Former WWE Champion open to taking up a backstage role in AEW

AEW has several former WWE Champions on its roster, including Jon Moxley, Adam Copeland, and Bryan Danielson. Several former WWE titleholders also work in other roles in the promotion, including Taz and Dean Malenko. Now another major star has revealed a potential AEW role following their pending retirement.

Chris Jericho began training for his pro wrestling career in 1990, a few months before his 20th birthday. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and is often praised for constantly reinventing himself and staying relevant. The 53-year-old is an AEW Original as he has been with the company since day one, and is the current FTW Champion.

The Learning Tree recently told The Daily Star that he has no interest in retiring any time soon as he loves going to work and loves contributing, and sees no reason to stop. He was asked what his post-in-ring career might look like.

"You can already see it... I still have the live element of touring with Fozzy. I've been doing a lot more acting recently, with a lot more role offers. That's always something I wanted to do, and it seems to be more frequent. So, I'm probably going [in that direction], but who knows, man? You never know. Staying in AEW in a backstage position or more commentary, which I gave up doing Rampage because the character of The Learning Tree, I didn't feel would be great doing commentary," Chris Jericho said. [From 30:10 to 30:45]

Jericho continued by saying that he gave the Rampage commentary spot to Matt Menard when the role no longer fit his own character. He joked that no one really knew Daddy Magic until they worked together, and then talked more about his future in the industry.

"I could do some more of that stuff, there's a million things I could do. The in-ring physicality would stop, but I don't think I'd ever stop being involved in the wrestling business in some capacity because it's all about the experience you have, and there's so many different things you can do in the business besides just appearing in the ring... I could probably have almost as big of a career outside the ring as I have inside the ring, when that time comes," Chris Jericho said. [From 30:51 to 31:15]

Jericho is scheduled to defend the FTW Championship against Hook at All In next Sunday. If Hook loses the Last Chance match, he will no longer be able to challenge for the title as long as Jericho is champion.

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Chris Jericho set for big AEW Dynamite match

AEW will debut in Cardiff, Wales on Wednesday for Dynamite and Collision tapings. The Utilita Arena will host the go-home shows for All In.

FTW Champion Chris Jericho is set to face "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington in a non-title match on Dynamite. This will be the first-ever match between the two. AEW said the veteran is looking to teach a lesson in violence to the second-generation grappler.

Billington is the nephew to the late "Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington, who passed away in 2018. Tommy and his brother Mark team together as The British Bulldogs. Dynamite will mark Tommy's third AEW match as he debuted in May with a Collision loss to Dax Harwood, then was defeated by Konosuke Takeshita on Collision in July.