Current reports are saying that Chris Jericho is no longer contracted to All Elite Wrestling and is now a free agent to sign elsewhere. The final appearance of Chris Jericho in 2025 was on AEW Dynamite April 9th where he told Bryan Keith and Big Bill he wasn’t angry and just disappointed before smashing a TV with a baseball bat.
“He’s gone bye bye” said Tony Schiavone before Jericho finished his promo saying, “I’m disappointed in you (Big Bill and Bryan Keith) and until you change that? I think it’s best that I leave.” The fans then sung the na na hey hey goodbye.
Nobody really thought this would actually be the final appearance of Chris Jericho in All Elite Wrestling. It was likely done as part of an angle with Big Bill and Bryan Keith but things between AEW and Jericho likely couldn’t come to any creative agreement so it was decided to just have him sit for the rest of his contract.
I’m personally not a fan of this. AEW has done it before. The fact they couldn’t come to some sort of compromise to talk about an exit angle I’ll never understand. It disappointed me with the Lucha Brothers and now Chris Jericho, the first AEW Men’s World Champion, and an early face of the company is now leaving without a proper exit and a proper goodbye.
He also gets to leave without Hangman Adam Page never getting his rematch with him, which would have been perfect to do once both sides realized he wasn’t coming back. Just let Jericho do one last job on the way out. He’s an old school veteran. I have no doubt in my mind he would have been fine doing that, especially since it would let him leave AEW not in some undercard angle as a wacky mentor but instead fighting the world champion on his way out (the idea of doing this between July and November before Page dropped the title.)
Maybe the new generation of wrestlers are so disagreeable and so impossible to collaborate once they want to leave that you can’t do anything with him without risking the integrity of your show. Then again, AEW once put CM Punk out on their biggest show ever in London, England just minutes after he attacked someone backstage. That was best for business. Giving Chris Jericho an exit angle or even a thank you for your contributions to AEW can’t be done.
Legitimizing a new company
I think a lot of people forget just how important it was for Chris Jericho to show up in All Elite Wrestling. This was a brand new company with zero history starting up and trying to get a television deal. Having Chris Jericho, one of the biggest names in pro wrestling, and one of the few people who could be recognized for interviews with TV and radio, was a huge part of AEW’s quick start.
Jericho wasn’t a star at the level of Hulk Hogan, but he absolutely helped AEW get a TV deal with TNT. Chris Jericho and Jim Ross were far more familiar to non wrestling people than Kenny Omega or Cody Rhodes. Even Jon Moxley, who was just a major star on WWE television, did not have the clout outside of the wrestling bubble that Jericho had. Jericho being their first AEW Men’s World Champion just made sense when launching on TNT. Everyone loves to go back and forth on who was most important in The Elite in launching AEW. The reality of it is without Chris Jericho? It’s really just Impact Wrestling with a bigger budget.
Chris Jericho worked well in helping All Elite Wrestling in those early years. Even his blunders were successful, like the story of him losing the AEW Men’s World Championship at a steakhouse soon after winning it. People bought his overpriced champagne bottles. People sang Judas despite him being a heel. He was a valuable elder statesman in AEW.
Questionable Quality
The problem with Chris Jericho was never about what he brought outside the ring. There’s countless stories of him helping younger talent out and being Tony Khan’s right hand man in getting shows put together. The problem when it came to Chris Jericho was as a man in his 50s? His wrestling ability was going down fast in a company where it’s necessary to keep up.
His physical shape got so bad at one point that an AEW promo in an NBA game had people mocking how out of shape he then looked. Jericho worked hard to get back into shape and it helped his wrestling, having an incredible match with Eddie Kingston at Revolution in 2022 that felt like he was back as a valuable contributor to great wrestling on the show.
It was later in the year he signed his last contract with AEW and won the ROH Men’s World Championship, a move that was made in hopes of Jericho getting Ring of Honor, now owned by Tony Khan, a TV deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Unlike his work in 2019, Jericho was not able to help AEW get across that finishing line.
