Chris Jericho had every reason to look around before signing another deal. With WWE going through another wave of roster cuts, reports of talent pay changes making headlines and the company’s landscape continuing to shift, Jericho admitted he considered his options. But in the end, he says the decision wasn’t really about WWE at all. It was about finishing what he helped start.
Speaking to SHAK Wrestling, Jericho explained that AEW isn’t just another stop on a legendary career. To him, it’s personal because it’s the only major wrestling company he helped build from the ground up.
“You know, once again, I mean, you weigh your options, but I helped start AEW. I have a stake in the game. And that’s… there’s something special about that.”
That’s the difference Jericho says nobody else can offer him. Over the course of more than three decades, he’s wrestled for just about every major promotion in the business. WWE. WCW. ECW. New Japan. CMLL. But he says AEW is the one place where his fingerprints were on the company before the first bell ever rang.
“I didn’t help start WWE. I didn’t help start New Japan Pro Wrestling or CMLL or ECW or WCW or any of those places that I worked in the past. I helped start AEW.”
That made walking into AEW in 2019 feel a whole lot different than signing with any other promotion. Back then, Jericho remembers hearing the same prediction over and over again: the company wouldn’t last. People expected it to fold within months. Instead, six years later, he says AEW has done the exact opposite.
“So, it was a big risk for me to go there. If you remember, there was no guarantees. There were people that said we were going to be out of business in three or four months or six months. And here we are six years later and it’s gone the opposite direction. We’ve become a viable top-level wrestling company with millions of fans.”
That’s why Jericho says this chapter of his career means so much to him. Winning championships and headlining major shows are accomplishments he’ll always have, but helping launch an entirely new national promotion is something he believes will always stand out when people look back on his career.
“So, that to me was something that meant something. And it’s something I take great pride in because, once again, it was a real risk to go there, but I knew if the company took off and became successful, it would be another kind of feather in the Chris Jericho legacy cap.”
For Jericho, that’s ultimately what made the decision. It wasn’t simply about signing another contract. It was about staying with a company where he believes he helped write the opening chapter—and continuing to help shape what comes next.
“So, that’s kind of what I always was thinking, was I’m really happy to be in the company that I had some skin in the game and helped kind of get rolling.”
Six years after betting on a company many believed wouldn’t survive, Jericho isn’t looking back with regret. If anything, his comments make it clear that helping launch AEW has become one of the accomplishments he values most. While WWE’s landscape continues to change, Jericho believes his place is exactly where it all started for AEW—and he has no interest in walking away from that legacy now.
Do you think Chris Jericho made the right decision by staying with AEW instead of returning to WWE? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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