Add as a preferred source on Google Chris Jericho has finally addressed just how close he came to returning to WWE, after nearly a year off AEW television.
Speaking with Beef Vegan Presents on Rock 102.1 KFMA, Jericho addressed his contract situation and what led him to stay with AEW.
“You weigh all your options, but I have skin in the game with AEW. I helped create AEW and I was never gone. I was just off TV for a while, while we figured out some stuff. Basically, I ended one contract and went straight to the other one.”
Jericho ultimately returned on the April 1, 2026, episode of AEW Dynamite in Winnipeg, after being off television since April 2025. Days later, Tony Khan confirmed that the former AEW World Champion had signed a new multi-year contract with AEW.
Jericho explained that his connection to AEW’s founding weighed heavily in his decision:
“I like Tony Khan as a boss. I like AEW as a company and the growth that we’ve done. I helped start the company. WWE existed before I was there. It exists after I was there. AEW will exist after I’m there, but it didn’t exist before I was there. It’s more exciting to be with the company that I helped create.”
Jericho’s last match for WWE came at the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27, 2018, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He hasn’t wrestled for WWE since.