One fan favorite will not be appearing at next year’s Royal Rumble PPV event.

That star is Chris Jericho, who has a reputation of making surprise returns. The former WWE Champion has been under contract with the sports entertainment company off and on since 1999.

Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice, and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship three times.

He is also a record nine-time Intercontinental Champion. Jericho is the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the World Championship (formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night in 2001.

He is also the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.

Jericho will not be making a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble PPV (pay-per-view) event as he is scheduled to be on tour with his rock band Fozzy from January 28th to February 13.

The Royal Rumble pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, January 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wells Fargo Center and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Both Raw and SmackDown brands will be featured.

Regarding when he could possibly make a return to the sports entertainment company, there is speculation that he may return on the Raw 25th Anniversary show but it would likely be for just a one-off appearance.

In January 2018, WWE will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the launch of Monday Night Raw. The sports entertainment company will hold a special edition of the show on January 12th, 2018 and it will be held in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center (close to the Manhattan Center, which hosted the first Raw).

Jericho recently appeared on The Ross Report where he spoke about a number of different topics including his future in the WWE and if he would be retiring anytime soon.

Jericho said about retiring, "No, I am not there; never. The last run I had in 2016 with Kevin Owens and the Festival of Friendship and all that stuff, it was one of my favorite runs, one of my top two favorite runs."

"I enjoyed the Kevin Owens storyline so much. Once it ended, I knew that I needed to get away for a while because I knew there was nothing that can compare to that. It's good to step away and step aside for a bit, but when the time comes I am sure I will be back, but until then I am so busy that you will be seeing me all the time anyways."