Chris Jericho showed up in New Japan recently and attacked Naito to set up another match in New Japan. But just a short time earlier he was set to wrestle The Undertaker at the Greatest Royal Rumble in a casket match after replacing Rusev.
But the Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Jericho’s New Japan dates could have had something to do with the fact he was pulled out of the match and Rusev took his back his place against Taker.
“Jericho, as a courtesy, told McMahon that he was going to Fukuoka to shoot another angle with New Japan for his match with Naito at Dominion. Just a couple of hours later he was told that the Prince of Saudi Arabia asked for Rusev in he match instead of him so they were taking him out.”
It was mentioned how Jericho was told that the Saudi Prince requested Rusev to be in the match instead of Jericho which makes little sense seeing how he was obviously looking for talent who wrestled for WWE years ago like The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, and Yokozuna with Taker being the only one who could make the trip to Jeddah.