Chris Jericho Leaves Door Open for Future WWE Return

Chris Jericho made waves on Tuesday when he closed out All Elite Wrestling's fan rally in Jacksonville with the announcement that he had signed a full-time contract with the new promotion.

The former Undisputed WWF Champion has done several interviews since the announcement, the latest being with radio personality Chris Van Vliet on Saturday. At one point during the interview Jericho was asked if he'd ever return to the WWE now that he was no longer apart of Vince McMahon's company. Jericho said it was possible, but fans would have to wait a while to see it.

"Well, I mean, maybe in three years I might go there or be associated with them or whatever," Jericho said. "But for right now, for the next three years, it's AEW. That's where I'm signed, and that's the contract that I have.

"My career, I never expected it to go this long," he added. "Then 2016 came around and the thing with Kevin Owens started, which was just ridiculously popular. Suddenly Chris Jericho's name value is bigger than ever. Then the opportunity to do Alpha vs. Omega, Kenny vs. Jericho at the Tokyo Dome. Suddenly from a business standpoint now Jericho is making a difference to help this company in New Japan make some real inroads in the States. Then, like I said, all these other things happened to where I had this great year in Japan, it was only supposed to be one show but then I signed on for three more matches. Then the cruise comes up and I need a main event for that, so I do that match. I never really expected to still be wrestling but to be wrestling at the highest of levels with my name bigger now than it's ever been, who knows, man? I don't ever really think about what I'm going to be doing in the future. If I finish my career with the WWE or AEW, my time in WWE is cemented, if I go back or not. It's not like it was back in the day when you're black balled for life and 'you'll never hear the name Chris Jericho again.' It's not like that. So whether I go back or not, I mean, I'm still always a part of the WWE, for sure."

In a separate interview with Busted Open Radio, Jericho said he reached out to McMahon prior to announcing his signing with AEW.

"A lot of that stuff is private but I did have a very amicable conversation with him," he said. "He knew what I was doing it wasn't a surprise. I didn't just show up in Jacksonville and that was it. The bottom line is the Khan family isn't messing around. They want to make a go at this and you know they have a lot of money and they have a lot of capital."