Chris Jericho played a stupid game, he won a stupid prize.

Hey, do you remember when professional wrestler Chris Jericho, who’s currently one of the biggest stars of All Elite Wrestling, took his rock band Fozzy and played a couple of shows at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August?

Here’s a refresher. I blogged about it.

So now, on Jericho’s “Talk is Jericho” podcast, the veteran pro wrestler apparently contracted COVID-19 some time in September. Now, he says that he quarantined for 10 days and recovered, but still…

This virus is getting closer and closer than anybody wants to admit. Just this week, Drew McIntyre, a champion in AEW’s wrestling rival WWE, announced that he had tested positive for COVID. Other wrestlers and on-air personnel have either contracted it or been in close contact with someone who caught the virus.

These are not small names, mind you. Hardcore legend Mick Foley contracted COVID. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his entire family got hit with COVID. Heck, Nick Jackson (he of the tag team The Young Bucks) contracted COVID-19, and Nick and his brother Matt Jackson recently buried their aunt, who passed away from COVID.

But I’m thinking back to last August, when Jericho and his band Fozzy played a couple of outdoor shows in front of thousands of un-masked bikers at what essentially became a super-spreader event.

Now some could certainly argue that Jericho’s personal health is his personal business, but to that I say, this virus is spreading like wildfire. More Americans are dying from COVID in a single day than have died in in the 9/11 tragedy. All our efforts to try to curtail this pandemic are being counterbalanced by people who treat this as the equivalent of “oh, I have a bit of the sniffles, I’ll be fine,” not realizing that COVID is the equivalent of a viral Russian Roulette.

But just once, I would have preferred that had Jericho tested positive, he did the right thing, like Drew McIntyre.

Or understand that COVID can happen to the biggest, most muscular people in the sport. Just ask the Rock.

Trust me. COVID-19 does not follow the wrestling script. It does not pull its punches. And if it pins you, you may not be able to kick out.

Kinda wish Jericho understood that.