Chris Jericho beat Nick Wayne, got his hand raised and still ended the night getting destroyed. Now it looks like their fight on the September 16, 2026 episode of AEW Dynamite may have only been round one, because there’s already talk that Jericho vs. Wayne could run it back at AEW All Out.
The possibility came up on Wrestling Observer Radio when Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer broke down everything that happened between Jericho and Wayne. Alvarez didn’t just think AEW left the feud open either — he flat-out said the way the match ended made it look like the beginning of a series.
Things were already personal before Jericho and Wayne even got into the ring. Their issues exploded on the September 2 Dynamite when Jericho mocked Wayne for wearing a puka shell necklace in 2026, prompting Wayne to slap him before the two started brawling backstage.
AEW kept pouring gasoline on it from there. On the September 5 Collision, Wayne defeated Komander before Jericho entered the ring, raised his hand and blasted him with the Judas Effect, making it pretty obvious these two weren’t heading toward some friendly veteran-versus-young-star match.
Their Dynamite fight got ugly fast, and Alvarez said there was one moment where Jericho came down directly on his head attempting a top-rope Frankensteiner. The landing was nasty enough that Alvarez admitted he feared the worst before Jericho somehow got back up and tried the exact same move again.
“We had Chris Jericho and Nick Wayne. And this was like the first — the first part of this match before the commercial was weird. And it’s hard to explain exactly why. It was like they had a lot of ideas and it wasn’t smooth. And then they went to commercial and they came back and it got a lot better. Although there was a moment where Jericho went for the top-rope Frankensteiner, and man, I don’t know what happened, but this dude went straight down right on his head. And I thought he was dead. And Aubrey runs over, she checks on him, and he kind of like shakes and everything like that. And then he gets up, and he takes Nick to the other corner, and he tries it again, and he got it perfectly the second time.”
Meltzer pointed out that Jericho nailed the Frankensteiner on his second attempt, and the match kept rolling. That’s when the puka shell necklace came back into play and became the entire trigger for what happened next. Alvarez explained that Jericho tore Wayne’s necklace apart during the match, distracting Wayne long enough for Jericho to capitalize and pin him. Jericho tried to help Wayne up afterward, but Wayne wasn’t interested in shaking hands and moving on.
“And they kept going, and apparently he was fine. But it was a pretty scary bump, that first one. So finally, he tears off this puka necklace, which he had made fun of Nick for wearing, and that was kind of the impetus for the whole feud. And Nick’s all, you know, distracted, and so Jericho ends up sitting on him and pinning him. And Nick’s all depressed about the necklace afterwards, and Jericho offers to help him up. And Nick goes, ‘No, just get out of here.’ So Jericho goes to leave, and Nick kicks the ropes into his nuts, pounds on him with the necklace around his fist. And so, clearly, this is the first of a series of matches.”
The television angle went even further, as Wayne brutally attacked Jericho with a chair after losing the match. Jericho technically won, but Wayne made sure nobody was talking about the three-count by the time the segment was over.
That immediately raised the question of whether AEW is saving round two for All Out. Meltzer said, “Maybe that may end up on the pay-per-view as well,” and Alvarez agreed that it “could be on the pay-per-view.”
The timing certainly works. AEW All Out has already sold out the current 9,148-seat configuration at the NOW Arena for September 26, and AEW has continued filling out the card during the final stretch before the show. Nothing has been officially announced for Jericho and Wayne at All Out, but AEW certainly didn’t book their first match like the end of the story. Jericho got the win, Wayne got the last laugh and the post-match attack gave AEW an easy reason to put them back in the ring just ten days later.
Jericho vs. Wayne II suddenly looks like a very real possibility for All Out, and after the way Wayne left Jericho laying, a normal singles rematch might not be enough to settle this one.
Do you think Chris Jericho and Nick Wayne should run it back at AEW All Out, and should AEW add a stipulation this time? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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