Why Chris Jericho Rejected 1st Pitch For Unexpected Return
Chris Jericho has explained how his return to Arena Mexico for the first time in almost 30 years came about as he prepares for a huge dream match.
Chris Jericho shocked everyone when he attacked Mistico at the CMLL Super Viernes show on June 28th. Jericho then issued a challenge to Mistico for a match which the Mexican star accepted.
Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho explained how his return to Arena Mexico came about and said the idea began when he was facing off with luchadors in AEW:
It was a huge surprise this week when Corazon de Leon returned to Arena Mexico. I was in Mexico from ’92-’95, and the last time I wrestled in Arena Mexico was September 15, 1995. It was really cool to go back to Mexico City, and how did that come about?
We started working with CMLL in AEW, and when I was going through the transition between the whole Kenny Omega and the Golden Jets, and then Kenny got sick, and the. Sammy [Guevara] and I were a kind of a team and that really didn’t work out well, and then Sammy got suspended, so I was doing some Corazon de Leon, working with some luchadors.
I had a match with Titan, I had a match with Atlantis Jr., and it started to occur to me that with this new relationship with CMLL and AEW, maybe it’d be cool to go back to Arena Mexico and have a match.
Chris Jericho Had To Go Back To The Drawing Board
Jericho then touched on how his deal to compete in Arena Mexico came about at a time that AEW was sending other stars there and revealed he rejected the initial pitch that would see him in a tag team match:
In the meantime, the BCC and Matt Sydal, filling in for an injured Wheeler Yuta, went to Arena Mexico and had a match and just had the best time. The crowd was so amazing and everyone was super excited, and it just really kind of opened up my mind completely that it was time to make me return to Arena Mexico, kind of a full circle.
I’ve wrestled in Mexico since then, a few times with WWE. But it was never in Arena Mexico, which is owned by the Lutteroth family, and it’s the oldest wrestling company in the world. It’s one of the oldest arenas in the world, and they call it the cathedral of Lucha Libre. So I just started talking to Rocky Romero and letting him know that I was open to going back. Rocky is kind of a liaison for AEW to both CMLL and to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, so he’s very valuable.
We just started discussing what could I do? What would be a great match to have, and who would be there that I’d do something good with? We kind of decided that Mistico would be the perfect kind of almost a dream match of Chris Jericho, Corazon de Leon [and] Mistico. So we did some negotiations with them, and they came back with the original idea of doing a tag team match, which I wasn’t feeling.
Then we kind of went to back to the drawing board and again kind of came up with the idea to go a singles match. That’s what we decided to do. Then you start the negotiations, and it’s always great to get for something that you’re doing, but this is not so much for the money as it is just for me to return to this place where I pretty much cut my teeth.
There has not been any confirmation on when the match between Chris Jericho and Mistico will take place but CMLL will hold its 91st Anniversary show in Arena Mexico on September 13th.