Chris Jericho Details Abu Dhabi Assassination Threat Story
"He claimed that his father and I quote, owned 27 percent of the country and that I would be assassinated by the end of the day"
May 3, 2021
During the Inner Circle-Pinnacle parley on last week's edition of Dynamite, Chris Jericho referenced the bond within his faction and revealed Jake Hager had his back when he was threatened with assassination in 2012.
While the story may appear unbelievable, Le Champion confirmed on Wrestling Observer Radio that the story was true and he detailed what happened.
"Yeah, that is a true story. He didn't save me from assassination, but he had my back. We were in Abu Dhabi -- we were in a club and some guy was being a jerk so I just walked by him and gave him a body check. I kind of body checked him into the wall, a good old-fashioned hockey move. He claimed that his father and I quote, owned 27 percent of the country and that I would be assassinated by the end of the day, you know, in 24 hours. I remember I had a bounty for 7 million dollars on my head," Jericho said.
"So I'm standing there and of course, I've had a couple of cocktails and the sun is coming up and I asked him -- I went into Larry David mode, 'So is 7 million dollars good? Is it a good number? If I was Brad Pitt would it be 30 million dollars and if I was just a guy off the street would it be a hundred grand? Where do I stand in this?' Hager was standing behind me going like, 'Dude, this is the wild west, don't mess with this guy.' This guy had his little posse of characters and they were going to assassinate me and he [Hager] was right there the whole time like, 'Dude, we got to get out of here.' I'm like, 'No, I wanna know, is 7 million a good number?'
"So I went back to the room that I was -- I was kind of worried during the day. I kind of stayed in my room and then went to the show. I'm like, 'I hope none of these fans are assassins that are going to kill me for this 7 million dollar bounty.' Then I went back to my room. I'm just going to stay in until this blows over. Of course, the guys went out again. They were sending me pictures [saying] 'Come out, come out, come out.' So I decide to go, and I go back to the club and the bouncer is there and he goes, 'Oh, you haven't been assassinated yet?' I was like, 'No, should I be worried?' He goes, 'That mother f*cker, he says that all the time. His dad doesn't own the country, he owns the gas station down the street. [laughs]' But at the time we didn't know, and Jake had my back when I was threatened with assassination in Abu Dhabi. So, that is a true story."
The Painmaker did perform at three house shows in Abu Dhabi ahead of WrestleMania 28. He faced Kofi Kingston in singles action on two of the nights and he teamed with The Miz against CM Punk and R-Truth on the final show.
H/T to Fightful
