BREAKING: Chris Jericho suspended indefinitely

The following is being reported by WWE.com:

Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE live event in São Paulo on May 24. WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident.

Editor's note: As we usually disclaim when anything is reported by WWE.com, this could be part of a story line, however, no other details have been provided aside from the above statement. We will have more on this story as it develops.

And more

According to several sources within WWE, the incident with Chris Jericho denigrating the Brazilian flag at WWE's 5/24 Sao Paulo live event, and his subsequent suspension, is completely legitimate and is said to be a major issue for WWE at the moment.

WZ has learned that Jericho was nearly arrested for the incident, and several within WWE feel the incident will irrevocably effect the company's relationship with the country of Brazil.

"This was not a case of Shawn Michaels sticking a Canadian flag up his nose," a source told WZ. "This is a different era, one in which you don't do things like this. You'd think WWE or Jericho would have learned from the mistake Dave "Fit" Finlay made."

We will continue to bring you the latest information on this story as it develops.

From TMZ:
A WWE event in Brazil came to a screeching halt Thursday evening ... when local law enforcement stopped a live match and threatened to arrest Chris Jericho for desecrating the Brazilian flag.

It all went down during a match between Jericho and C.M. Punk -- who was proudly waving the flag in the ring. Jericho took the flag away, crumpled it up and kicked the flag out of the ring ... and that's when police stepped in and put a stop to the event.

We're told Jericho was informed that desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil ... punishable by incarceration.

Cops gave Jericho an option -- apologize to the arena ... or go to jail. Chris chose the former ... grabbing the mic and telling the crowd he immediately regretted his actions. Cops allowed the event to continue.

Sources connected to the WWE tell TMZ ... the flag stunt was NOT planned or approved by WWE officials.

My guess is that he didn't realise it was a crime and was after cheap heat. It unfortunately backfired it seems.

Regardless of what the WWE says, it's a work.

Fozzy starts touring in the UK before they come back over to the United State for Rockstar Uproar Festival.

Theres only 4 dates for that UK tour and its in June, the US tour starts in August. its May, not a work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=stXPtMqLUTE

other video that wont let me embed it

VLG. wrote:

My guess is that he didn't realise it was a crime and was after cheap heat. It unfortunately backfired it seems.

My thoughts, exactly.

Dead wrote:

Theres only 4 dates for that UK tour and its in June, the US tour starts in August. its May, not a work.

You do know bands need to practice before going on a little tour, right? June 6th. That gives them less then 12 days to rehearse. Add that on top of the fact that it's been rumored for months that Jericho was taking a few months off to get ready for his tours. He needs a lot of time off before Uproar because he'll be on the road even more (5 days on the road, 1 day off, 6 days on the road, 1 day off, 6 days on the road, 1 day off, 6 days on the road, 1 day off, 1 day on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 1 day off, 6 days on, 1 day off, 6 days off and the tours finally over) then than he will be doing the WWE traveling schedule. I'll also add that Fozzy has already said they'd be working on a new CD this year, something they aren't able to with Jericho not there.

It's a work.

See, heres the problem, WWE has been blurring the lines with what is real, and what isnt lately. Hate to break it to you, this isnt fake. In the article it states it is against the law to disrespect or destroy the countrys flag. What Jericho did was "disrespect it" in a way, by throwing it down and then kicking it out of the ring. Watch the video, it CLEARLY shows what happened. If people didnt feel offended by it, then he wouldnt of offered an apology.

WWE suspended him to save their ass, just like how they had to fire Finlay for having the Miz interrupt the National Anthem in front of the National Guard. Also, if this was fake, why in the hell would they suspend him when he just started a feud with Orton? Why would they do this offscreen when they get nothing from it?

I also read on another forum that someone brought up a MMA incident involving Chael Sonnen where he ripped the country to pieces before a fight with Anderson Silva. He apparently got death threats left and right, said he couldnt trust the police to protect him.

Case in point, you dont suspend someone after a non televised event as a way to write them off television. Not a work.