Jericho was always a major part of the TV show but the quality would vary. He was sometimes one of the best parts of the show but more times than not the worst part of the show. It wasn’t without trying. You couldn’t call Chris Jericho lazy or stuck in his ways. He did everything from a hardcore match with Nick Gage where he took a pizza cutter to the forehead, to multiple feuds with younger talent with the goal of getting them to the next level. I don’t think he gets enough credit for his work in legitimizing Orange Cassidy at a time where he was still looked as just a comedy gimmick, even after the PAC match at Revolution 2020. He wasn’t as successful with Hook or Sammy Guevara.
Unfounded Rumours
It was during the Hook program that allegations surfaced of something happening between Chris Jericho and Kylie Rae. As to what, nobody actually knows. All they have is a former wrestling journalist in Nick Hausman making vague claims and Kylie sending a heart emoji in a tweet. Nobody is willing to say what it was actually about and it’s all just speculation I won’t repeat. It’s one of the most pathetic displays of cowardice from the wrestling journalism media that nobody bothers to actually look into this.
Nobody even bothered to look back that at the last event Rae worked in AEW, all the talk coming out of it wasn’t a drama between her and Jericho. It was between her and Brandi Rhodes. Rhodes had to even say in interviews she wasn’t the reason Kylie was fired. Kylie said back in 2019 nobody forced her to leave. We either have to take her word then, or believe in unfounded rumours nobody wants to say out loud. The damage, however, was already done to Chris Jericho. The crowds started to turn on him and no matter what he did to get them back? It just wasn’t happening.
Here’s one of the highest paid guys in the company, a legend in every way, and he now can’t properly do stories on TV due to rumoured allegations, not even proclaimed allegations, that combined with anyone just tired of seeing Chris Jericho are just going to believe and let be the main narrative about his career.
The Learning Tree
Jericho’s final angle in the company would be trying to get Big Bill and Bryan Keith over as his sycophants in The Learning Tree, a name that comes from what Triple H likes to call Vince McMahon. I honestly loved The Learning Tree. Jericho essentially put himself in the undercard of the company, was FTW Champion, and used criticism of wrestlers being sucked into “The Jericho Vortex” as part of his character.
The idea of Jericho being this veteran giving everyone advice and people being sick of him for it was hilarious. It absolutely felt like a joke on several people, and it ended up being such an obvious joke that people of course missed it entirely.
Jericho once again became ROH Men’s World Champion in hopes of getting ROH a TV deal, which led to a feud with Bandido. I think the feud was supposed to help put Bandido over, but they unfortunately had a match with such a terrible finish on pay per view it didn’t help Bandido and it didn’t help Jericho. It was likely then that AEW started thinking about a life without Chris. Probably when Chris started thinking about a life outside of AEW.
AEW without Jericho
There’s ways that Chris Jericho leaving All Elite Wrestling is bad for the company. I’ve already in the past criticized the fact that most AEW media opportunities ends up going to Tony Khan. I don’t know if AEW just isn’t pushing others to do podcasts and media or if podcasts and media are rejecting everyone except Tony, but it’s certainly a job Chris Jericho did well and without him? Nobody is filling the void.
Jericho did a lot of help backstage, considerable help, even before he had it as part of his contract. He helped Britt Baker on promos, helped wrestlers with their finishes, and more. I think he at one point had thoughts of retiring and becoming Tony Khan’s right hand man, thought that job now seems filled by Bryan Danielson.
It’s never good when someone who was so integral to your company’s existence back in 2019 leaves, but at the same time? You can’t keep everyone forever.
As for Chris Jericho’s career? This is a perfect time for him to leave. He can’t keep up in AEW, but if he goes to TNA or WWE? His wrestling ability really won’t matter. The quality of pro wrestling in-ring is much lower in those companies and people will be fine with Jericho just playing the hits. Just look at the quality of John Cena’s matches in WWE, or the Hardy’s in TNA. Nostalgia acts in those companies get paid for their reputation, not their performances.
