AEW has announced Chris Jericho’s next appearance.
After months of speculation about his status with the promotion and a potential WWE return, Chris Jericho returned to AEW television on this week’s episode of Dynamite. He delivered a simple message to the fans, saying he’s back home.
Fans are wondering what AEW has planned for Chris Jericho following his return. The promotion has announced on its official X/Twitter account that the former World Champion will address his return on the April 8 episode of Dynamite in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Apart from Chris Jericho’s appearance, AEW has also announced that Kenny Omega will address the fans live at the event. Willow Nightingale will defend the TBS Championship against Queen Aminata, and Darby Allin will team up with Luchasaurus and National Champion Jack Perry to take on the Don Callis Family’s Andrade El Idolo, Konosuke Takeshita, and Mark Davis in a trios match.
Reported reason why Chris Jericho chose AEW return over WWE
During a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline reported that WWE viewed Chris Jericho as a potential candidate for a retirement run. However, that may not have aligned with his long-term goals.
“I mean, from the WWE’s standpoint — and I don’t know what they told him, okay? I know what I was told. And I was told that as far as they wanted him for a retirement tour, okay? And maybe that’s not what he wanted — but I don’t know. I just know that they told me that they wanted him for a retirement tour, and that was it,” Meltzer said.
Melzer also noted that at this point in his career, Chris Jericho would want to do something creatively fulfilling and have some input in his booking. He says Jericho will get that in AEW.
“I think that for him, at this stage of his life, his financial situation is probably pretty great. He made a lot of money in AEW over the years. And at this point, especially at his age, he’s going to want to do what’s creatively fulfilling and fun.
“AEW’s a little bit of a risk — not creatively, because he’ll probably have more input into what he’s going to do in AEW than he would in WWE — but in terms of audience. I think he’d have a better audience in WWE, for sure,” Meltzer said about Chris Jericho.
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