Tony Khan has not been shy on bringing former WWE talent to AEW since the company launched in 2019.
The likes of Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, Paul Wight and Claudio Castagnoli are amongst the big names to have made the move and Khan recently confirmed that he is attempting to encourage another former WWE Superstar to step into an AEW ring.
Tony Khan Pushing Chris Hero For In-RIng Return
Chris Hero has not stepped into the ring since March 2020 when he competed in NXT United Kingdom. But that could be set to change if Khan has his way.
Khan was recently urged by a fan on Twitter to return Hero to action and confirmed that he hopes to do just that:
I'm chipping away on him.#AEWRampage
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 8, 2023
I’m chipping away on him. #AEWRampage
Chris Jericho revealed back in September 2021 that Hero was strongly considered to be used as a Labour Of Jericho.
Jericho was set Five Labours by then rival MJF in order to obtain a match with his foe, which Jericho successfully passed before succumbing to a submission defeat in their eventual encounter.
Speaking to Stephanie Chase at the time, Jericho confirmed that Hero was one of the options considered for the angle:
“The original plan was going to be the four guys from The Pinnacle. That’s what we had kind of done with Moxley when he beat me for the title where he had to go through the whole Inner Circle. It was MJF who had the idea for us to use Nick Gage. I had never heard of Nick Gage prior to Dark Side of the Ring. It intrigued me that maybe he brings in some bounty hunters. I still wanted it to start and end with Pinnacle because that was the story. Start with Spears, end with Wardlow. That was always the plan. It was never the plan to go through this memory lane of Jericho’s friends or opponents.
We thought the Nick Gage deathmatch would be cool. We were trying to think of another guy and one idea was Chris Hero. A couple of other names were thrown around. I thought Juventud Guerrera would be a good idea because he seemed to fit. It seemed like a good idea to have one guy from my past in there. I didn’t want to make it a bunch of guys from my past. ‘It’s gotta be Lance Storm.’”
Hero competed in NXT as Kassius Ohno for two different spells. He made his name in CZW and Ring Of Honor. He also won the ROH Tag Team Championship as one half of The Kings Of Wrestling alongside Claudio Castagnoli.