Chris Jericho’s Recent Comments Sounded Like He Was Giving Notice To AEW

A wrestling observer believes that recent comments from Chris Jericho may be another sign that he’s leaving AEW for WWE.

When AEW launched in January 2019, one of its biggest free-agent signings was Chris Jericho. Later that same year, Jericho became AEW’s first World Champion, and many people said he was AEW’s MVP in the first couple of years of the company.

For over five years, Jericho was loyal to AEW. However, he hasn’t appeared on AEW TV since April of this year.

In recent months, it has been reported that Jericho’s AEW contract expires in December, setting up a return to WWE at the 2026 Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia.

There have also been reports suggesting that WWE’s pitch to Chris Jericho would include a match at WrestleMania and a Hall of Fame induction for a man that many fans consider one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time.

While speaking recently on his Talk Is Jericho podcast, the former 6-time WWE World Champion praised TNA Bound For Glory for looking like the second biggest wrestling promotion in the world. Considering Jericho still works for AEW, those comments were fascinating and got a lot of attention.

“That crowd looked huge. It looked huge. It was like a WWE-level crowd. The place was packed. I was watching this, not saying anything out of school here, but comparing it to watching Dynamite when they were at the ECW Arena, which looked like a Tony Candela taping, sorry, it did.

TNA looked like the second biggest company in the world. That was amazing. The presentation was amazing. It looked like a WrestleMania, it really did.”

As wrestling fans know, TNA and WWE signed an agreement earlier this year that has seen the two companies working together, so the perception is that Jericho praising TNA is a sign of his WWE return.

Chris Jericho’s Comments About TNA Sounded Like A Shot At AEW

During a discussion on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez spoke about Jericho’s comments. Meltzer was quick to criticize Jericho’s opinion, but ended up admitting that Jericho likely did it to throw shade at AEW.

Alvarez: “Chris Jericho on his podcast did a long speech about TNA. He had watched Bound For Glory and said that TNA on that show looked like the second biggest company in the world.”

Dave Meltzer was flabbergasted by that and mentioned CMLL’s success in Mexico and other places.

Meltzer: “Arena Mexico three times per week looks better than that, louder than that, you know what I mean. It’s like Arena Coliseo is basically not quite as big of a crowd as they had at Bound for Glory, but not far off. And it’s a louder crowd, you know. I mean…AAA TripleMania, the Juan de la Barrera shows, you know, they’re hotter.

You know, it’s New Japan Tokyo Dome, come on. AEW every pay-per-view looks as hot as that. Well, I wonder what his motive is.

Alvarez: “His motive is he’s going to WWE.”

Meltzer: “Very well may. At best they (TNA) look like the number five promotion in the world for Bound for Glory. I can’t see…although they did look better than AEW when they were at the 2300 Arena. I mean that’s true. But…whatever.

I mean, you know, Chris is a smart guy and I’m sure he’s got his, you know, game plan, and I’m not sure I know fully what it is, but you know. Basically, that was…it got a lot of people talking…it was interesting. You know, it felt, when I first heard it, it felt like he was giving notice to AEW, but I don’t know if that’s the case because, you know, I don’t know what he’s thinking right now.”

Chris Jericho, who recently turned 55 years old, posted a gym selfie showing he’s still in great shape, and looks like he’s ready to step back into the ring soon.

55 … pic.twitter.com/vN43v6NMAv

— Chris Jericho (Social Media Team Managed) (@IAmJericho) November 9, 2025

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