Chris Jericho details his final meeting with WWE before officially joining AEW.
Jericho's involvement with AEW was long rumored but never official until he showed up as a surprise guest at the AEW Rally. Jericho previously stated that he would not work for another US company that wasn't WWE, although he bent that rule when he showed up at All In in Chicago. Still, many were skeptical that Jericho would go against WWE, until he actually did it.
Jericho took fans behind the scenes of his negotiations with AEW and WWE on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho.
"(Tony Khan/AEW and I) started talking offers. The original offer that came in blew my mind," explained Jericho. "This was a real, almost NHL-level offer, which I had never gotten before. But also knew that WWE could match it if they wanted to. So you start thinking and negotiating. After All In, the shots were fired that 'Jericho said he would never work in the US but now he did.' That was done as a message to WWE."
Jericho continued, "I still gave WWE the benefit. We talked all the way up until a few days before the rally. There was never really an offer given. And I understand the reasons why. I'm not gonna get into it. I understand Vince's mindset, just as he understands mine. We did leave on amicable terms. A couple of things were discussed and both of our sides were happy with the arrangements made and the closure we got. Vince McMahon is my friend. I respect him and we made each other a lot of money. The last thing I wanted to do was do it as a screw job or stabbing in the back. He knew before anybody else that I was going to AEW."
On the same podcast, Jericho compared him joining AEW to him jumping from WCW to WWE in 1999. You can view Jericho's comments here.
