Chris Jericho Appears on WWE Raw Despite Hinting at Departure on Twitter

Chris Jericho's loss to Dean Ambrose at Payback on Sunday night may not be his last match in WWE for the time being after all.

The six-time world champion tweeted an apparent farewell to the company Monday morning:

However, Jericho showed up on Raw later Monday evening and attacked Ambrose, eventually striking him with the plant named Mitch, per WWE:

Taking extended breaks from WWE programming has been the norm for Jericho after getting punted in the head by Randy Orton on Raw on Sept. 27, 2010, which wrote him off WWE programming:

Since then, Y2J has returned for a few months at a time, often feuding with younger Superstars and then leaving the company. For a significant stretch of 2015, he wrestled only a handful of house shows rather than maintain a steady presence on televised events.

In January 2015, Jericho explained in an interview with Slam! Wrestling's Bob Kapur that he preferred remaining a part-time performer (via Wrestle Zone's Nick Paglino).

"I'm going back in January and February to just do live events—no TV, just house shows," he said. "[To do only live events] was my choice. I had some time off [between Fozzy tours], and I thought it would be fun to go back [on that schedule]. It's like I'm the anti-Brock Lesnar."

He joked in reference to Lesnar's schedule, which keeps him off the road and exclusively on TV and pay-per-view. Jericho continued:

"

I know that some fans would like to just [see] me wrestle until I explode in a puff of dust—that won't happen. I think everybody knows that wrestling is less and less of my life, and that my days of being a full-time wrestler [are over]. But as long as I feel that I can still contribute, and can still perform at the highest level that I've set for myself, then I'll go back from time to time.

"

Jericho's recent run has arguably been his best since transitioning fully to part-time status. Before wrestling Ambrose, he feuded with AJ Styles, beating the Phenomenal One at WrestleMania 32. The rivalry saw Jericho fully embrace his heel side, which was a welcome development considering he has always excelled more as a bad guy rather than a babyface:

Although Styles lost to Jericho, the two put on three good singles matches on Raw, Fastlane and WrestleMania, and the feud helped elevate Styles into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture.

Jericho's tweet may have tricked the WWE Universe for a few hours, but with Monday's segment with Ambrose, it appears Jericho is still a major player on the roster until at least Extreme Rules later this month.