Chris Jericho has confirmed that All Elite Wrestling previously pursued AJ Styles when his contract was available, while also reflecting on his own longevity and concerns about the modern wrestling style.
Speaking with GamesHub, Jericho acknowledged that AEW had serious interest in Styles and praised him as a performer, but questioned the logic behind retiring from one company only to join another.
“There was a time when we were going after him when his contract was up,” Jericho said. “Could he be a good fit? Of course he would be. AJ’s a great performer and a great guy. But there is something to be said for the fact that when you’ve worked in the Vince McMahon system for a long time, you think differently. There are ways WWE runs their company, and there are ways AEW runs theirs. I’m not going to speak for AJ, but I don’t know why you’d retire in one place and then immediately go somewhere else. That said, I’m sure it’s always a possibility.”
Jericho then turned to his own career outlook at age 55, noting that while he still has time left, he is unsure how long he can continue.
“What worries me about the guys working today is here I am at 55, 35 years in, with still some career left to go,” Jericho said. “I don’t know if it’s a year, two years, four years. I’m not sure. But I don’t know how many of the guys working now will have the option to go 35 years. Hopefully all of them. But you can already see what serious injuries do. A bad neck surgery changes everything.”
He emphasized that the increasing focus on physicality could shorten careers if not balanced properly.
“The longevity may be harder to sustain when there’s so much emphasis on the physical at the expense of charisma and character,” Jericho said. “The guys who figure out which moves are worth the risk are the ones who get the longevity.”
Jericho also recalled a defining early-career moment that changed his approach to risk in the ring.
“I was in León, Mexico, did a dive over the top rope, and the guy who was supposed to catch me just stepped aside,” Jericho said. “Landed on old-school bolted-down arena chairs. I messed up my arm, and I thought, oh, I could actually get hurt doing this. After that I started getting smart about which moves were worth the risk.”
