Bully Ray dislikes Chris Jericho’s decision to re-sign with AEW, arguing that the AEW fans have treated him badly.

Jericho made a surprising return to AEW on “AEW Dynamite,” squashing rumors of him potentially returning to WWE. The decision to rejoin Tony Khan’s promotion has not gone down well with his friend and former WWE colleague Bully Ray, who believes that the AEW fans don’t deserve him.

“I hate it,” began Ray on “Busted Open. “That fanbase, the majority of that fanbase, has been shi**ing all over Chris Jericho for a long time now. The AEW fanbase does not deserve Chris Jericho.”

Ray asserted that AEW isn’t the right move for Jericho at the moment and feels that the fans cheered for him just because he didn’t sign with rival promotion WWE, hinting that they could boo him again in the future. 

“The amount of AEW fans who have shown how two-faced they are, who completely bashed Jericho, booed Jericho, bad-mouthed Jericho, to the point where he had to come off of Twitter, now singing the praises of Chris Jericho because he stayed with AEW. And they’re not singing the praises of Chris Jericho because they love Chris Jericho or appreciate Chris Jericho. They’re just doing it because he didn’t go to the WWE,” he added. “I’m not a fan of Chris staying with AEW. Chris has done everything that he possibly could have done organically in AEW. Who is he going to work with now that is going to be such a big deal in AEW?”

When host Dave LaGreca replied that Kyle Fletcher could be one AEW star who could have a feud with Jericho, Ray brushed it aside by stating that it would be just a six-month rivalry and that he wouldn’t have anyone else to fight with after Fletcher. The WWE Hall of Famer said that he is pleased for Jericho, and AEW CEO Tony Khan for securing Jericho’s contract, but doesn’t believe it benefits Jericho, the performer.

The April 3 edition of “WWE SmackDown” disappointed fans following the reveal of Pat McAfee as Randy Orton’s mystery caller, but it seemed to bring in fans as it delivered the highest viewership of 2026. 

“SmackDown” witnessed a big jump in the average viewership for the April 3 edition, with viewership growing to 1,508,000 viewers, from last week’s average of 1,308,000, “Programming Insider” reports. This is the first time since September 2025 that the blue brand has crossed the 1.5 million mark in viewership. The last few weeks has seen viewership climb for the Friday night show, with the March 20 edition coming close to breaching the 1.5 million number, averaging 1.44 million. 

While the average viewership saw a 15% increase from the previous week, “Wrestlenomics” reported that the key 18–49 demographic rating doubled that growth, rising by 30% week over week. The rating for the April 3 show increased from 0.33 to 0.43, which is also significantly higher than the four-week average of 0.31. This is by far the highest rating for “SmackDown” in 2026, and the highest since the aforementioned September 5, 2025 show, which garnered a 0.51 rating. The show ranked #4 on cable, behind NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament games that aired at the same time.

Last week’s WWE SmackDown was a stacked show that began with Pat McAfee and Randy Orton attacking Cody Rhodes, who later came out and cut a passionate promo. The show also featured tag team and United States Championship matches, with Damian Priest and R-Truth holding onto the former, while Sami Zayn defeated Carmelo Hayes to keep the latter.

Finn Balor was thrown out of Judgment Day, a betrayal led by Dominik Mysterio, but he still has a lot of respect for the former Intercontinental Champion.

Balor, despite what Mysterio has done to him, has praised the young star for his progress but joked that it will be embarrassing for Mysterio when he beats him, even calling himself his “stepdad.”

“We got a big match at WrestleMania coming soon. Dirty Dom. Like whatever’s happened between us, like hats off to the kid. He’s an incredible talent,” said Balor on the “Talk’N Shop Podcast.” “But what’s worse than getting beat up by your dad? Getting beat up by your stepdad. [laughs]”

The former Judgment Day star went on to praise Mysterio but warned him that he will be facing one of the best in the business — himself — when they meet at WrestleMania 42, where he stated that Mysterio will have to rise to the occasion.

“Look, say what you want about like his character in the ring, but like he’s done things the right way. He’s learned on the job, like he learned on Raw, which is like the most high pressure environment you can be in, in the business. That’s where he kind of like learned the biz and he’s an absolute credit to the business. He’s a credit to himself,” Balor added. “But he’s going to have to step in the ring with one of the greatest wrestlers of all time at Wrestlemania. So he’s going to have to prove himself again.”

Balor and Mysterio will face off against each other for the first time in a singles match at “The Show of Shows.” The match was reportedly set to take place last year, according to reports, but WWE held off until this year’s WrestleMania, with it now scheduled for Night 2 of the show.

WWE is zooming towards WrestleMania 42, with just a few weeks away from the marquee event, but the anticipation for the show seems to be gaining at a snail’s pace, going by the viewership for the March 30, 2026, edition of “WWE Raw.”

The show featured several of WWE’s biggest names, including Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, and Cody Rhodes, as well as surprise appearances by Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. But, that didn’t seem to boost viewership, as Netflix revealed that the show garnered a total of 3 million views over a seven-day period, just 100,000 more than the previous week’s show. 

The show, according to the streamer, received a total of 5.5 million hours viewed, which is the same as the previous week but less than the March 16 edition, which also had 3 million views but recorded 5.9 million hours viewed. The red brand, though, continued to be on Netflix’s top 10 charts for the week, registering at #5 in the US charts, while it was the sixth most-watched show globally on Netflix for the period between March 30 and April 5. 

Since the start of the year, viewership for “Raw” has ranged between 2.5 million and 3.2 million, with the first show of the year reaching a high of 3.2 million. Meanwhile, since the 2026 Royal Rumble, “Raw” has averaged 2.9 million views. Next week’s show will be the final stop for the Monday night show before WrestleMania 42.