Whereas John Cena’s return at the 2008 Royal Rumble surprised everyone in the sports-entertainment industry, Chris Jericho’s long-awaited return to WWE was dubbed one of the worst kept secrets in wrestling history.

But that doesn’t mean it was any less exciting.

About the same time Jericho was on the road promoting his autobiography, A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex, cryptic messages began appearing on “Raw” announcing someone’s “2nd Coming.” Fans immediately began flooding the Internet, discussing hidden clues that proved the one who was coming to “Save_Us” was indeed the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla, who had been out of action since Aug. 22, 2005 when he was fired by Eric Bischoff after losing to Cena in a You’re Fired Match.

“Newsflash: there were no clues,” Jericho said with a laugh during a recent interview. “But people will find them, no matter what.”

After finishing A Lion’s Tale, which discussed “the trials and tribulations” of following his childhood dream, Jericho said the fire had been re-ignited within him once again to return to the squared circle and he began “hammering out a deal” for his return. Wanting to do something similar to the original entrance he had when he made his WWE debut in 1999, Jericho pitched the binary code idea to Vince McMahon, who thought The Matrix-like teasers were the perfect follow-up to Y2J’s original Countdown to the Millennium Clock.

“It was subtle and vague,” Jericho said. “There was an element of mystery to it. It kept people guessing; even when they knew it was me, they didn’t really know.”

But on the Nov. 19, 2007 edition of “Raw,” all speculation came to an end when Jericho made his highly anticipated debut to save wrestling fans from WWE Champion Randy Orton. While Jericho fell short of his mission (thanks to JBL), kayfabe aside, the man who holds the honor of being WWE’s first Undisputed Champion said overall he’s been satisfied with his return.

“I really feel like I haven’t missed a beat,” Jericho said. “[My return] has been amazing so far; in fact, I’d say this has been the best time of my career both mentally and physically. I was just burned out and needed the past two years to get everything back in order. But I spent a lot of time training for my return--I spent three, four months at Lance Storm's training academy--so that I could hit the ground running again. And I pride myself on my first pay-per-view match with Randy [at Armageddon].”

While Jericho may look as strong in the ring as ever--he even has a new finishing move, the Codebreaker--it’s hard enough getting back into the groove of things by yourself without having to get in the ring with someone else who’s been out of action for a while. But that’s exactly what happened to Jericho, who has spent majority of his screen time since his return battling it out with John “Bradshaw” Layfield, the former WWE Champion who spent the past year and a half working as “SmackDown’s” color commentator. And while Jericho admits it may take a bit more time for JBL to “physically get back into the groove,” he’s enjoyed his storyline with the self-proclaimed “wrestling god” thus far.

“No one can joust with me verbally like John can,” Jericho said. “And since we don’t really like each other in real life, it adds a sense of realism [to the feud].”

Although Jericho is focused on his upcoming match this Sunday at No Way Out for the chance to face the WWE Champion at WrestleMania XXIV, if the man who has had tied Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the most Elimination Chamber Matches in WWE history (three, if you haven’t been counting) doesn’t walk away with the No. 1 Contender spot, he thinks there’s definitely more he and JBL can do inside of the ring together.

“I think my story with JBL is just beginning,” Jericho said. “Ideally, though, so long as I have a great storyline at WrestleMania, I’ll be happy.”

Whether or not this is the year that tops Jericho’s favorite Y2J WrestleMania moment, when he fought HBK at WrestleMania 19, the Sexy Beast has other things to worry about before he jets off to Orlando--like the Elimination Chamber Match. As if battling it out with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, JBL, Umaga and Jeff Hardy isn’t bad enough, the structure itself is something Jericho said takes its toll on those inside of it.

“Whoever invented the Elimination Chamber wasn’t a wrestler,” Jericho said. “It’s the worst structure ever. When you fall against that steel grate, your skin looks like a charbroiled Burger King hamburger patty with all those lines on it. It’s definitely one of the toughest matches [a wrestler can be in].”

