10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2005 Facts

6. Jericho Signed A One-Month Extension To Work SummerSlam

SummerSlam 2005 Hulk Hogan Vs Shawn Michaels 11
WWE.com

Following up on Jericho's intention to leave WWE for a while, there was a little matter with Jericho's existing contract that needed to be addressed. The deal expired at the end of July, roughly three weeks before SummerSlam.

In April of 2005, with Jericho already penciled in to work with Cena at SummerSlam, McMahon attempted to re-sign him to at least a part-time deal (doing PR and such), which Jericho turned down, wanting to be free from wrestling obligations. McMahon did manage to get Jericho to extend his contract by a month in order to ensure that Jericho would be under contract come the pay-per-view.

Through circulation of internet news, it was common knowledge that Jericho's deal expired in the summer, and Y2J requested that WWE.com announce his extension, minus the actual terms. He wanted to keep the, "Cena's definitely winning if Jericho's leaving" crowd guessing, and tossed that red herring out there as misdirection.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.