I Still Can't Believe Chris Jericho Wasn't In WWE's Royal Rumble, And The Latest Update Doesn't Fully Explain It

The Royal Rumble has come and gone, and while there are many gripes about who was and wasn't involved in the men's match, I'm still hung up on Chris Jericho. His return to the WWE was supposed to be the worst-kept secret in wrestling in the new year, and yet we've now had two events pass, and he's no closer to his return than he was when the rumors first started.

Now, we have some answers behind why Jericho wasn't at the Rumble, but they don't really explain the situation in full to me. Here's the latest being reported, and why I'm still a bit miffed at the situation overall.

The Reason Why Chris Jericho Wasn't In The Royal Rumble

A new report from Fightful Select gave the latest on Chris Jericho's no-show, and left us with the question of whether he was ever expected to show at all (via wrestlingnewssource.com). Per the report, Jericho is still listed on the roster page over at AEW, which, based on experience, would lead insiders to believe that he's still under contract.

The speculation right now is that Jericho's contract was either extended or it was not up at the end of 2025, like previous rumors stated. All this to say, it looks like the dirt sheets were wrong, though I feel like there's more to the story than someone getting the date wrong.

This Doesn't Line Up With The Rumors We Read Previously

WWE has alluded to Chris Jericho rejoining the company as far back as August, with nods to the wrestler happening on Monday Night Raw and elsewhere. We all know the wrestling company loves to fool its audience, but what does Triple H and co have to gain from using Adam Pearce and others to lead us to believe Y2J is coming back?

It leads me to speculate that wrestling fans weren't the only ones who expected Chris Jericho to be returning to the WWE in early 2026. Of course, AEW likely isn't keen on losing one of its big gets from the company when he jumped ship, so there could've been tweaks to his contract to delay his eventual jump as long as possible.

I want to believe something of that nature happened, where it was initially assumed Jericho would appear at the Royal Rumble, and then the situation changed. Otherwise, the wrestling community ran wild with an unsubstantiated rumor, and the WWE also took part in it despite knowing it wasn't going to happen. Not sure I'd want that to be true, so I would love some more context on this situation as we march ahead to WrestleMania.

Perhaps Chris Jericho will shock the world and show up on Monday Night Raw, which streams live on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET for those with a Netflix subscription. I'm not holding my breath at this point, and maybe even losing interest in the possibility of him returning at all.