Royal Rumble 2012: 3 Reasons Chris Jericho Won't Win the Rumble

Chris Jericho is widely considered the favorite to walk away from the Royal Rumble with a WrestleMania title match in his possession, but there's really no reason for him to win the 30-man battle royal following his cryptic return to the WWE.

Here are the three major reasons Jericho won't win the Rumble.

Doesn't need a push

Jericho returns from a prolonged absence, doesn't say a word for nearly a month and still gets a reaction that rivals that of anybody else, including current fan favorite CM Punk.

That's some serious power for a character to possess.

The entire purpose for the Rumble is to push a potential star to the next level. Jericho clearly doesn't need any extra help in his main event quest. In the meantime, guys like Wade Barrett, Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler could desperately use that big break.

Y2J would have only returned if something monumental was forthcoming, which his short promo on RAW alluded to, but he doesn't need a Rumble victory to make it happen.

Too obvious

The best thing about Royal Rumble night is how it's nearly impossible to predict what's going to happen. From surprise entrants, to surprisingly deep runs and the eventual winner, it's built on the premise that you won't be able to believe what you see.

A Jericho win certainly wouldn't fit into that mold. Most of the WWE Universe is expecting him to be the last man standing, which would actually make it quite anticlimactic if he did pull it off.

That's not something Vince McMahon wants to see.

If anything, McMahon is loving that everybody is leaning toward Jericho as the eventual champion because it will make the real plan work much better.

Wouldn't mesh with storyline

Since returning Jericho has done everything within his power to avoid conflict. He hasn't called people out in promos and, when actually given a match, he quickly tagged out before exiting like fans have come to expect.

So storming into the Rumble like vintage Jericho wouldn't make much sense. It seems much more likely that he'll enter and quickly exit to keep the anticipation level high about the ultimate goal of his return, which probably has something to do with CM Punk.

It's almost like Jericho is trying to prove how great he is by not doing anything at all. So far, so good. There's no reason to suddenly change course by winning a Rumble he doesn't really need.