Jericho to All Elite Wrestling

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What does this mean for his future in the WWE?

Last week on Chris Jericho‘s podcast, Talk is Jericho, he was discussing his relationship with Vince McMahon. In his talk, he gave a description of what the last year has been like working with Vince and the WWE.

Chris Jericho has been largely absent from WWE programming for almost a year now since he began his stint with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). To quote Chris, “when I told Vince I was going to go work this match at the Tokyo Dome for NJPW, he was very accommodating, very excited about it, and thought, ‘Even if you’re working for NJPW everyone knows you’re a WWE guy.’ So we signed off on it like gentlemen and that was the end of it.”

When Chris as back home from NJPW, Vince called him and asked why he has attacked Naito, thinking the NJPW thing would just be a one-off. But Chris stayed with NJPW for another 3 shows, drawing large crowds and really building up some heat. We go forward onto The Greatest Royal Rumble.

Changes in motion

Recall that initially Rusev was set to face The Undertaker in a casket match. Then, days before the match, it is announced that it is going to be Jericho and Taker. In between this time, Chris states that he had signed a deal to do three matches with NJPW. When he told Vince, Vine was not as positive as he had been before. According to Jericho, 3 hours later, Vince sends him a text saying he’s out of the casket match and Rusev is back in.

This sort of back and forth continued for a few more months. Then, when time came to either sign with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) or with the WWE, Chris waited, but according to this statement, nothing came of it. So now, Jericho has signed a 3-year contract with AEW.

What can we expect from AEW?

AEW, which is being headed by Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucs, and now, Chris Jericho, will be holding their first event on May 25 called Double or Nothing. As a new promotion, there is a lot of excitement looking forward as to where AEW will find themselves. TV deal in the works? Stay tuned.

For now, with Jericho’s 3 year deal, we likely won’t be seeing him back in the WWE until after the contract is up. And even though new talent is coming in, there is nothing like a Jericho story line to bring the fans back. I’m excited for AEW and the possibility of more cross-promoting as well as a throwback to the territories we used to have.