WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Chris Jericho and the End of the World

Last night on Monday Night Raw, the man who has been silent since his return broke that silence with some very poignant words. "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it will be the end of the world as you know it," Chris Jericho said. His cryptic messages and behavior continues, but more importantly, the video he showed was his real message. Let's—as MC Hammer says—break it down.

Video starts

• The Millennium Clock countdown, which was the first appearance of Lionheart Chris Jericho on WWE television. The clock had ticked down for months leading up to that point, giving Jericho a huge entrance right in the middle of The Rock's speech in the ring. We also see him winning the intercontinental championship for the first of his impressive and record-holding nine times.
• Next incarnation, we got the darker Jericho. During that time, he had his feud with Chyna, winning the IC belt from her and showing us a darker Chris Jericho.
• Next, Chris Jericho became the first-ever undisputed WWE champion by pinning The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in one night (one of the greatest nights of my life I might add). This then ushered us into the era of Jericho with Stephanie and his undisputed run.
• Up next is the birth of The Highlight Reel—the first superstar talk show for quite some time—which went on to birth others like Edge's The Cutting Edge, Carlito's Cabana and others. 
• Next, we see a clip of Jericho versus the Undertaker in Hell in a Cell.
• After that, the feud with HBK and their match at WrestleMania 19, where they stole the show in one of the greatest matches of all time.
• From there, Jericho went on to become tag-team champions with Christian and started a love interest with Trish Stratus.
• The Y2J era followed, and once again, Jericho became the IC champion.
• We see the match against Cena in which he lost and was fired due to a stipulation by Eric Bischoff (a somber night in my home).
• Next, the Save Us incarnation of Jericho brought an older, more mature man with short hair and a different look—one who still went on to capture gold with the IC championship.
• Another great feud with HBK, this time involving Shawn Michaels' real-life wife and a highlight reel that saw HBK's face smashing the Jeritron.
• Jericho then won his first world heavyweight championship. He changed again and became the suit-wearing professional champion.
• He went on to have a confrontation with Mickey Rourke at WrestleMania 25 after Rourke made the movie The Wrestler and Jericho called him out on Larry King Live for being a fake.
• He became tag champs with Edge.
• He formed Jeri-Show with The Big Show and they became tag champs after Edge's injury.
• And lastly, his most recent return and the videos of the children in a school saying the world is about to change.

What does this video say besides chronologically showing the fantastic ability Jericho has shown by growing and changing over the years? It shows he's done pretty much everything there is to do in the industry. He's won every title, he's tagged with all the greats, he's had feuds with legend after legend, and he is constantly a champion. 

What is there left to do? What can happen at the Royal Rumble that will end the world as "we" know it?

Two things:

1. Win the Royal Rumble.

2. Fight the Undertaker at WrestleMania.

I've seen a couple articles here on Bleacher that have alluded to this—that Jericho will use his Royal Rumble win not to challenge for a title, but to grab a microphone right after his win and call out The Deadman and use his win to challenge for the title of being the man who ended the streak.

The "world that we know" is that the winner of the Rumble goes after a title at WrestleMania, and the world that we know has The Undertaker undefeated at WrestleMania. This is going to end; Jericho will be the man who uses the Rumble win to call out The Undertaker and then ends his streak.

The streak is an important part of WrestleMania, and it absolutely will have to be defended at the event. Who could possibly follow the matches of Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and what better way to go full-on heel than to call out 'Taker and mock him all the way up until Mania?