Ever since AEW formed earlier this year, one wrestler has been heavily linked with signing with the promotion, CM Punk.

With Punk now confirmed for Starrcast III in Chicago, the speculation about him joining AEW is hotter than ever since AEW's All Out event in Chicago on August 31 takes place during the same weekend.

Chris Jericho, however, believes AEW doesn't need the former WWE Champion, as the demographic which he provides is not the demographic which AEW is fighting for.

Jericho said during an appearance on Collider Live!, via Cageside Seats: “I haven’t been asked about CM Punk [by the Executive Vice Presidents]. Do we need him? No. Would it be a huge pop to get him? Yes. I don’t know, man.

"I don’t know what his attitude or mindset is, but I think our roster is jam packed right now. So, we’re not looking to headhunt WWE. We never were. That’s one of the things that’s funny about the guys getting all this - the double salaries and all that stuff.

"We didn’t want to be WCW in ‘98 or IMPACT/TNA in 2011 where you’re just bringing in old WWE guys. We don’t want that. We have enough guys that no one’s ever seen before. And that’s what we want to do."

Jericho added that one of the main differences between AEW and WWE is that AEW is focusing on the younger demographic by giving their younger talent who are in their early 20s an opportunity.

He said: "We have a lot of young guys like Jungle Boy, MJF, both of those guys are 23 years old. That appeals to a different demographic.

"My daughters are 12, don’t like wrestling - but they like Jungle Boy. They love Riverdale, they love Luke Perry, they like Jack Perry. They like the fact that there’s a young guy, good looking guy, but they’re almost in the same age group - or at least they can have a crush on a 23-year-old kid.

"WWE doesn’t have 23-year-old kids. They put them in NXT and five years later, when they’re 27 or 28, they come up.

"We wanted to focus on the younger demographic which I think is missing in wrestling. The teenage heartthrobs that they used to have in every wrestling territory up until the last ten years in WWE.”

AEW is doing everything they can to make themselves a viable alternative to WWE, and in Jericho's eyes, Punk is not needed in order to achieve that goal.