02/16 Raw in Memphis Sparks Chris Jericho’s WWE Return Rumors with a Mystery Crate Delivered to Adam Pearce

A mystery box was delivered on this week's Raw, leading fans to believe that Chris Jericho will make his WWE return out of it at the Elimination Chamber.

02/16 Raw in Memphis Sparks Chris Jericho’s WWE Return Rumors with a Mystery Crate Delivered to Adam Pearce

Chris Jericho WWE rumors intensify on Raw [via- WrestleZone and Wrestle Ops]

Something that happened on WWE Raw this week has once again gotten the Chris Jericho return rumors rolling. When the cameras cut to backstage, a crew member was seen taking GM Adam Pearce to smarten him up on a consignment that was delivered to the arena in Memphis. It was a giant crate, which had “DELIVER TO WWE” and “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 02/28/26” written over it.

Pearce asked if his name was also on it, which turned out it wasn’t. The general manager of the flagship WWE show told the crew member to load the box back into the truck and send it to SmackDown for Nick Aldis to deal with. That could only mean that WWE will highlight the mystery crate this Friday as well before the eventual reveal at the Elimination Chamber PLE on Saturday in Chicago.

The netizens have had a field day with their respective theories about who could end up coming out of the crate when it’s time for the reveal. Chris Jericho‘s name has been constantly brought up on social media, with the fans arguing that only someone like him could plot his return to WWE in such a dramatic fashion.

‘Y2J’ debuted for the Stamford-based promotion in 1999 in Chicago itself, which is the host city for Elimination Chamber 2026. It could all come full circle for the 9-time Intercontinental Champion. As things stand, the 55-year-old is still listed on the official AEW roster page. It might stay that way until Jericho shows up in WWE, for which he’s been rumored since the start of this year.

WWE has maintained interest in bringing ‘Y2J’ on board since it was reported that his AEW contract was going to be up in late December. Many fans were expecting him to land on the 1-year anniversary episode of Raw on January 5. When that didn’t happen, everyone considered it a foregone conclusion that Chris Jericho would be the No. 30 entrant in this year’s Royal Rumble match, but to no avail.

WWE to honor AJ Styles’ legacy on next week’s Raw

Another interesting story coming out of this week’s Raw was that WWE will hold a tribute show for AJ Styles in his home state of Georgia next Monday. ‘The Phenomenal One’ was forced to call it quits on his in-ring career in WWE after losing to Gunther at the Royal Rumble. Since then, there’s been rampant speculation regarding his future and whether he would head somewhere else for a brief run.

AJ Styles could re-sign with WWE
AJ Styles could re-sign with WWE [via- Cageside Seats]

Styles’ current status with WWE is being kept private, and he was believed to be negotiating a new deal with the company as of last week. Both parties held talks in the lead-up to the Gunther match as well, but couldn’t agree on terms, and it’s an ongoing process.

With WWE set to honor the legacy of ‘The Face That Runs the Place’ on next week’s Raw, it has started to feel like an overture for Styles to put his wrestling boots back on and set up a WrestleMania match. This would take a great deal of hashing out the minute details to make it compelling for the fanbase after Styles couldn’t keep his WWE career intact at the Royal Rumble.

Some fans are expecting Gunther to disrespect Styles on next week’s Raw to such a degree that ‘Mr. TNA’ comes out of retirement to settle their beef once and for all. Or nothing of that sort would happen, and WWE will simply run video packages at regular intervals during the show.

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