Someone who’s tough enough to step in the Elimination Chamber and win, though, is the Undertaker, who will be competing against Batista, MVP, Finlay, Big Daddy V and The Great Khali in the “SmackDown”/“ECW” Elimination Chamber Match at No Way Out. Since Taker was Jericho’s pick to win the Royal Rumble before the January pay-per-view, odds are he’s Y2J’s favorite to win the second Elimination Chamber Match announced for this month's pay-per-view event.

“I think Taker’s going [to headline WrestleMania] two years in a row,” Jericho said before the Royal Rumble. “He’s got some unfinished business to take care of.”

And speaking of unfinished business, now that Jericho’s back in action, where does that leave his numerous side projects?

“I’ll probably still be able to do VH1,” Jericho said. “They’ve just run out of decades and music to talk about. What are they going to do next--the Top 100 Polka Songs? I might not do the Groundlings for a while, but that was a lot of fun. And Fozzy’s on hold for now, but not in a bad way. I actually have a lot of projects goin’, including the sequel to my book. I just signed a deal for that, so I’ve got a lot of action going on.”

Jericho said the sequel to A Lion’s Tale will continue where his first book left off, and be a “natural progression” discussing his career in WWE. As for where he sees the character of Y2J going next, Jericho said whether he’s heel or face in the ring, Jerichoholics can definitely expect the unexpected when it comes to Chris Jericho.

“It’s always been my mindset to evolve the character,” he said. “When you’re on TV every week, you have to keep things new. Look at Madonna; she’s always changing her sound and her look. I want to make sure that I’m just as fresh 25 years down the line, so I’ll always be changing my hair, introducing new moves--that’s important to me. That’s why when I came back to ‘Raw’ I couldn’t come in as a heel. I had to be a different Jericho, and that was a challenge. And even though I enjoy being face, it’s harder to make people like you. There really is an art form to both (being heel and being babyface). Sometimes when your character’s a funny heel, you end up becoming babyface because people like you. But I enjoy the challenge, and in the future, I want to be the greatest I can be.”

So how does the man who constantly wants to top himself rank his second coming?

“It’s like comparing The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II,” Jericho said. “The first one’s a classic, but the second one is damn good. Really, it’s the best you could do with a sequel. It couldn’t be better. I’d rank them a 10 and a 9.5.”

And despite only being back in the ring a short while, Jericho said he’s already experienced his favorite moment of his career: the annual Tribute to the Troops show.

“In the 17 years I’ve been doing this, that had to be my favorite experience,” Jericho said of last year’s trip to Iraq. “The first couple trips, I must admit, I wasn’t that interested in, but when I did my book tour I went to all these army bases and saw firsthand just how long these guys have been gone. There were some guys there who had kids who were a year-and-a-half, and they were born just a couple of weeks after they left [the States] so they had never even met them. But going to Iraq was just a great experience. Whether or not Americans believe in this war, the troops are just over there doing a job like you and I. And they aren’t complaining; they want to come home, but only when the job is done.”

From trips to the Middle East to trips to the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania, life is never dull when you’re a WWE Superstar. But now that Jericho has kids of his own (a son and twin 18-month-old daughters), has his out looked changed when it comes to pursuing a career inside of the ring?

“I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t support them,” Jericho replied when asked if he would support his children if they ever decided to follow in his footsteps. “I remember when I was eight years old and people told me I couldn’t do this, and this has been the greatest experience of my life. So yes, I’d support my son, although he doesn’t quite get wrestling yet. He thinks it’s cool, but he’d be more interested if JBL was a giant talking shark.”

“My daughters, though, I don’t know about having twin Divas,” he concluded with a laugh. “I think my wife might have a heart attack.”

WWE “Raw” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. on USA.

No Way Out takes place Sun., Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. PST on pay-per-view.