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At tonight's NJPW: Power Struggle event, Chris Jericho made his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling and challenged former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Chris Jericho's 2019 run in NJPW
Chris Jericho started off his year in New Japan on a bad note when he lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Tetsuya Naito. Following his IWGP IC Title loss to the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon, Jericho made his next appearance at Dominion 6.9 at the Osaka-jo Hall where he unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
After the match, Jericho continued the assault on Okada, however, it was Hiroshi Tanahashi who came to the rescue for the latter and made the save. This sparked the initial brawl between Jericho and Tanahashi and it eventually led to Y2J challenging Tanahashi at tonight's Power Struggle event.
Jericho challenges Tanahashi for Wrestle Kingdom 14
At tonight's Power Struggle event, Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed up with Kota Ibushi in order to defeat the duo of YOSHI-HASHI and current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.
As seen, during Tanahashi and Ibushi's post-match celebrations, Chris Jericho once again appeared on the big screen with his 'Painmaker' moniker and in a video package, Jericho was seen attacking fans who were rocking out to Tanahashi's music.
Eventually, The Painmaker laid out the challenge Tanahashi for Wrestle Kingdom 14 and claimed that it would be the latter's last match.
What's next for Chris Jericho?
As of now, Chris Jericho is set to shift his focus towards All Elite Wrestling where he is the current AEW World Champion. Jericho is currently scheduled to defend the AEW World Championship against Cody at the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view.
Wrestle Kingdom 14, obviously, is scheduled to take place on the 4th and 5th of January, 2020 and for the first time, WK will be hosted as a two-day event.
