I'm not buying any of these conspiracy theories. If Jericho was going to be a transitional champion, he wouldn't have held the belt all the way to WMX8. They still put it on him, I think that speaks for itself.
But he WAS a transitional champion. He didn't have it THAT long.
He had it from December 9th until March 17th. Just over three months. Considering this is WWE/WWF and their love of hotshotting titles, I don't consider this a transitional championship reign. Besides, they're all about money and business. Regardless of losing Austin's or Rock's heat.. do you really think that they believed HHH/Jericho at WMX8 would've made more money that HHH/Rock or HHH/Austin?