We all knew it was coming but it was made official on Tuesday night during SmackDown LIVE; Chris Jericho’s latest WWE stint has come to an end.

Jericho captured the United States Championship at the RAW-exclusive Payback event, and his victory meant he’d join the blue brand before losing to Kevin Owens on his first night on SmackDown.

ANOTHER RUN IN THE BOOKS

It didn’t come as a huge shock as fans knew Jericho stuck around a lot longer than originally planned, and the success surrounding his most recent run can be credited for the company wanting to keep him around.

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While he’ll probably be back in the company later this year – as he’s currently on tour with his band, Fozzy – fans are still upset that we’re going to have to watch WWE programming without taking in the gift of Jericho.

He’s always managed to reinvent himself better than most, and Busted Open recently caught up with him where he revealed that the original plan was for him to finish after WrestleMania, but it was an idea from Vince McMahon which saw him stick around until after Payback.

He also revealed that his latest run, along with the work he did with Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio and The Big Show are his most favourite runs.

FAVOURITE RUNS

According to WrestlingInc, he said: “Not to pat yourself on the back, but if you ask me ‘Was this the best run of my career’ that’s not for me to answer, it’s for the fans and the people who watch the shows to decide.

“It’s definitely one of my favourites, top two along with the Shawn Michaels feud and that era of Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Big Show was my partner. This year, I would like to say that we were geniuses and we thought to do this from the start and orchestrated the whole thing, but it just was all very organic.

“The whole partnership with Kevin Owens, the whole ‘list, stupid idiot’ all that stuff it just became a thing much to my surprise to be honest with you. And Bully Ray will tell you this, when you catch lightning in a bottle in the wrestling business, you gotta run with it because you never know if it’s going to happen again.

“So as soon as everything really started getting over last March, we knew that we really weren’t doing much with Fozzy and the guys were doing another Stuck Mojo record so I said ‘Listen, I’m just gonna stay in WWE for 2016, I’ll take a break from the road with the band. I think it was a pretty fun route because it just kept getting better and better even up until SmackDown on Tuesday.

“It was a great way to end the saga between Owens and Jericho because it started organically and then we went through the whole ups and downs and all this other stuff and turning on each other and then finally getting the surprise win on Sunday [Payback] and then having him take me out, kill the “knight in shining armour’ on Tuesday I think was a fitting end and a nice way to kind of button everything up.”

There’s no denying how entertaining his current run was, as it was arguably some of the best work he’s ever done.

Here’s hoping he can continue where he left off, whenever he decides to come back.

Which Chris Jericho run is your favourite? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the second episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here! Check out the inside info from our coverage in Orlando. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/givemesport-inside-wrestlemania-33

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