte of Wrestling Inc. noted a number of viewers made jokes at Jericho's expense on Wednesday when he appeared on Dynamite following the NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks that aired on TNT.

It is notable that the jokes came after an NBA broadcast, as Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic recently responded to body-shaming comments as well.

"I mean, people on Twitter say every stuff," he told reporters. "But it's true I'm not in my best shape. I will get there for sure. But, you know, I've never been a muscular guy, so what can I say?"

Doncic can probably do more push-ups than those making comments on Twitter as well.