Chris Jericho On New Japan Stars He Still Wants to Face
January 3, 2020Chris Jericho may not be done with New Japan after Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Tomorrow night AEW World Champion Chris Jericho will compete on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14 against Hiroshi Tanahashi. The match is a dream match of sorts with one of the best over the last two decades in Japan taking on one of the best of the last two decades in America.
Chris Jericho spoke with Sports Illustrated and Jericho talked about his goals with joining New Japan Pro Wrestling. He talked about working with Tetsuya Naito and how he wanted to face Tanahashi first.
“I wanted to work with Tanahashi last year,” said Jericho. “When I attacked Naito in Korakuen Hall, I wanted to attack Tanahashi, but Gedo wanted it to be Naito, which turned out to be great. This is a main-event, money match, and there is a lot of buzz about it. I just watched the match Tanahashi had with Kenny from last year in the Tokyo Dome, and it was amazing.”
Jericho also stated that he worked with Kenny Omega, Naito, Kazuchika Okada, Tanahashi this weekend and who he would like to face next in New Japan.
“Will I come back after the Tana match? I don’t know. I’d love to work with [Will] Ospreay and [Kota] Ibushi. It might be mission accomplished after this, it might not, but it’s really cool to go back as a main event heavyweight after being a junior heavyweight.”
Jericho also talked about how really if he had never gone to New Japan and had that first match with Omega he may have never landed in All Elite Wrestling.
“This is where I met all those guys [Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks] and rediscovered the creativity of wrestling,” said Jericho. “I always had that, but the WWE is a different style. There would never be a ‘Painmaker’ in the WWE because I’m sure they wouldn’t allow it. There are a lot of approvals needed and that’s the way Vince runs his show and it’s great, but to be completely on my own was an awakening, and that happened in Japan.”
This year’s Wrestle Kingdom 14 event will be a two-night event with Jericho vs Tanahashi taking place as a top match on night two.
To watch Wrestle Kingdom 14 you can do so by signing up for New Japan World or by ordering over on FITE TV.
