Contrary to my first article of the year… AEW is once again Jericho.
Chris Jericho has made his return to All Elite Wrestling. To be fair he never left the roster page.
It seemed like a foregone conclusion after Jericho disappeared from AEW TV programming that All Elite Wrestling just wasn’t going to use him anymore as his contract expired. There was word that due to Chris Jericho missing some time that his AEW contract was extended, and it’s possible that extension might have ruined when other companies may have wanted to use him. Mike Johnson of PWInsider stated that the general belief backstage is Jericho and AEW came to terms on a new deal.
One of the most interesting things said was Dave Meltzer stating that WWE sources said fans should not expect Jericho in WWE, “any time soon, if ever.” It’s hard to tell if that’s about the contract he signed with AEW or if that’s due to the negotiations between WWE and Chris Jericho.
Lot of Baggage
Chris Jericho making his return to open AEW Dynamite in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and still having to goad the fans into cheering louder for him was a bit disappointing to see. This is the first time since Jay White came to AEW that someone who felt bound for another company ended up popping up instead here. With Jericho it’s a return but it’s still a pretty big surprise.
The problem is you can see online that the reaction is less, “Welcome back” and more, “What is he going to ruin?” There’s fears of this being the olds taking back television, with Hurt Syndicate and Cope and Christian also making their returns recently. AEW is getting serious momentum and now all of the old vets want their piece of the pie.
The reality when it comes to Hurt Syndicate and Cope/Christian is they were always going to make their returns, and when it comes to Cope and Christian this feud with FTR has been planned for years. AEW isn’t going to just cut bait with guys they’ve invested millions into. It’s a hard lesson for a lot of people to learn but AEW President Tony Khan really cares about making sure the old guard is treated well in All Elite Wrestling. While there’s limits to everything (Jeff Jarrett and his quest for a title was definitely a limit) Tony is always going to try to do right for wrestlers in the twilight of their careers.
Where Tony sometimes misses the mark is the exit, and he originally missed the mark on Jericho’s exit. It wasn’t proper business. I don’t think everyone needs the Sting ending. I don’t think they even need the Bryan Danielson ending. But they do need an ending. It’s disappointing that Lucha Bros. never got that one last feud in AEW where maybe they could lose and move on with their heads high. Cody Rhodes just abruptly left after a TNT Championship ladder match against Sammy Guevara. Wrestler just appear and one day leave. I was really hoping we got better when it came to the first AEW Men’s World Champion and now we got that opportunity.
Does it suck that an old guy who has been on TV for the past 30 years is going to take time again? Yeah, I understand that. I really do. I’m not crazy about this either. But I want to see Jericho handled right in his exit. I want that rematch with Hangman Adam Page. I want closure.
Make It Work
In Jericho’s previous run he was obsessed with proving he could reinvent himself into something everyone would want. He was also obsessed he could hang with the best in the company. That obsession is why he was The Learning Tree and why he was once again hanging around the ROH Men’s World Championship against Bandido.
I think Chris’ heart was in the right place. He thought he was building Bandido up, giving him credibility, and giving him a spotlight. He wasn’t trying to be the top of AEW and hasn’t for quite some time. He’s trying to make it work in other divisions. At 55 years old it’s really hard to compete at this level. It’s hard at 45. There’s even 35 year olds who can’t make it in AEW and the responsibility to the level of work you need to do. Jericho, at 55, can’t hang with the best in AEW. But he can make the effort.
That effort is going to have to be smartly handled. Jericho can’t be trying to prove he can wrestle at the level of Bandido and Konosuke Takeshita. He needs to go a different route. He should actually lean on the fact he’s a veteran and with his experience becomes wisdom in the ring.
Jericho needs to figure out how he can contribute to the show and tell whatever his final stories in the ring will be without it feeling like he’s trying to still hang with the best. He needs to figure out a different way, and that different way needs to be less about his own ego and more about elevating the company. There’s lessons he can learn from Sting in sticking to what you do best and what the fans want to see, but Sting is a different beast from Chris. Jericho was always about being one of the top wrestlers in the world. Sting is a force of nature.
A New List
I have always wondered what would be retirement for Chris Jericho.
It’s a tainted name and someone is going to say this is an ugly parallel but I always pictured him as the new Pat Patterson. Patterson was valued for his brain in the business for coming up with finishes and understanding which wrestlers should be valued and which ones should be used to just put over the valued wrestlers. His wealth of knowledge was leaned upon when needed.
We already know Jericho has done a lot backstage helping wrestlers out with promos and programs and I think that will end up his high value. I don’t know if he goes on commentary like he was testing at one point. Jericho the manager I feel would take too much attention away from the wrestlers he’s trying to manage.
One of Jericho’s best values is he’s one of the few guys AEW can get on radio row. Hollywood and media tend to reject pro wrestling but Chris Jericho gets on the lists. He can get on interview shows talking about All Elite Wrestling so it’s a job that doesn’t just fall on Tony Khan. I still feel like more wrestlers need to be doing these but I do think access is a struggle. Jericho can do those interviews.
