On October 18th it was announced that Chris Jericho had signed a new contract with All Elite Wrestling. The official press release stated that Jericho had put pen to paper on a new deal which would see him stay with the company until December 2025 while taking on an expanded role as a producer and creative advisor.
However, it has now been reported that there could be slightly more to the new contract than first meets the eye.
Chris Jericho’s New Contract Is Not Simply An Extension
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio Dave Meltzer explained that the new deal is not strictly a contract extension as previously thought. Jericho’s new deal won’t begin until January 2023, in place of the final option year of his existing contract.
“The deal there it’s not… I know how the press release was written like it it was a contract extension and it was not. It was a completely new deal. Chris’ contract was gonna be up in January 2024, and essentially he is on his original contract which has three years and a two year option. So he had until January 24, 14-15 months left. So he will be on the original contract until the first week of January, and then his new contract which he signed, which is a new three-year deal, I don’t know if it has an option year, but it’s a three year deal.
I know they actually said December 2025 but it’s actually January 2026 when the new contract would expire.”
Meltzer added that although he wasn’t aware of the numbers involved, the deal makes sense for both AEW and Chris Jericho. For AEW it means having another big name star locked into a long-term deal during negotiations for their new TV deal. Jon Moxley recently signed a new contract of his own for a further five years.
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