Chris Jericho Denies Ever Leaving AEW Despite Contract Gap

Chris Jericho is pushing back on months of speculation that he nearly walked away from AEW, insisting he never actually left the company despite a lengthy absence from television.

Jericho vanished from AEW programming in April 2025 and stayed off screen for close to a year. As his contract neared its expiration, rumors swirled that he might jump back to WWE, the company he left behind to help launch AEW in 2019. Those whispers died down when Jericho resurfaced on AEW television in April 2026, and he’s now offering his own explanation for what happened in between.

Appearing on the Beef Vegan podcast, Jericho said he weighed his options once his deal ran out, but never considered himself gone from the promotion he helped build. “You weigh all your options, but I have skin in the game with AEW,” he said. “I helped create AEW, and I was never gone. I was just off TV for a while, while we figured out some stuff. Basically, I ended one contract and went straight to the other one. I like Tony Khan as a boss. I like AEW as a company and the growth that we’ve done.”

Jericho leaned into his status as one of AEW’s founding stars to explain why he re-signed rather than returning to WWE. “WWE existed before I was there. It exists after I was there. AEW will exist after I’m there, but it didn’t exist before I was there,” he said. “It’s more exciting to be with the company that I helped create.”

It’s a notable comment given Jericho’s history. He was one of AEW’s first marquee signings back in 2019, arriving as a proven main-eventer whose jump from WWE lent instant credibility to the upstart promotion. Tony Khan has repeatedly pointed to Jericho as a foundational piece of AEW’s early success, and Jericho clearly still sees his role in those terms — less as just another performer on the roster, and more as someone with a permanent stake in the company’s identity.

The timing of his comments also lines up with his return to in-ring form. Jericho brought back his “Painmaker” persona for a No Holds Barred match against Tommaso Ciampa at AEW Redemption in Montreal, and he singled that match out as one of the best-received moments on the card. “Did I ever think I would be doing it at 55? No, but do I not think of doing it?” he said. “You look at the match on Sunday; as crazy as it was, it’s still a great match and probably one of the best matches on the show from the standpoint of fan reaction. Why would I want to step away from that?”

Jericho declined to put a firm end date on his career, saying he’ll keep going as long as he still feels capable of delivering that kind of performance. “I still enjoy doing it and still can do it at a level that is show-stealing,” he said. “It could be another week, it could be another two or three years. I don’t want to do it forever, but as long as I feel that I’m still happy with the work that I’m doing and not second-guessing myself, then I’ll continue to do it.”

For a company that’s faced plenty of turnover and outside interest in its top stars, Jericho’s public reaffirmation of loyalty is a meaningful data point — and a reminder that even six years in, AEW’s original architect still sees his future tied to the promotion he helped will into existence.