Chris Jericho is back in pro wrestling, and he is back as just Jericho. The former AEW world champion returned a couple of months ago, after reports several months earlier said a move to WWE was being discussed, but when he reappeared in April it was in AEW, where the ring introduction and entrance chyron stripped away his first name.
That small change has turned into part of the story. Commentators and other performers still call him Chris, but Jericho says he likes the idea of what he is doing now and that leaving off the first name has created online intrigue about what he is up to. Speaking about the decision, he said he got the idea from self-titled albums and compared the approach to Metallica’s The Black Album and The Beatles’ White Album.
“Whenever I get asked [what’s his favorite of his wrestling characters/gimmicks], I always say the current version, because if I didn’t then it’d be like ‘what am I doing,’” Jericho said. “I like the idea of what I’m doing now with ‘Jericho’, and by not using that first name a lot, it created this whole intrigue online like, ‘What’s he doing? What’s the reason?’”
The name shift matters because Jericho is not just another veteran trying something new. He returned to AEW after months of speculation about a WWE comeback, and the choice to come back under the same company but under a trimmed-down identity has made the reentry itself part of the act. The company has been using “Jericho” in his entrance and ring introduction since April, even as the people around him keep saying Chris.
Jericho said the idea started with the kind of branding that lets the name speak for itself. “Honestly, it’s like a self-titled album, that’s where I got the idea from,” he said. “So it really is like Metallica The Black Album — you know who Metallica is, you know what’s going on. The Beatles The White Album, same thing.”
He said that is how he is treating this stretch of his career: as a version of himself that he can adjust in real time. “That’s kind of what the idea is for the ‘Jericho’ era, and I like it, I like what’s been going on and going with the flow, seeing what’s working and what’s not,” he said.
Jericho’s decision leaves little doubt about where he is focused now. After the WWE chatter, he came back to AEW, and the name change is not a teaser for a switch so much as a branding choice built around curiosity, recognition and control. For the moment, the answer is already on the screen: he is calling this phase Jericho, and he appears content to let the rest unfold under that name.