Jericho can go to WWE and essentially do a lesser version of the retirement run that John Cena just had. If CM Punk is having his old man tour on Raw, Jericho can be opposite of him on Smackdown and have his old man run there. Jericho would get his WWE Hall of Fame induction and a retirement match at WrestleMania, maybe even main event one of the nights in order to do it.
And just because Jericho is actually one of the few smart veterans in this industry? He understands that wrestling retirements are just a storyline device. He could leave WWE in his late 50s and do a retirement tour in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, and even back in All Elite Wrestling to properly finish his career in the company. I doubt there’s a burned bridge.
While AEW misses out on a veteran voice backstage and a major name they can use for media opportunities, less time given to Jericho means more time for everyone else. You can’t really be trying to get a Women’s World Tag Team division going when Jericho gets his guaranteed quarter segment every Dynamite.
AEW was Jericho
Ultimately this will be a good decision for everyone involved. I just wish Jericho got to close it out on TV.
I’ve heard people say Chris Jericho must be worried about how he will be booked in WWE if he goes back after their John Cena retirement. Please. I don’t doubt Jericho knows it’s going to suck. He isn’t a guy who has been shy about his feelings on Triple H or WWE’s bad creative. He knows this is about money and getting a farewell in the company. It’s about taking advantage of the best situation. If there was a third company at the top of North American wrestling that was on the level of AEW I’m sure he’d be going there instead of WWE. Unfortunately there isn’t.
When you’re 55? You take the best opportunities to get paid money you’ll never make again you can get. That’s why Tetsuya Naito is in Pro Wrestling NOAH. And as I said? This doesn’t close the door a few years down the road for Jericho to go back to AEW.
Looking back on the AEW career of Chris Jericho you get a lot of highs and a lot of lows. You get a guy who slowly stopped being able to go toe to toe with the prime wrestlers in the company but he also wasn’t getting booked to beat them just because he was a bigger name. Jericho lost a lot. He lost to Orange Cassidy twice in 2020. He lost to MJF at Full Gear 2020. He put Eddie Kingston over in 2022. He lost to Action Andretti in hopes it made the young kid a star (it didn’t but the effort was there.) He lost to Ricky Starks twice including at Revolution 2023. He put over Roderick Strong when he first came to AEW. He lost to Will Ospreay at All In London 2023 when Ospreay was still a New Japan Pro Wrestling talent. He put over Powerhouse Hobbs in one of my favourite Hobbs matches. He got beat by Hook twice. Mark Briscoe beat him at WrestleDream 2024. And finally, he lost to Bandido at Dynasty 2025.
Yes, he often got his win back. Yes, some guys didn’t get over after the wins, but that’s on Tony Khan’s booking and not on Chris Jericho. When you look at other veterans in other companies over the decades, how many were that willing to put over younger talent, outside talent, or wrestlers who only had indie backgrounds like Eddie Kingston and Powerhouse Hobbs?
It wasn’t a perfect run, and there were a lot of times Jericho was the worst part of the show, or had the worst match of the night, but it was a good run. I think Jericho’s time in AEW should not be remembered as a failure. Maybe right now all you can think of are the bad times. The time he tried to wrestle Colt Cabana in a well meaning but bad attempt to support Colt over CM Punk. Or the 12 wrestler tag match at Maximum Carnage that had Adam Copeland and Chris Jericho wrestling each other and everyone counting how old they were in the ring. Or that really bad match with Adam Cole only remembered for Sabu doing crazy stuff one last time.
But I also think of the good times. Like Katsuyori Shibata wearing a trash can and smashing into him multiple times. How surprised we were with how good his match was with Eddie Kingston. When he turned the clock back as Lion Heart against Jon Moxley in 2022. The absolute riot of fun that were the Stadium Stampedes. Or when he hit the Judas Effect on this clown.
I think in the end we should remember Chris Jericho as an important grandfather to AEW’s beginning, and an important part of the company for many years, but it was the right time to depart. I don’t miss him on AEW TV, but I do wish we had a better departure. Maybe he gets one after WWE pays him a lot of money to fake retire.
Pop a little bit of the bubbly and have a toast to Le Champion.
