Chris Jericho has been one of AEW’s biggest stars since the company first launched in 2019, but recently there’s been a lot of talk about Jericho’s future with the company. Jake Hager worked closely with Chris Jericho in AEW as he was a member of the Inner Circle and the Jericho Appreciation Society.
During a recent appearance on Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge, Jake Hager talked about his run with AEW and he also said that he thinks everything changed after Cody Rhodes left the company in 2022. Hager noted that it seemed like AEW was not important to Tony Khan at the time, and he also claimed that Khan ghosted Chris Jericho for a few weeks.
“I think everything changed after [Cody] left because he was involved with it and after that, it just kind of became a free-for-all. Young Bucks and Kenny still had a big say in what they were doing. Chris obviously still had a big say in what he was doing, but even Chris, he would tell me that Tony would not respond to his messages for like two weeks.
“It became a point where either AEW is important or it’s not. It just seemed like it was not to him. They stopped doing production meetings. They stopped doing anything to make the show timely. We would be waiting around to 5 p.m. to find out what we were doing that day. What live television show does that? Only one with money behind it.”
Hager also credited Chris Jericho for being the one who got him signed to AEW when he added, “The only reason why I got signed with AEW is because of Chris Jericho, so I’m very thankful for that. Tony wanted nothing to do with me because I was from the fed and he’s an indie darling guy, and I dare you to argue with me about that. He wants flips and hamburgers and hot dogs and not storylines.”
Chris Jericho’s AEW deal is expected to expire at the end of the year and you can get the latest on what people in AEW are saying about his potential departure here.
H/T CSS