Chris Jericho is finally opening up about the months of speculation surrounding his future — including the widespread belief that he was secretly headed back to WWE.
While speaking on The Ringer Wrestling Show, Jericho was directly asked about the heavy rumors linking him to WWE during his free agency period and whether there was ever a real possibility he would leave All Elite Wrestling. Instead of giving a direct yes-or-no answer, Jericho leaned into how wrestling fans create narratives online and eventually begin treating speculation like confirmed fact.
“Well, the interesting thing about fans—and kind of going back to what we said earlier about having a career where you can watch anything online—is that fans, in this day and age, form their own opinions, and then it becomes law.”
Jericho then explained how quickly online speculation spreads throughout the wrestling community, regardless of whether the people involved are actually participating in the rumors themselves.
“Because the opinion spreads. So whatever people believed or didn’t believe, I was not ever a part of any of it.”
The longtime wrestling star admitted he actually enjoyed the intrigue surrounding his future because fans were heavily invested regardless of which company he ultimately chose.
“And I think the best part was there was so much speculation of what I was going to do that either way, with the tribalism of wrestling nowadays, there’d be people happy about it and not happy about it—‘this is the worst thing ever’ or ‘this is the best thing ever.’”
Jericho also made it clear he tries to avoid getting consumed by online negativity or tribal fan reactions. At one point, Jericho clarified that he never claimed the rumors themselves became factual — only that fans began treating them that way online.
“And I’ve never really focused on that side of things—like ‘this is terrible’ or ‘it’s never going to work.’ To me, anything can work, and you always want to do your best to make it work. I focus on the people who are excited, who want to be entertained, who want to be happy and have fun. That’s the crowd I focus on. No, I never said the rumors became fact. I said the rumors became fact to the fans. But yeah, I’ll leave that for another day. I like the idea of the intrigue.”
Jericho’s comments come after Tony Khan previously stated on The Coach and Bro Show that Jericho ultimately chose AEW over WWE because it was where he genuinely wanted to be. Khan explained at the time that Jericho had options as a free agent but consistently expressed his desire to remain in AEW.
““I do know Chris Jericho had a choice, and he wanted to be in AEW. He would be the best person to ask, but I know that I’ve been in communication with Chris, and he definitely told me he wanted to be in AEW—and very specifically in Winnipeg on that day. We had that circled back for a long time, going back to last year. It was a choice that Chris made, that he’d rather be in AEW than anywhere else.”
Bottom line: Chris Jericho still isn’t fully revealing how serious WWE talks may have gotten during his free agency, but his latest comments make it clear he enjoyed the speculation — and has no problem keeping some mystery around the situation even now.
Do you think Chris Jericho seriously considered returning to WWE, or was staying with AEW always the most likely outcome? Leave your thoughts and feedback below.
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