Chris Jericho On WWE Stars Contacting Him, CM Punk - AEW, Vince McMahon's Reaction To Jericho In AEW

Chris Jericho recently spoke with ESPN and said WWE talents have been reaching out to him about his "Talk Is Jericho" podcast with Jon Moxley that dropped earlier this week, featuring Moxley's comments on why he left WWE.

"I have heard from a lot of people who are working there saying, 'I can't wait to do my version in X amount of months,'" Jericho told ESPN.

Jericho also spoke about his relationship with Vince McMahon, and how Vince felt about Jericho signing with AEW.

"I never had to, because I had a great relationship with the WWE, I had a great relationship with Vince," Jericho said. "I also had 19 years there, 10 of them as a legit main-event, top-level performer who had the trust of Vince to at least try different things. Now, a lot of my ideas he didn't use, a lot of my ideas he did use. But at least I knew what the story was and he knew where I was coming from and vice versa.

"Vince knew about [AEW] the whole time. I didn't just show up in AEW and say, 'Here I am, guys.' It was a conversation that we had, we discussed it and both of us agreed. He was happy for me for taking the contract and I was happy to take it," Jericho continued. "I wonder, in retrospect, if he realizes just how much of a juggernaut AEW is going to be. And that was sparked by Jericho's signing. So it's something that maybe he might think differently about now. But at the time, he was very happy for me and very agreeable to me going and taking this chance."

Regarding CM Punk, Jericho said he's not sure if Punk will ever return to pro wrestling, but he wouldn't rule out AEW if Punk does return.

"If he wants to come back to wrestling, it would have to be for the right reasons -- both on his end and on AEW's end," Jericho said. "CM Punk is a unique individual. Could we use him? Of course we can. Could WWE use him? Of course they could. It all depends on what Punk wants to do and what his attitude is when and if he comes back. Because it's a new world now. It's not a negative world, it's a positive world. Especially in AEW.

"Like I said, if he wants to come in, he'd probably be welcomed with open arms. But I think he would have to kind of prove himself, as he would want to. Because I know him. He's a competitor. He's not gonna come back just for a paycheck or just to be famous. If he comes back, it's because he wants to be here, he wants to wrestle and he wants to prove something. And if he doesn't feel that way, he won't come back. The only person that can answer that question, I believe, is CM Punk himself."