Chris Jericho was off AEW programming for roughly one full year before he made his surprise return on the April 1 episode of Dynamite. The rumor mill went back and forth on Jericho’s status during the months leading up to his pro wrestling return, including a period where it sounded like he was a lock to return to WWE instead of AEW.
In a new interview with Ringer Wrestling’s David Shoemaker, the 55-year-old AEW star was asked to address how real the rumors were about possibly jumping ship to WWE.
Chris didn’t give a direct answer, and instead focused on how fans created facts in their own minds about the situation.
“Well, the interesting thing about fans, and going back to what we said earlier about having a career where you can watch anything online, is that fans, in this day and age, then form their own opinions, and then it becomes law. Because the opinions spread. So, whatever people believed or didn’t believe, it’s like, I was not ever a part of any of it. You know what I mean?
I think the best part is there was so much speculation of what is he gonna do, that either way, with the tribalism of wrestling nowadays, there would be people happy about it, and not happy about it, and this is the worst thing ever, and this is the best thing ever.
I’ve never really focused on that side of like ‘This is terrible’ and ‘It’s never gonna work.’ Because to me anything can work, and you always want to do your best to make it work. I focus on the people who are excited about things, and the people who want to be entertained, and want to be happy, and want to have fun. That’s kind of the crowd that I focus on.”
Jericho was given one more chance to directly say how close he was to returning to WWE, or if he was always going to return to AEW. Chris dodged again and said he’ll offer more details at a later time.
“No, I never said the rumors became fact. I said that the rumors became fact to the fans. But yeah, I’ll leave that for another day. I like the idea of the intrigue.”
Were you excited about the rumors of Chris Jericho returning to WWE, or did it sound like the worst thing ever? Are you happy that he’s back in AEW, or do you think it’s never going to work? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
