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WWE legend Chris Jericho has signed with All Elite Wrestling, the new wrestling company funded by the billionaire owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC.
On New Year’s Day, after months of rumours, Cody Rhodes announced that he was launching a new promotion called AEW.
As reported by the Wrestling Observer, the company is headed up by Tony Khan, a lifelong wrestling fan and the son of Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham owner Shahid Khan.
At the time, we only knew that Cody’s Elite stablemates The Young Bucks, ‘Hangman’ Adam Page and Brandi Rhodes were involved.
But AEW held a rally in Las Vegas on Tuesday, promising some major announcements. And they did not disappoint.
Tuesday, January 8th @IAmJericho made history by signing with @AEWrestling, now hear what he has to say – @BustedOpenRadio 10:30am Today!! #AEW pic.twitter.com/0t8vhqMvdZ
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 10, 2019
At the end of the rally, Chris Jericho appeared to reveal that he was signing with the new company.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsZO9hMl82X/
Jericho has currently been making occasional appearances in New Japan Pro Wrestling, including their massive Wrestle Kingdom show on January 4th. He also started dressing like a goth dad.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsOyieNl82j/
Other big names announced include Newcastle-born star Pac, who wrestled in WWE as Neville.
https://twitter.com/IssitaMarie/status/1082806062628196355
Attitude Era star Billy Gunn is also on-board as a producer.
#AEW #DoubleOrNothing Rally @AEWrestling first producer @RealBillyGunn pic.twitter.com/jsRlgshjQm
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 8, 2019
Other names announced include independent talent Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Joey Janela, Penelope Ford and Scorpio Sky, as well as Japanese stars Cima and T-Hawk.
AEW will hold their first show ‘Double Or Nothing’ on May 25th in Las Vegas. Apart from a show at the 15,000 capacity Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on a date still TBC, no other live dates or TV tapings have been announced so far.
Cody Rhodes and co have been rumoured to be launching a new company several months.
On September 1st, 2018Rhodeses and The Young Bucks held an event called ‘All In’ in Illinois, that included some of the biggest non-WWE talent from around the world. It was attended by 11,263 fans – making it the first non-WWE wrestling show to sell over 10,000 tickets in the United States since 1999, and caused shockwaves across the pro wrestling world.
According to Forbes, Shahid Khan is the 217th wealthiest person in the world, so this would be the first time since the 1990s that the WWE would have faced any competition with that kind of financial backing.
