It’s an AEW PPV week, and that means rum- oh, Chris Jericho liked an Instagram post claiming he’s open to a WWE return. That got Jericho’s name trending. Many tribal takes reveal an interesting dynamic.
Many WWE supporting accounts and fans are hyped for the matches and optics. Another prodigal son returns home!
Contrastingly, many AEW accounts and fans aren’t contesting a tug of war for AEW’s first World Champion. Collectively, AEW fans have learned from the realities of war. Those who want to go back to WWE should go. Just look at Miro/Russev as a turning point.
Jericho could be playing the game, teasing and generating speculation, because it’s a contract renewal year. Corey Michaels has already summed up many AEW fans’ feelings that Le Champion has run his course.
Making this a more convincing argument is the long-felt frustration with Jericho. Ironically, Jericho’s refusal to do what he’s always done, reinvent himself, has contributed to apathy that’s lasted over two years.
Yet, part of me thinks the frustration of AEW fans and the nostalgic perspective of WWE fans misses some truths.
WWE: Nostalgia and The Myth of Reinvention
Nostalgia makes us forget the trial-and-error nature of Jericho’s reinventions. Often, they were reactive adaptations rather than planned. Jericho became the suit-wearing, slow-talking, big vocabulary-wielding sadist in 2008 after a face return fell flat.
We remember the list, but forgot Rooty, Tooty Booty. We remember the light-up jacket and scarves, but what about the repetition of Jericho testing things out? Or Jericho losing to the next generation in transparent feuds?
Nostalgia obscures this, but it doesn’t lessen Jericho’s uniqueness or creativity. Jericho’s improv skills, his Protean-like adaptability elevated him. Combined with sporadic appearances that made each run unique, Jericho carved out a new path in an era of dull stagnation. Jericho deserves praise and love for constantly creating those new guises, but they weren’t really redefinitions.
Prepared to Fail
Separately, those different versions of Jericho are like classic records, providing many with warm memories. Stitched together, the overarching character is a Frankenstein’s monster of clashing personalities, attire, catchphrases, and gimmicks. There is little connective tissue or clear character progression in kayfabe. It’s Jericho’s force of personality and uniqueness that unites them.
The problem is that any further attempts by Jericho to reinvent himself are just using the same formula. You can’t reinvent what you have already done. It’s the classic rock band whose new material sounds the same as the old. AEW’s framework inevitably exposed this formula, breaks or not. The exit of Vince McMahon from WWE made the sports-entertainment enemy from within redundant.
In WWE, nostalgia and newness could allow Jericho to find a new guise or riff on the classics. However, if Chris Jericho stayed in AEW, Jericho could do one thing creatively that WWE wouldn’t facilitate.
To do something pioneering.
This pitch could fail on multiple fronts. If Jericho couldn’t fully commit to trying something new and give up the routine of a successful career to do something untested, it would fail. The result could be something new and truly re-inventive. Not just for Jericho, but for wrestling also.
Break The Walls
In 2008, Jericho discussed how Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh inspired his infamous 2008 heel character. At present, seeking inspiration from Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler and the real examples of older wrestlers struggling to accept the end. Differently, rather than playing a character, this final run would be Jericho performing as a version of himself.
Not like on his web show, “But I’m Chris Jericho”. Not toying with fan criticism as The Learning Tree for heat or pops. Rather than being tongue-in-cheek, be willing, like Jean-Claude Van Damme in JCVD, to expose his flaws and warts for karma-related humour.
Break the walls of Jericho to reveal something more real and human. Rather than trying to entertain, just act and react. Follow in the crafted, layered and nuanced character arcs of AEW’s most loved wrestlers like Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, and MJF.
Embrace being hypocritical. Be the veteran who has hung around for so long because they can’t give up the spotlight. Embrace that ageing and learning acceptance of morality. Take what The Undertaker showed in a behind-the-scenes documentary, but in kayfabe.
Wrestling is cyclical and we’ve seen wrestlers who fans wanted become beloved. Last year, fans hated Max Caster’s’ online edgelord behaviour. Now Caster is a weekly attraction. Like with Caster, what starts as a joke can generate sympathy and emotional investment and become treasured once again.
Redefine The Hanger-On Veteran Trope
What if Max Caster’s first clean victory this year was against a returning Chris Jericho? Caster spends weeks bragging, only for Antony Bowens, furthering their feud, to emphasise it’s not the achievement it once was. It leads to Jericho vs. Bowens. Bowens beats Jericho.
Jericho goes on a losing streak. Losing in shorter matches, Jericho is unable/unwilling to acknowledge his limitations. Jericho attempts to reconnect with Big Bill and Bryan Keith. Keith sees that Jericho is washed. They refuse to engage with Jericho.
Jericho’s attempts to win back old allies or form a new faction. The same tricks he’s used in the past fail. Other wrestlers, like Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada, reference not wanting to become like Jericho. Learning from Omega vs Okada’s new chapter, Jericho needs to move from the in-ring spectacle to an emphasis on stronger storytelling.
Jericho’s TV time diminishes. Le former Champion interrupts other wrestlers’ segments and issues challenges to get booked on the card. Yet, Jericho keeps losing. Some wrestlers outright refuse to wrestle him.
Gradually, the man of 1,004 nicknames must grapple with the reality of age. Playing with Jericho’s contract ending could become a narrative thread. Perhaps all leading to one final victory. Or a tag team run with someone, like Sammy Guevarra, with the student stepping up to support their teacher.
Many aging veteran wrestlers have tried to ignore and hide their decline, to our frustration. Allowing instead to allow us to see, feel, and understand in kayfabe what universally happens to all of us when time catches up with us would be a true re-invention of an old trope.
It likely won’t happen.
Ending?
Fantasy booking is flawed. In every “what if” article I write, I emphasise and remind readers that these thought exercises reveal a lot about the now, the past, and our ideas/hopes for the future. They also highlight trends and history. Chris Jericho has name recognition, a strong track record, and, most importantly, options.
Historically, wrestlers want to maximize and preserve or increase their perceived value. Doing something that devalues this and potentially ends a career on a whimper, not a bang, is an unnecessary risk.
Choosing between an arthouse-like project with a definitive end, compared to a Las Vegas-like residency with potential for more, seems an easy choice depending on your priorities, mindsets, and egos. Contextually, wrestling quality in WWE isn’t the same as in AEW.
The story of the jump back in itself would be an instant bang that would allow Jericho to do what he’s always done. Or maybe Jericho will surprise us with another game-changer option. It’s happened once.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on Chris Jericho and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