If it was up to me I would be sending Chris Jericho and Adam Cole (if he’s physically capable to do the travel) all around the world to promote All Elite Wrestling. They should be the spokespeople for the product.
I think if Meltzer is right that Jericho is never returning to WWE? It can’t just be because AEW froze his contract and WWE felt like they missed some important days for him to make his return. I think something fell apart in the negotiations that made Jericho realize AEW was the best place for him to end his career. As he said, “I’m home.”
If AEW is home then this run should be about ending the story of Chris Jericho the wrestler so Jericho and the company can transition to Chris Jericho in the office. He can build the authority to be the person Tony can trust to send so Tony doesn’t have to be everywhere. It’s cool that Tony Khan was in Windsor, Ontario, Canada for the MLP/ROH Global Wars show but that’s a job Chris Jericho can do.
The Last Countdown
How they end that story of Jericho the wrestler? I’m not sure. We got a lot of retirements coming up for AEW. It feels like Adam Copeland has maybe a year left in his career. I’m sure him and Christian Cage (who I hope doesn’t retire with him) will get their big moment at a pay per view in Toronto. Jericho feels like something different. Or rather, I hope it’s different. If he rejected the WWE offer because it was nothing but a retirement then Jericho likely wants to go a little longer before getting into that.
I don’t want Chris Jericho declaring to win the AEW Men’s World Championship or Jericho taking up one of the lesser singles titles. I don’t know if I even want him doing Trios matches. I think you can tell specific stories with Jericho against opponents that fit him best. I think they need to do a Big Bill versus Chris Jericho angle. I think David Finlay, who wrestled a lot like Jericho did in New Japan Pro Wrestling, would work fantastic against Jericho. Honestly Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors as well. I think when Josh Alexander is healthy he would be a good guy to go up against Jericho. I also like him against Ricochet and think those two could tell a great story.
One of the main guys I’d love to see against Chris Jericho? Shane Taylor. I think that’s the sort of guy you can throw out there to interrupt Jericho, beat his ass, and say he’s taking his spot. Maybe you can’t go all the way to a pay per view with that but maybe you can.
I also wonder if we will see Tommaso Ciampa go up against him, a fresh feud that could feel like Jericho is being a gatekeeper to Ciampa.
I know I named a lot of midcarders and guys down the card, and hear me out on this last one. Swerve Strickland? I know he’s in title contention, but until MJF is no longer champion he can’t get in the title picture. It also makes no sense for him to try against Mox or Okada. How about Chris Jericho? The two have yet to ever wrestle against each other, and it can lead into Hangman Adam Page’s return.
Again, that’s the match I want more than anything. I think it’s also well set up since Page can’t go after the AEW Men’s World Championship for the time being, so give him a major feud with a big name who probably shouldn’t be in that either. Jericho was the guy who beat Cody and ensured he could never do it again. There’s a lot at play, especially All Out 2019. Honestly if there’s a guy who should be Jericho’s final match in AEW? It’s Hangman Adam Page.
Bittersweet
It really felt like what would have made the most sense was Chris Jericho going to WWE, getting the Hall of Fame induction, getting the big pop, and then getting retired by Gunther. Even if it all happened? He could have still come back to AEW and did this run.
But that’s not what happened. He’s back in All Elite Wrestling. The handling of this final run will be very interesting, and I understand those who are expecting the worst. The floor for this is not high. It has a lot of possibility of going terrible.
I just also think AEW fans have a tendency to worry way too much. How can you go for weeks saying AEW is on a roll, so hot, unstoppable, and then one Chris Jericho return makes you depressed and imagining the worst? You can’t imagine the best? You can’t even imagine, “this won’t hurt” you have to go all the way to the worst scenarios?
I think there’s some good that can be done here, and the most of the good comes from ensuring Chris Jericho has the right ending in All Elite Wrestling. This is a guy who meant so much to the start of the company. It won’t happen with Cody Rhodes unless that happens a decade from now. Jericho they can do it right. No, it’s not spotlighting the best wrestlers. No, it’s not focusing on your prime wrestlers. All things I’ve complained about in the past.
Am I being soft about Jericho? A little. I won’t lie. But it’s not because I accept everything Jericho does as great. It’s because I think this is a living legend, 55 years old, who started as the first AEW Men’s World Champion, helped carry the company in the pandemic, and never got to leave on the best of terms. Now he can. And that means something to me.
I don’t think every wrestler deserves this. I don’t think it should be promised. But for a guy with the career of Chris Jericho, both for all of pro wrestling and what he means to AEW? I want to see it end the right way. And yes, I also hope it’s good too. If it ends up Chris Jericho and Adam Copeland doing a thousand yard stare with less than 1,500 people in Ohio for a main event? I’m not going to ignore it or excuse it. Jericho needs to know his limitations. I’m just also not going to go in expecting the worst.
Chris Jericho is back in All Elite Wrestling. For wrestlers 55 and up, I think about Genichiro Tenryu and Dr. Wagner Jr. as the greatest of all time at that age. If Jericho can make it to their level or better? That’ll mean we’re watching one of the greats still be one of the greatest ever. I’m going to always try to keep that perspective going forward.
