WWE: Why Chris Jericho's Return Came at the Perfect Time

After months of speculation, the inevitable happened when the Ayatollah of Rock-and-Rollah made his triumphant return to WWE a few weeks ago.

Could there have been a more perfect time than now? Definitely not. We need him more than ever.

There has been a surplus of new talent over the last few years and while some have shown great promise, there is still a feeling of emptiness within the WWE.

It feels like the up-and-coming Superstars don't have that one missing ingredient which would help them cross over into mega-stardom. People like The Rock, Triple H and Undertaker are a dying breed from a time when anything could really happen at any given moment. They had to create on a whim and adapt to rapid change.

It turned them into legends.

Chris Jericho is on that list and through him, the new Superstars of the future will have the opportunity to shine and become mega-stars.

It is quite simple, actually. He is so good at what he does it is inspiring others to do the same. Let's pick The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk for examples.

These wrestlers are who I believe will be the best WWE has to offer over the next five years. The first three already have an impressive career resume, while the last is the current WWE Champion and is widely believed to be involved in a program with Y2J soon enough.

If CM Punk faces Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XXVIII, it will bring out the best in both of them. Y2J has nothing to prove, but he does have to beat CM Punk in order to humble him. Punk did start using the "best in the world" moniker over the few last months and that doesn't sit well with Chris.

The WWE Champion is an incredible athlete. He has given hope to fans worldwide when it had become scarce. He can easily go from face to heel and face again and have the crowd eating out of his hand often enough. The only thing is, I don't believe he's had that one very special match/feud that would cross him over into future legend status.

He's good, but he's not at Jericho's level yet. This will catapult him to the next stage of his evolution.

The Miz vs. Y2J feud is what I am also hoping for in 2012. The Awesome One is my favorite Superstar and I really expect him to have the greatest year of his career so far. Putting him in a program against his real-life friend and former tag team partner would be music to my ears.

I want to hear the exchange between them, I want Chris Jericho to live up to his reputation in putting over younger talent and I pray that The Miz can become great like Y2J over the course of his life. He has the devotion (WWE), the motivation (Maryse) and the determination. All that is missing is the right teacher.

The Miz is like a shape-shifter. He can become anything he truly wants if he just puts his mind to it.

Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes...Intercontinental Champions, incredible skills in the ring, good looking, vain, showoffs and total heel characters.

Who do they remind you of?

The time is almost here for these two amazing characters. They are currently entrusted with a lot of attention as we speak. Dolph is in the main event of the Royal Rumble while Cody will begin feuding with his older brother, Dustin, perhaps for the Intercontinental championship in time.

They have gathered quite a large number of fans who believe they are the future of this business, but that alone is not enough to make you a legend.

Like The Miz, they have everything to gain from a program with Chris Jericho. If anything, how to truly be a master manipulator and villain is a book personally written by Y2J himself. He is the master. Just look how he's got everyone at his mercy ever since he came back. Some people already can't stand him and he hasn't even done anything yet.

The master!

It is the perfect time right now because there is a great crop of talent just waiting to be pushed in the right direction. Sometimes you can have all the talent in the world, but you just don't have the knowledge to decide what is best for you.

Even the WWE Universe needs him. It's been quite up and down over the last few months and though some like CM Punk have shaken things up a little, there has to be someone higher who decides for himself what he wants to do.

Legends have that luxury. Nobody tells Triple H, John Cena or The Undertaker what to do or say. The same applies here for Chris Jericho.

He decides when he comes back, he decides what he needs to say and he says yay or nay to the storylines. As if he would settle for less anyway. He's not stupid. He knows they need him. The good part of all this is he loves this business and it shows. Deep down, he needs this, too.

This is your home, Chris, welcome back.