Tony Khan Says He Loves Chris Jericho, Calls Jericho ‘An Instrumental Part’ of What AEW Has Accomplished

During an interview with Unlikely with Andrian Hernandez this week, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan was asked about the status of former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho. As previously reported, Jericho has been heavily rumored to be bound for a WWE return, with it being believed that his latest AEW deal expired at the end of last year.

However, Jericho did not return on last Monday’s WWE Raw as some rumors suggested, and he’s still currently listed on the AEW roster page, which Hernandez mentioned to Khan.

Khan appeared purposefully vague about what’s going on with Jericho at the moment. However, Khan did speak at length regarding his affection for Jericho, along with how Jericho has been “an instrumental part” of what AEW has been able to accomplish and “a huge part” of AEW’s history.

Speaking on Chris Jericho, Tony Khan stated, “Well, first of all, I’m really grateful, when I talk about people that have been here from the beginning and talk about that first show in Las Vegas, none of it would be possible without Chris Jericho, who’s been instrumental in AEW from the very beginning.”

Khan continued, “I love Chris very much, and I would say that Chris is always a big part of AEW, and I would say this promotion is here to stay, and Chris Jericho’s a huge part of our history. And we’re really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish, and Chris is an instrumental part of it.”

You can view a clip of Khan’s comments on Jericho, along with a longer video of his full interview on Unlikely, below:

Tony Khan on Chris Jericho’s AEW Status pic.twitter.com/pTRQgJ2RVy

— Adrian Hernandez (@AdrianRadio93) January 7, 2026

The Status of Chris Jericho Is Still a Giant Question Mark

While many fans expected Jericho to be back on Raw last Monday, later reports indicated that the former WWE Champion was never planned for this week’s show. Also, it’s said that Jericho is in Los Angeles this week, while last Monday’s Raw was held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Jericho has been a part of AEW since the company’s inception in 2019. He competed in the main event of the first AEW event, Double or Nothing, beating Kenny Omega. He also became the inaugural AEW World Champion later that year after beating Hangman Page at AEW All Out 2019.