AEW is the place to be for Jericho and he spoke about his backstage role.
Since the launch of All Elite Wrestling, Chris Jericho has been with the company and is their first AEW World Champion.
Present day, Jericho is the head of the Jericho Appreciation Society (Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, Anna Jay A.S., Tay Melo, Jake Hager, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker). In the fall of 2022, Jericho signed a three-year contract extension with AEW and as he was speaking to Daily Star, he does not see a reason why he wouldn’t end his career in the company.
Jericho added that he has no desire to ever go back to WWE and that is not out of bitterness or anger, but he just views AEW as the place to be.
I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I don’t hold a torch for WWE. To me, that’s not ‘the place to be’. AEW is the place to be. It really is. I’ve been in WWE. I know how it works. They work that way, I don’t care if Vince is there, Hunter is there, or whoever is there. They have a way of doing things, and I was there for 20 years and was pretty good at it. I like the way we do things at AEW better… so I don’t know why I wouldn’t want to finish my career in AEW. I never thought that I wouldn’t finish my career with WWE, but things happened, and I was just like, ‘I want to go to Japan and do this match’ and it opened up a whole new world for me. It was like, oh my gosh, this is the fun side of wrestling again! Business is business and there’s always ups and downs, but I have zero interest in ever going back to WWE. That’s not out of bitterness or anger. I love Vince and I love Hunter and all the people there. But I just really dig AEW, and I have a stake in the game. I came here right out of the gate – I was the guy. Besides Jim Ross, there was nobody that had really been on television on a national basis other than me. I take great pride in that. I started here, why would I want to walk away? There’s so much more that we can do. The sense of accomplishment is massive.
Speaking about his backstage role, Jericho helps with pre-tapes and does several per show. He does not view himself as an agent or anything akin to that. He wants to be an on-screen character and does not know if he can completely transition to strictly a behind the scenes role.
Do I help with backstage pre-tapes? Absolutely. I probably do two or three of those a night, and maybe that’s kind of where I go to. I don’t really see myself as an agent, I’m more of an in front-of-the-camera kinda guy. So, we’ll see. I don’t know what the future of me in wrestling is. I could quit tomorrow, or I could quit in six years, I don’t know. I’ll worry about that when it happens. Right now, I do enjoy the backstage role of helping guys and girls out with their interviews and promos. There’s a lot of stuff I do backstage at AEW. When we have Dynamite, I get there at 1 and leave at 11 or 12 – it’s non-stop, all the time. That’s fun for me, but to exclusively do just that? I don’t know. I still like being part of the show.
When it comes to future accolades such as the idea of becoming world champion again, Jericho said if that’s not the goal then one should not be in the wrestling business.
He expressed that he does not need the championship to be in the main event and is currently enjoying what he’s doing on television.
Do I want to be world champion? If you don’t, you shouldn’t be in the business. But do I need to be? Probably not. I don’t really need a belt to be in the main event so as long as I can continue to tell stories that help grow the show, the talent and me… I just think that I’m really happy with what we’re doing. My biggest goal is to see us continue to build this amazing universe.
Next up on the docket for Jericho is a singles match against Ricky Starks at Revolution. To read Jericho’s thoughts about the program with Starks, click here.
