WrestleMania 29 match preview: Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

Singles Match

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

When Jericho returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble, he did so with the understanding that he would only be working through WrestleMania season. Who he would work with would become the source of great contention over the following months until finally the Chairman of the Board himself called Jericho into his office for a face-to-face talk to convince him to have a match against Fandango at WrestleMania 29 tomorrow night (Sun., April 7, 2013) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Road to WrestleMania 29

Fandango debuted his character after a series of vignettes teased his arrival as a dancer with a goofy name. As it turned out, his character quirk was that he's a real stickler about how folks pronounce said name, and he began refusing to wrestle anyone unless they could properly pronounce it.

No one could, of course, and he continued trolling fans for weeks on end. That is until he ran into Jericho during one of his interviews backstage and had this exchange:

This, of course, pissed Fandango off and led to his distracting Jericho in his main event match on Friday Night SmackDown later that week against Jack Swagger.

Wanting payback at the earliest opportunity, Jericho attacked Fandango outright on the next episode of Monday Night Raw before he could finish his new elaborate entrance.

It wouldn't take long for Fandango to get payback, as he took advantage of a prone "Y2J," who had just lost to Dolph Ziggler and been assaulted by Big E. Langston.

Of course, Jericho would continue the verbal assault, once again poking fun at Fandango's name like the true troll he is. But not to be outdone, Fandango, a troll in Jericho's shadow, simply walked out as though he was going to make a move and danced his way right back up the ramp.

Fandango one-upped himself by interrupting Jericho's match against Antonio Cesaro on the go home edition of Raw to stand at the top of the entrance ramp and give scores for each of the moves "Y2J" did in the ring. Eventually, he made his way down and commenced a beatdown when the time was right.

That leg drop finisher from the top rope will take a toll on his body but it sure looks pretty:

Now they go to WrestleMania to try to steal the show.

What's at Stake?

We know Jericho will be leaving shortly after WrestleMania, as he only advertised for one date following the show before embarking on yet another tour with his band, Fozzy. That means the entire goal of this program is for Jericho to work his absolute hardest to help get the Fandango character over.

McMahon loves it and he trusted Jericho to do the job.

For Fandango, the pressure is on. He gets the honors of doing something historic like debuting at a WrestleMania and beyond that, he gets to try to get himself over with a veteran hand like Jericho helping him out.

His character and its potential could very well live and die with this one match.

_______________________________________

What happens when an Internet darling collides with a grating character who somehow seems to be gaining a bit of a cult following amongst the same fan base that so adores his opponent? Can Jericho get Fandango over, even if he defeats him? And would that be his greatest career accomplishment? Stay tuned!