Chris Jericho continues to claim he's not the mystery return man on Jan. 2, 2012; says he's done with WWE

The WWE's mystery return man will finally be revealed next Monday night (Jan. 2, 2012) on Raw from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. It is then, and only then, that we'll be able to end all speculation surrounding the intriguing videos and cryptic messages.

But until that time, we're left scouring the Internet for clues and/or outright denials.

Which brings us to the latest from Chris Jericho, who is widely regarded as the front runner to appear on Raw next week as the mystery man. He recently took to Twitter with a mini-tirade claiming he's not coming back and, to take it one step further, he's done talking about anything pro wrestling.

"Sick of all the questions so this is it...from now on I'm not answering anymore wrestling related questions. I'm done w WWE. Deal with it."

What can we glean from this? Not much, unfortunately. Jericho is a pro wrestler, through and through, and that means he will do anything he can to dispel the rumors that he's the guy who will be there next Monday night. But it's also possible he's telling the truth.

That's because he legitimately took issue with his lack of inclusion in the WWE '12 video game, which has been a booming success. Jericho is missing out on royalties and a lot of money by not being in the game. Meanwhile Dave Batista and Brock Lesnar found their way in. When poked on his Twitter about being in the game next year, Jericho made the remark that he'll never be in another WWE game again. Pro wrestling disclaimer, of course, but the issue is a legitimate one.

Jericho's contract negotiations with WWE reportedly broke down just over a month ago due to Vince McMahon not wanting to budge on his stance that it needs to be exclusive. Jericho is well known for his many outside endeavors and his band Fozzy has touring plans next year that would directly conflict with the WWE schedule, which is still the most demanding in all of sports and entertainment. It wasn't long after this negotiations apparently broke down that the viral video campaign featuring the creepy kid with a thesaurus (as our own Sergio pegged him) started. Which could mean it was never Jericho and this is all just worthless speculation, or it could mean it is Jericho and the contract negotiations didn't break down and they worked it all out, or it could even mean it's supposed to be Jericho and they ran the videos thinking they could get a deal done with him by the time Jan. 2 rolls around and they just haven't been able to make that happen.

Because of the ambiguous nature of the videos, they could have Undertaker trot himself out on TV next week and it would be acceptable. For what it's worth, Bryan Alvarez of F4Wonline.com claimed that more and more sources are telling him the return man is NOT Chris Jericho.

As always, stay tuned, Cagesiders. We'll find out soon enough.