Chris Jericho has worked with numerous top stars during his time in WWE and that includes CM Punk, with whom he had a solid rivalry heading into WrestleMania 28. Interestingly enough, Jericho has now revealed the scrapped plans for his iconic feud with Punk.
While speaking to Inside the Ropes, Chris Jericho talked about a scrapped plan for his feud with CM Punk. The original idea was for Jericho to knock Punk out, handcuff him to the ropes, and tattoo “CJ” onto Punk’s body. Jericho even planned to learn how to do it from a real tattoo artist.
When he told Vince McMahon about the idea, Vince didn’t think it would matter since Punk already had so many tattoos. Jericho explained that an unwanted tattoo would feel like a violation, no matter how many tattoos someone has. Vince eventually agreed to the plan, and they started preparing. However, Vince canceled it in the end, saying tattoos might bleed too much and be too graphic for TV. Jericho disagreed, knowing tattoos don’t bleed much, but the idea was dropped.
“The original plan for the opening angle to get that rolling was, I was going to tattoo CM Punk. What do I mean? I was going to do an angle where I knocked him out, handcuffed him to the ring ropes, took out a tattoo needle, and tattooed my initials onto his body. I even planned to get a tattoo artist to show me how to do it properly and make it a ‘CJ.’
I remember pitching that idea to Vince, and he was like, ‘Who cares? He’s got so many tattoos; what difference does it make?’ I said, ‘The difference is I’m tattooing him.’ And he replied, ‘Well, so what? He’s got so many already.’ I tried to explain: ‘It doesn’t matter if someone has one tattoo or a thousand. If it’s unwanted, it’s a violation, something permanent they always have to look at. It’s very embarrassing and invasive.’
Finally, Vince went for it, and we had it all planned out. We even brought in a tattoo artist to show me how to do it earlier that day. Then, Vince came to us and said, ‘We’re not doing the tattoo thing.’ I asked why, and he said, ‘Because tattoos bleed too much.’ Now, those of us with tattoos know they don’t really bleed that much, especially small ones. There might be a little blood, but it’s not like buckets of it.
Someone must have gotten in Vince’s ear, convincing him the tattoo idea was too graphic and might get us thrown off the air.”
Chris Jericho and CM Punk’s match at WrestleMania 28 turned out to be one of the best matches on the card and it went to show just how well the two worked with each other. Fans are now wondering whether they can reignite their feud somewhere down the line, as anything can happen in the world of professional wrestling.
Do you believe WWE should have gone with the original plans for Chris Jericho and CM Punk’s feud? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
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