Chris Jericho Reveals WWE's Vince McMahon Could Have Stopped Him From Signing With AEW

Since signing with All Elite Wrestling, Chris Jericho has maintained his status as one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling today. Upon leaving WWE, he reinvented himself yet again as The Painmaker, taking inspiration from A Clockwork Orange, KISS, and Bruiser Brody. This allowed the leader of The Inner Circle to become AEW's first-ever world champion and he has since gone on to hold the title for 159 days.

However, Le Champion may never have ended up in AEW, as Jericho recently revealed on a recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast that Vince McMahon had the opportunity to keep him in WWE. McMahon ultimately told the seven-time world champion to "Go" to the young promotion, which led to Jericho signing with them. WWE's CEO seemingly regretted his decision, however, as he later asked The Painmaker if he had a clause that would allow him to get out of his new contract.

Despite now working for different companies, Jericho did admit that he still has a good relationship with McMahon, adding "I love Vince."

Jericho said: "I'm not in AEW because I was a rebel. I'm in AEW because Vince went 'Go' and then when I went, he went, 'Did you sign the contract?' I said 'Well yeah.' He said 'Can you get out of it?' ‘No, you told me to sign it!'"