Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho hasn't been seen on AEW programming in almost a year as fans continue to speculate as to whether he'll return to the company, or make the jump back to WWE. After a new report emerged on Wednesday ahead of "AEW Dynamite" that Jericho is speculated to be returning to Tony Khan's company, perhaps sooner rather than later, veteran wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer offered further information on social media. According to Meltzer, he was told by WWE to not expect Jericho in the company at all."Regarding Jericho, I was told a week ago from WWE not to expect him in WWE any time soon, if ever, regarding rumors going around of him starting in WWE & AEW, both of which were out at the same time when he filed for the trademark," Meltzer wrote on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of "Dynamite," which will take place from Jericho's hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Jericho filed a trademark for the name "The Cornerstone" last week, making fans suspicious of his status once again. It was reported back in February that "Y2J" was still "firmly" under contract with AEW, and his deal might have possibly been frozen as he took time off.Rumors and speculation of his return to WWE had run rampant when the calendar turned to 2026, as many people believed his AEW deal was up, which was reflected in reports at the time. Fans thought he may return on the "WWE Raw" one-year anniversary episode on Netflix, or at the Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, or that he was even the person in the mystery box that was shipped between "Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" that was revealed to be Danhausen at Elimination Chamber.
