WWE superstars are entertainers above all else. Yes, wrestling hurts sometimes. In certain ways it is “real,” but we all know the goal of the WWE and other organizations like it. In order to achieve the best ratings possible, the WWE needs villains and it needs heroes. During an event in Brazil on Thursday night, longtime wrestler Chris Jericho took playing the role of the bad guy a bit too far.
According to TMZ, Jericho has been suspended indefinitely by the WWE for desecrating the Brazilian flag before a match against C.M. Punk. Punk entered the ring waving the flag, and as you can see in the video above Jericho followed by crumpling it and kicking it out of the ring. Desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil, so law enforcement officials stopped the match and threatened to arrest Jericho if he did not apologize. He took the mic and apologized to the audience and the event continued. The WWE released the following statement regarding the incident:
“Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE event in Sao Paulo on May 24. The WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident.”
At first this sounds like a typical entertainment stunt, but the WWE insists Jericho’s actions were not in any way a part of the show’s schedule. Jericho’s responsibility for the evening was obviously to get on the bad side of the crowd, but he took it too far and wound up disrespecting the host country a bit too much. This certainly isn’t the first time a professional wrestler has gotten carried away with his role.
