Many of the wrestlers who helped establish AEW as a legitimate new promotion were talent formerly employed by WWE. One such veteran from the sports entertainment juggernaut, Chris Jericho, was involved in an intense rivalry with the legendary Shawn Michaels almost seventeen years ago. So heated was their feud, in fact, that during one confrontation Y2J ended up inadvertently punching the Heart Break Kid’s wife!The story begins in 2008, when Michaels found himself in the crosshairs of Batista shortly after he had “ended” Ric Flair’s career at WrestleMania 24. The DX member defeated The Animal at Backlash in a singles bout that was officiated by Chris Jericho. After he was confronted by the future inaugural AEW World Champion about having faked a knee injury in order to overcome Batista, Michaels beat Jericho at Judgment Day the following month.The program reached a greater intensity after The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla turned on and brutalized HBK on RAW in June, defeating him a month later at The Great American Bash. Later, at Summerslam 2008, Michaels revealed that he was retiring from competition alongside his wife Rebecca Curci Hickenbottom. Unfortunately, Mr. WrestleMania was confronted by Jericho once again, and eventually the latter, despite trying to take a swing at Shawn, accidentally struck Rebecca instead.Michaels renounced his retirement in the aftermath, and exacted revenge on Y2J at Unforgiven 2008. In another rematch at No Mercy, however, this time for the World Heavyweight Championship, Jericho retained against HBK.Almost seventeen years later, Jericho is signed with AEW as one of the promotion’s most illustrious names, whereas Michaels serves as the Senior Vice President of Talent Development and oversees NXT’s creative in WWE.AEW’s Chris Jericho on a potential WWE returnDespite his contributions to AEW’s growth as a pro-wrestling entity, a number of fans often clamor for Chris Jericho’s WWE return. Speaking on the subject at the Horror, Rock & Wrestle Fest in Manchester this past April, The Learning Tree revealed that the prospects of his going back to the Stamford-based company would depend on his professional situation at the time.”I would have considered a return to WWE before things changed. I mean, you鈥檇 be crazy not to consider it,” said Jericho. “It just depends on what the situation is and what鈥檚 going on with me at the time. We鈥檒l see.” [H/T: SEScoops]Jericho has been missing from AEW television since walking out on his proteges, Big Bill and Bryan Keith, two months ago.