Chris Jericho has explained how a lesson he learned in WWE influenced his recent AEW comeback.
After months of speculation that he would return to WWE, Chris Jericho returned to AEW on the April 1st edition of Dynamite. The Demo God revelled in the reaction from the audience for some time before grabbing a microphone and saying only, “Winninpeg, AEW, I’m home.”
In a new interview with Renee Paquette on Close Up, Jericho reflected on the day of his return and the lengths he went to in order to keep it a surprise. The star says he arrived in his hometown on a private jet and then stayed in a hotel for almost a full day before sneaking into the arena.
“Obviously, we planned it for a while, so it was kind of months in the making, and I actually flew in on a private jet the night before because I didn’t want anybody to see me.
“I scanned the hotel lobby, that was not the TV hotel, to make sure there was nobody in there, and basically I sat in the room for almost 24 hours. I didn’t see any of my friends, I didn’t tell any of my friends I was there. One of my best friends was there, he flew in from Las Vegas for the show, and he didn’t even know I was going to be there, it was a surprise for everybody.
“It was a really cool moment, obviously having the show in Winnipeg, and nobody knew. Tony knew and a few other people but even when I got picked up at the hotel, one of our drivers was like, ‘I can’t believe it’s you.’ I didn’t even take the elevator down to the lobby because it was literally 15 minutes before. I’m like, ‘If this elevator gets stuck, I’m gonna miss it!’ I ran down the stairs, I wasn’t gonna leave anything to chance.
“Then we waited on the street. We drove down to, basically, behind Gorilla, waited in the car until 30 seconds before, got out of the car, and walked right into the arena.”
Jericho went on to explain his decision to keep his promo brief and to the point, saying it was something he learned from Pat Patterson in WWE.
“It was something I learned in WWE, where sometimes you don’t have to say a lot, and that’s why my promo was two words. It’s a Pat Patterson thing, ‘Why throw everything out at once?’ You got the initial pop of being back on the show, let’s leave it and then explain more the following week.
“It was great too because the Winnipeg reaction was great, but it got better in Edmonton, and it got better in Vancouver. It just kept getting better and better and better. I think it was a reset and it really threw a proverbial cup of cold water in everybody’s faces, where nobody really knew what was going on, and then it was done.”
When Did Chris Jericho Decide To Re-Sign With AEW?
While rumours swirled that he was on the verge of a WWE comeback, Chris Jericho made his decision to stay in AEW in 2025. Shortly after Jericho’s return, Tony Khan said that the inaugural AEW World Champion had been a free agent during his lengthy absence, but informed him he was staying with the promotion long before Dynamite in Winnipeg.
