Chris Jericho, AEW Agree to 3-Year Contract Extension Through December 2025
Chris Jericho agreed to a contract extension this week that will keep him in AEW for at least the next three years.
According to Joe Otterson of Variety, the extension runs through December 2025 and will expand Jericho's backstage role to include producer and creative advisor. He will also mentor young talent on the roster.
Jericho was the inaugural AEW world champion, and he currently holds the ROH World Championship, making him one of only two wrestlers to hold world titles in AEW, ROH and WWE, along with CM Punk.
When asked why he decided to sign a three-year extension with AEW, the 51-year-old veteran said:
"I guess the simple answer is 'Why not?' Things have been going so well in the company, and I really do feel that this is my company. It's tattooed on my heart, so to speak. I've been here since Day One, and there's really no reason not to be here continuing forward.
"When AEW first started, I think basically it was Chris Jericho and a group of very talented people that might not have been as well known. Within three months that changed and now within three years, we've got at least a dozen, maybe two dozen, of our own homegrown stars that came into their own on AEW television."
AEW President Tony Khan also commented on Jericho's new deal and new set of responsibilities, saying:
"Chris Jericho long ago cemented his legacy as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and we're fortunate to have his skills, charisma, knowledge and insights in AEW for years to come. Chris has discovered a fountain of youth this year, and he's having some of the very best matches of his legendary career against some of the top names in wrestling. In expanding his responsibilities, he'll continue to serve as a valuable leader with our roster having the opportunity to utilize one of the most creative minds in the history of wrestling."
When Jericho initially signed with the upstart AEW promotion in 2019, it sent shockwaves through the wrestling world since he had worked on and off with WWE from 1999 through 2018 and long maintained that he didn't want to go anywhere else.
Jericho was AEW's first huge star and first world champion, and he was largely leaned on to carry the weekly Dynamite television show and pay-per-views for the first year of the company's existence.
Along with the development of non-WWE stars like Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Hangman Adam Page and MJF, AEW would eventually beef up its roster by signing other former WWE performers as well, such as Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Punk and many others.
Jericho's star power and name recognition undoubtedly played a significant role in giving AEW credibility during its early days, and AEW is seemingly trying to make lightning strike twice by having him lead the ROH brand after Khan purchased ROH earlier this year.
The announcement of Jericho's contract extension comes just days after AEW announced an extension for Moxley as well.
Moxley's extension is five years in length through 2027, and much like Jericho, it will expand his role to include working more closely with young talent as a coach and mentor.
AEW already had a strong foundation, but with two of its linchpins in place for the foreseeable future, it should continue to thrive as an alternative to WWE.
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