WWE Jerichogate 2012: Is Kicking a Flag Worse Than Picking Your Nose with a Flag

In case you haven't already heard from the millions of reports, Chris Jericho has been suspended for 30 days by the WWE for kicking a Brazilian flag while WWE was performing a show in Brazil.

The incident was apparently so offensive that the authorities were involved and Jericho was immediately suspended by WWE in what is most likely a public relations move more than a real punishment.

When I first read the reports, the first thing that popped into my head was "Didn't Shawn Michaels do something way worse to the Canadian flag?"

For anyone who was not a fan of WWE back in the late '90s, Bret Hart and Michaels were engaged in a feud which saw Michaels use the Canadian flag as a tissue as he picked his nose with it.

The Heartbreak Kid also took the Canadian flag, placed it in the center of the ring and proceeded to faux-nicate with the flag.

Hart even jokingly told Michaels in the Greatest Rivalries DVD that the reason Canadians hate Michaels is because he humped their flag, not because of the Montreal Screwjob.

While Brazil may have stricter policies regarding their flag than Canada, it is still shocking to me to hear that Jericho has been suspended.

Since I have not seen tape of the incident, I cannot fully say if what Jericho did was offensive or not, but I couldn't imagine it could have been as bad as HBK humping and picking his nose with a flag.

One major thing to remember in this situation is that WWE holds itself to a different standard than it did in the late '90s.

WWE is TV-PG and they could see the incident as going against that rating, but Jericho apologized for the incident and I doubt many Brazilian fans will hold this against him for long.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe what Jericho did was worse to the Brazilian nation than what HBK did was to the Canadian fans.

Either way, I do not think this will have any long-term negative repercussions on Jericho's WWE career, and I think that within a week or two we will have all moved past this.

What do you think? Did Jericho cross the line? Was what HBK did worse? How will this affect Jericho's standing in the WWE?