Chris Jericho allegedly wanted controversial WWE veteran fired from AEW because his position was jeopardized, says veteran

Chris Jericho has been seen as one of the locker room leaders of AEW since its inception. Having been in the business for over three decades, Le Champion knows what's best for the business.

That being said, he's reportedly willing to do a program with a returning CM Punk despite everything that went down at the All Out media scrum last year.

Jim Cornette has reacted to the rumors and shared his thoughts on the possible heat between the two men.

Jericho and Punk have clashed on personal levels over the last few months. While The Wizard anointed him a locker room cancer, Punk didn't hold back as he called the JAS leader a liar and a stooge.

But as things stand, the company has set up a meeting for these men to hash things out and gauge whether the two parties are interested in working together.

Speaking on the Drive-Thru podcast, Jim Cornette asserted that Jericho tried to be an opportunist when all hell broke loose after Punk's media scrum comments:

"But as you'll recall, there's been some ill will between them [Punk and Jericho] as well. Not only I think there's some issues stemming back to when they were in the WWE, but more specifically, as soon as this whole thing happened in September, Jericho immediately tried to side with the kids [The Elite] because, hey fellow kids, he's become a kid himself," Cornette said.

Cornette also explained why Chris Jericho seemingly wanted CM Punk out of the company:

"Cancer, yeah. You gotta be fired. You got to go because Punk being there was the guy that was keeping Jericho from being the biggest name...Because he was right there to help pick up the pieces and pat Tony on the back and say, 'Don't worry Tony, Punk screwed you around, but I'll always be here as long as you pay me millions of dollars a year for the next 10 years until I'm 60 something," he added. (0:45 onwards)

---

What's next for Chris Jericho in AEW?

Only time will tell whether CM Punk and Chris Jericho will turn their real-life beef into must-see storytelling. But as of now, The Wizard seems to have ignited a feud with Adam Cole en route to the Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

Last week, Chris Jericho defeated Keith Lee after Swerve Strickland clobbered his former partner's head with a weapon toward the end of the match.

In the aftermath, Adam Cole came out to check out Lee and stared daggers through the WWE legend to close out the show.

In the forthcoming episode of AEW Dynamite, Cole and Jericho are set to come face-to-face to address their issues with each other.

With members of The Jericho Appreciation Society likely to loom large, it will be interesting to see what tricks the Panama City Playboy has up his sleeve this Wednesday.

---

(If you use quotes from this article, please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and credit the Drive-Thru podcast)