Chris Jericho details his last interaction with WWE before jumping ship to AEW
Chris Jericho recently recalled the last time he spoke to former WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon as AEW offered him a contract.
The Wizard's last official WWE match was when he was the final entrant (50th) in the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia but was eliminated by the eventual winner, Braun Strowman.
Before the Saudi event, Jericho returned to NJPW in November 2017 and started a feud with Kenny Omega. He wrestled in the Japanese promotion for a few more years before joining AEW on January 8, 2019.
In his appearance on AEW Unrestricted, Jericho revealed that when he asked former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon if he could participate in NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 12, the latter quickly gave him the go signal.
The ROH World Champion then talked about AEW President Tony Khan giving him a series of offers before signing with the company. When Jericho called McMahon again, the latter immediately allowed the former to take the deal.
"He [Tony Khan] gave me one offer and I said 'Eh. He [Khan] gave me another one. I called Vince [McMahon]. Vince, through his intermediaries, said, 'Take the deal.' I was like, 'Alright, that's all I needed to hear, so I took the deal," Jericho detailed. [H/T WrestlingInc]
Chris Jericho is the king of reinventing himself! 👑
#AEW #AEWDynamite https://t.co/7GMO9DRUdC
Jericho added that McMahon called him back and the two had another conversation. The former concluded that he was locked in on the AEW deal despite what happened.
Since then, The Ocho has become the inaugural AEW World Champion and the current ROH World Champion. He successfully defended the latter title last night at Dynamite against Bandido.
Chris Jericho on former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon removing his WrestleMania match from the main event
During the same podcast episode, Chris Jericho recalled that Vince McMahon had an idea of him and WWE Superstar Kevin Owens to fight for the world championship at the main event of WrestleMania.
However, the former chairman had other thoughts and placed the Jericho-Owens showdown in the event's second match instead. The duo battled for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 33, and The Prizefighter won.
"Vince [McMahon] told me at one point it was gonna be me vs. Kevin [Owens] for the world title, main event Wrestlemania. First time I'd ever win the world title as a babyface, and the story warranted it. You know 'you deserve it' means nothing to me. The story warranted it, and then he changed his mind. That's fine. I'm a big boy, minds change. But then he put the Kevin-Jericho match on second. And anybody that knows the second match in the shows is not a great spot to be," Jericho said.
.@FightOwensFight and @IAmJericho's partnership was blown to smithereens at the #FestivalOfFriendship. #RAW https://t.co/fKa1XS90fx
Afterward, Jericho worked a couple more matches in WWE before leaving in 2018. He then wrestled for NJPW and currently works for AEW, leading the Jericho Appreciation Society,
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