The Winnipeg return that felt like a reboot
Chris Jericho finally stepped back onto AEW television on April 1, 2026, ending a hiatus that lasted nearly a full year. The crowd in Winnipeg ate it up, because of course they did, but let's be honest about the mechanics here. Returning a major star to boost ratings is a classic move, yet AEW's current booking feels like it is stuck in a loop of nostalgia rather than carving a new path.
As Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner noted on the latest All Elite Conversation Club, the promotion is currently obsessed with stacking Canadian shows with Canadian talent. It is a brilliant strategy for short-term pop, but it reeks of a company trying to patch the leaks in the ship rather than fixing the hull.
The creative treadmill is accelerating
The reliance on Kenny Omega to anchor Dynamites is becoming a massive crutch for the promotion's creative team. If your show needs a specific set of guys to function, you don't have a wrestling company, you have a regional circus that happens to have a cable deal. We saw this reliance manifest in the build to WrestleMania 37 years ago, and frankly, the industry hasn't learned much since.
Jericho’s return, while entertaining, brings a massive question to the surface: what is left for him to do? Speculation regarding his next opponent is rampant, but throwing him into another mid-card feud feels like a waste of a legacy act. If he isn't elevating a younger talent, he’s just taking up airtime that could be used for guys who actually have a future beyond the next fiscal quarter.
Where the booking misses the mark
The persistent absence of several key stars, as reported by WrestleTalk, continues to leave gaping holes in the weekly product. Bringing Jericho back is a band-aid on a gash that requires stitches. The promotion needs to stop leaning on the rolodex of 2019-era main eventers every time the needle dips and start building something that doesn't feel like a trip down memory lane.
There is also the matter of the long-term storytelling, or lack thereof. We are 14 days away from WrestleMania 41, and while the WWE machine is humming, AEW seems content to play local-hero bingo in Canada. It’s fun for the people in the arena, sure. But for those of us watching from home, the lack of a coherent, long-running narrative is glaring.
The return was confirmed on April 1, but by the time the calendar hits late May for Double or Nothing, the novelty will have expired. If Jericho is back in the ring just to work pointless tag matches or three-way scuffles, the engagement will plummet. We’ve seen him work the veteran angle before; we need something fresh, not just a victory lap in his hometown.
Booking shouldn't be about who is available in a specific time zone. It should be about who forces the audience to pay attention. Right now, AEW is doing the former and praying for the latter to happen by accident.
