Why Chris Jericho Chose AEW Over WWE (AEW News)
Chris Jericho explains his decision to remain with AEW.
After plentiful speculation that Chris Jericho was set to swap AEW for a WWE return earlier this year, the inaugural AEW Champion has opened up on the driving factors behind him opting to remain #AllElite.
Speaking to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Jericho said that there were several factors in him staying with AEW, including his role in helping to launch AEW, and that he enjoys working for Tony Khan.
"When it was time to kind of start thinking about coming back, obviously you weigh your options. And there is a lot of factors, but the bottom line is this, and this was the one that really clinched it for me, was I’ve got skin in the game in AEW. I helped start AEW, and in a lot of ways, if there was no Chris Jericho, there might not have been an AEW. And there certainly wasn’t one before me. There was a WWE before Chris Jericho. There was a New Japan before. There was a CMLL before. And there’ll be an AEW after I leave, obviously. “And I can’t wait to see how much bigger the company gets over the next ten years, etc. But when it came down to it, it was, like, I like working for Tony. We had to work some things out, which we did. It wasn’t hard to do.”
As for what's in the future for Chris Jericho, he named Ricochet, Jack Perry, Mark Davis, Kyle Fletcher, the Rascalz, Hechicero, and Andrade El Idolo as names he'd like to work more with down the line, be that against them or teaming with them.
After a year away from AEW programming entirely, Jericho made his grand return this past April on the Dynamite that took place from his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An initial feud with Ricochet was soon followed by a rivalry with Tommaso Ciampa, and the nine-time World Champion was most recently in action on last week's Dynamite, where he lost to TNT Champion Kevin Knight.