Chris Jericho hasn't been seen in the WWE since the first SmackDown Live following Payback, and if reports are to be believed, he won't be seen anytime soon.

Jericho hasn't been seen on WWE programming since he lost the United States Championship to Kevin Owens. He was then beaten by Owens to the extent that a stretcher was needed to take him away.

But, this was all storyline, as The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla was actually taking some time off from the WWE in order to tour with his band Fozzy, meaning he wasn't expected back until later on in the year.

SIGN UP NOW

Want to become a GMS writer? Sign up now and submit a 250-word test article: http://gms.to/haveyoursay4

However, WWE fans may have to wait a little while longer for Jericho to return to either SmackDown Live or Monday Night RAW.

That's because, according to Cageside Seats, Jericho will not be returning to WWE at all for the remainder of the year.

Fozzy recently announced as well that they would be adding another tour to their calendar for October and November, meaning most likely, Jericho would likely have another break during the holiday season before returning to the WWE in 2018.

This very well could mean that the next time we see The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla will be the Royal Rumble in January, where he would be a surprise entrant.

Jericho has a pretty decent record at the Royal Rumble, as this past year, he set the record for the most amount of time ever spent in the battle royal at four hours, 54 minutes and 17 seconds over the course of nine Royal Rumbles.

Over the past two years as well, Y2J has managed to stay in the rumble for over 50 minutes, so he has a good track record. Surprisingly, however, considering all the other accomplishments in his career, winning the Royal Rumble isn't one of them.

WWE then has the option to use Jericho in a similar fashion to how they used The Undertaker and how they could be using John Cena, having him unassigned to any specific brand and having him appear on both shows in order to improve ratings.

For the time being, however, you won't be seeing Jericho in the WWE until this year is over.

When do you think Chris Jericho will make his WWE return? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here! Check it out via this link. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-all-the-fallout-from-wwe-payback