Chris Jericho will put his in-ring career as a member of the All Elite Wrestling roster on the line when he faces MJF at AEW All Out. Many fans have been assuming that Jericho will defeat his bitter rival so he can continue to wrestle for the company he has helped build. But “Le Champion” recently explained that one can’t jump to conclusions when it comes to his storylines, whether he wins or loses at the pay-per-view.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Jericho discussed his bout with MJF and emphasized that if he does lose, this contest will mark his last one in AEW. He won’t wiggle out of the stipulation, and he noted how, in general, the company honors these high-stakes stipulations. Jericho referenced Cody Rhodes’ inability to challenge for the world title, given his loss to Jericho at AEW All Out 2019, as an example.
“I’m very serious when I say that, if I lose, it will be my last match in AEW,” said Jericho. “We honor our stipulations here, most specifically with Cody [Rhodes] not having a world title shot since he lost to me [at Full Gear in 2019]. And just to be clear, this isn’t a retirement match. I’m not going to pull a KISS or a Terry Funk and keep coming back. If I lose, I’ll never wrestle again in an AEW ring. If I lose, my in-ring career in AEW will be over.”
A few times in the interview, Jericho made it quite clear that if he does lose, he will honor the stipulation by never wrestling in AEW again.
“If I lose, I’ll never wrestle in an AEW ring again,” said Jericho. “That’s exactly what I said, and I mean it.”
“The Five Labours of Jericho” paved the way for this heated bout at the pay-per-view, and they stretched throughout July and August. Looking back on this storyline, Chris Jericho commented on each chapter. He also explained how while fans might have expected the company to involve Lance Storm as one Labour, having Wardlow as one of the opponents was “so important” for the story and AEW’s future. He emphasized that he’ll never do what people expect with his storylines, and that’s exactly what fans saw with the Labours.
“I started with [Shawn] Spears, so people would assume I was going to wrestle all of The Pinnacle,” said Jericho. “Then we threw in the Nick Gage surprise, and everybody flipped out. We went into my past with Juvy [Guerrera]. So then people were thinking it was going to be all about past opponents, and maybe you’d see someone like Lance Storm, but then we went to Wardlow.
“That was so important to the story—Wardlow betrayed me and powerbombed me off the stage last March. He’s going to be a very important part of AEW’s future. And then I had my match with MJF, and people thought I was going to beat him, but I didn’t. You never know what is going to happen with my stories. I’m not going to do what people expect.”
This emphasis on unpredictability also applied to the way Jericho previewed his match at All Out; he noted that nobody expected him to tap out to MJF, but he did. As a result, the audience can’t simply assume he’s going to beat MJF on Sunday.
“I’ve always kept people guessing,” Jericho said. “That’s the way I like to do it, and I plan to do that as much as I possibly can.
“…I don’t think people expected me to tap out in the fifth ‘Labor or Jericho,’ and people may not expect me to lose this weekend,” said Jericho. “Win or lose, I’m very proud of the work we’ve done, and I’m looking forward to killing it on Sunday.”
