Vince McMahon Originally Planned For Chris Jericho Vs. CM Punk At WWE WrestleMania 28 To Be A 2-Minute Match
It would have ended in a disqualification, too
May 13, 2022
The WWE Title bout between CM Punk and Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XXVIII was the third-longest on the show, clocking in at 22 minutes and 23 seconds, before Punk wrapped things up by making Jericho tap to the Anaconda Vice.
According to Y2J on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho, Vince McMahon originally wanted the match to go two minutes and end with a disqualification finish.
Both participants disagreed with that creative direction and plans changed, though Jericho did see the point the WWE Chairman was trying to make.
"I think that match is a little underrated because of that [Rock vs. Cena along with Undertaker vs. Triple H being on the show] and I'll also tell you one last little thing about it is Vince [McMahon] wanted that match to be two minutes long. Punk and I had visions of being Savage/Steamboat for the modern age. Vince did have a point looking back in retrospect because if you remember, I was calling his father a drunk, I poured alcohol down his mouth, I hit him with bottles, I did a lot of really sh*tty things and he wanted Punk to just get me in the ring and just go nuts and he wanted to do the terrible, kick the guy in the corner, ref counts to five, DQ.
"I said, 'Vince, we can't do that at WrestleMania'. He goes, 'What is he supposed to do? You insulted his family, you insulted his sister, you poured alcohol down his throat. What are you supposed to do? Tackle, drop down, leapfrog?'. And I was like, he has a point. He has a point. So, we decided that — Vince came up with the idea, if CM Punk gets disqualified, I win the title so he couldn't go completely crazy and there was some semblance of rules that had to be followed so we could at least still have a match and there's a reason why Punk just didn't take a chair and take my head off so, I don't know if I've ever told that story. A little scoop for you guys".
The Punk/Jericho feud culminated at the next month's Extreme Rules pay-per-view when they met in a much more violent street fight (which Punk also won).
H/T WrestlingNews.co