And again, hate to break it to you but they already planned on finding some way to "suspend" him for the last couple of months because Fozzy is going on tour in the UK, working on a CD and then going on tour for Uproar.

Case in point, half the stuff the WWE does anymore doesn't make any sense. Is a work.

So you can have your way of thinking, and I'll have mine. That's the beauty of America.

If it was a work then explain the feud he was about to have with Randy Orton. What he did to Randy on Raw showed that they were about to feud and have a match so there's no way they had this planned. What Jericho did was disrespectful, WWE didn't know he was going to do that, and therefore he was punished. It says he's been suspended for 30 days so if he was taking his months off to rehearse with his band he'd be gone longer than that.

Bob, trust me, this isn't a work. As Dead said, if it was a work it would have been done off-screen, not at a house show. Plus, the match was interrupted by police midway through. It was the Main Event. Things like that don't happen if its a work. Plus, we've had guys like JBL and Shawn Michaels, guys not on WWE's payroll talking about it and how legitimate it is.

You're not alone in think it is a work, but I do find it kinda sad that when something is legitimate many internet fans think it is a work. Like Daniel Bryan's release. It was not a work, WWE had to do it to keep policy. They didn't want to release him though so they re-signed him. But he was legitimately released and everyone thought it was a work. I bet some people would continue to call it a work if he hadn't returned.

Its a 30 Day Suspension Silva. Check wwe.com.

Its not a week suspension, its 30 days. Also, if it was a work...why did he APOLOGIZE? He also wont be at No Way Out, which if the 30 days takes effect today, he comes back June 25th.

He fucked up, plain and simple. WWE HAD to suspend him from a PR point of view, which they did. It's gotten to the point where, as VLG said, wrestlers not even with the company are talking about it, treating it as if it were...REAL. Which it was.

I'm not saying that the police coming into the ring and all that was a work. Him kicked the flag so that it gave them a reason to "suspend" Jericho is what I'm saying is the work. Again, I'm pretty sure it's not a coincidence that he's going on tour in two weeks and has plans to record a CD before Rockstar Uproar.

Do you want them to "suspend" him and say it was a "Wellness Policy" so that everyone thinks he's doing drugs or steroids? They can't fake an injury because wrestling fans also go to concerts. "I thought he hurt his back/leg/arm, why's he performing like there's no injury?"

VLG, you say you find it sad when "internet" fans believe something that is real is a work. I find it sad that people don't look at everything going on in Jericho's life and understand he had plans of taking time off during the summer, and this gives them a perfect reason to let him take some of his time off and head over seas for a week-tour and then a little bit of more time to record his CD.

Bob, he has said that him doing that stuff with the flag was his own idea. And that he did it not expecting the rection it did get.

Actually, since Jericho is a singer, he could quite easily break his arm in storyline and just perform with a cast on his arm. Bingo, written off TV and can perform in character.

And I'm quite sure WWE had a plan to write him off TV AFTER No Way Out. Considering he effectively had a match booked WWE wouldn't have written him off TV with a high-profile match looming. It makes no sense. If anything, it would lose money for WWE, having to cancel a match between two of WWE's biggest stars. The fact that he has a tour coming up and is going to be recording a CD soon I think is just coincidence. And looking at the Fozzy tour dates, its most likely that Jericho would have flown across straight after Raw, used Tuesday to rest, perform Wednesday through Sunday, flown back Sunday evening/Monday morning and would have appeared on Raw Monday evening. Its completely workable, and workable around his WWE schedule.

I think it was real but I don't really think he cares cause like Bob is saying he planned tours and stuff with his band. I think Orton might of punted him in the head to write him off at the ppv because it was brought up his punt was banned on twitter recently. But in the end cheap heat that was a mistake and not knowing down there. In end where does this put Randy Orton with his feud being almost written off the ppv now.

This world disgusts me with the things people take offence to these days. Its a fucking entertainment program. Are we going to take offence to someone killing someone in a movie now?