Chris Jericho shocked the professional wrestling world when he left WWE and signed with AEW in 2019. While the company already had top-tier talent like Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks, having a top WWE star on board was an absolute game-changer.
Since then, Y2J has become a mainstay in the company but has frequently fallen out of favour with fans for seemingly prioritising himself over the younger talent he shares the ring with. Regardless, Jericho has remained fiercely loyal to AEW and Tony Khan, which isn't hugely surprising when he's widely believed to be among the highest-paid stars in the company.
Jericho's contract reportedly ends later this year, and after being written off television way back in April, he made headlines over the summer for liking a social media post speculating about what a possible WWE return could look like.
Khan often benches those who have expressed a desire to leave the company, and many believe that's the case with Jericho. Now, it sounds like we're another step closer to seeing Jericho end his career in WWE before an inevitable Hall of Fame induction.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed, "With Chris Jericho he said that he hoped Jericho would be back but didn’t say it would happen. As noted many times, this one is a Jericho decision and all hints are in the WWE direction."
"I know that WWE has offered him a retirement storyline and those in WWE have said that’s what they’d be interested in. Others expect him to be there early next year but nothing is confirmed," the insider added.
This comes after Fightful recently reported that Jericho would "almost certainly get offered 'several million dollars' annually" for a WWE return.
It's been widely speculated that Jericho will make his WWE return during next year's Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. At this stage in his career, he's likely to be more concerned with making as much money as possible, so it will likely come down to who is willing to pay Jericho more. Ultimately, it just makes more sense for him to end his career in a WWE ring.
"The best thing that can happen in wrestling is AEW," Jericho said in September. "And the fact that there’s two huge promotions that you can choose from just makes it better for the guys, it makes it better for the fans, and everybody in between."
"So I’m not going anywhere for a while, I’m still with AEW for right now. Would I go back to WWE? I wouldn’t be opposed to it," he admitted. "We just have to see what happens. But the best thing that can happen is that you have two great teams that you can play for, and that just makes everything bigger and more exciting."
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.