Chris Jericho is Headed to Japan for Epic Wrestling Showdown
Chris Jericho is one of the hardest working men in show business. He's a wrestler, a rock and roll frontman, an author, a podcast host, and even a luxury cruise promoter. But, no matter what hat Y2J wears, the guy is absolutely amazing. But, of all the things he's done and accomplished, he just signed on to do something I never thought we'd ever see, wrestle in a dream match at the second largest wrestling event in the world!
For the first time since August of 1999, Chris Jericho will be performing in a ring not owned by the WWE. Which is huge in its own right. But to make things even bigger, he'll be wrestling arguably the biggest name not working in New York, Kenny Omega. And as a little extra cherry on top, it'll take place at the Tokyo Dome January 4th in Japan at Wrestle Kingdom 12 for New Japan Pro Wrestling for the IWGP US Title.
NJPW, for those that don't know, is the second biggest wrestling brand in the world and their Wrestling Kingdom events are the Japanese version of Wrestlemania. The crowd is roughly 70,000+ people strong and typically features some of top notch action. In the past, Wrestle Kingdom has brought us wrestling classics such as AJ Styles v Shinsuke Nakamura and Kenny Omega v Okada (on the Dave Meltzer rating system, both matches received some of the highest ratings and praise of the past decade).
Jericho, for all that he does, is still widely regarded as the best wrestlers in the world. Kenny Omega is considered the best wrestler not performing under the WWE brand. And, coincidentally, both guys are from the same place in Canada and have similar real life back stories.
The match itself should be outstanding and potentially could bring tons of new ideas to a product just now starting to make waves in America. I know I'll be throwing down $9.99 a month for New Japan World (NJPW's version of the WWE Network) to watch the build up and Wrestle Kingdom.