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Chris Jericho-WWE-AEW Update
🕑 Added 2026-01-05 23:21:33 +0000 UTCChris Jericho is a heavy topic in pro wrestling, with rumors of his WWE return running rampant.
To be clear, Fightful has not reported nor confirmed that Chris Jericho will be on Raw tonight, or even that he'll be back in WWE at this point. We can't exactly control what other outlets report, but upon a wave of "Chris Jericho's contract has officially retired" posts from engagement accounts, we wouldn't go so quickly on that.
After All Out 2022, Chris Jericho re-signed with AEW, with the company and was announced as being through 2026. Jericho disappeared from TV in the Spring of 2025. We've heard nothing about if his deal was extended or frozen during that time. However, Jericho is still on the company's roster page. In addition, on Monday a number people in AEW got memos about Mercedes Martinez, Matt Taven and Alex Abrahantes' deals being up. No such memo has went out regarding Chris Jericho.
AEW is usually very particular about their roster page, as indicated by removing the three names who had their deals expire today. We asked AEW reps in an official capacity if Jericho was still with the company, and they did not respond.
We're told that AEW has a great relationship with Chris Jericho, but were also very aware that their audience had grown tired of him, which led to his absence from All Elite Wrestling TV.
When we spoke to WWE sources, they said that Chris Jericho has not been brought up creatively as of yet, and that he was not factored into the plans for tonight's Raw that they had seen. There was the obligatory "It wouldn't be the first time we got worked, too." So far, Chris Jericho has not been seen at the venue of tonight's WWE Raw.
The summary here -- nobody in AEW has been given an indication that Jericho has officially left the company, and sources in WWE have not been told as of yet that Jericho is there, coming in or factored in.
Comments
Matt Hennessy
I will say this one of two things have happened. One which I think is more likely Jericho deal is up in 2026 but it’s closer to the rumble when it expires so technically he’s still with AEW but with them saying break the walls down on social media with Pierce he’s basically WWE bound. Two which I think is less likely or possibly Tony going to throw an insane amount of money at Jericho to keep him in AEW the guy got got stale in his last 3 years in the company & had change the channel heat but TK doesn’t like people leaving for regardless of if there stale or difficult to work with
Distracted Jones
They’ve been teasing “the learning tree” on WWE for months, not just tonight. Probably Rumble return for him if I were a betting person
