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What’s the story?
During a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, new IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho spoke about his loss to Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 and why it remains as the most important Pro Wrestling match of his career.
Jericho, who is also a former six-time WWE World Champion, revealed which moves he is apparently not willing to use anymore inside the squared circle.
In case you didn’t know…
This past Saturday at NJPW’s Dominion 6.9 event, former nine-time WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho became an overall 10-time IC Champion when he won the IWGP Intercontinental Title for the very first time in his career, from now-former Champion Tetsuya Naito.
The heart of the matter
At this year’s NJPW: Wrestle Kingdom 12 show at the Tokyo Dome, Chris Jericho competed in his return match for New Japan Pro Wrestling, in a losing effort against current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega in a No Disqualification match.
Jericho, despite being in his 40s, did manage to keep with Omega’s tremendous pace throughout the IWGP US Heavyweight Title bout between the two men and while speaking with Inside The Ropes, Y2J also addressed the doubters who initially thought Jericho would eventually fail to keep up with Omega’s fast in-ring style.
"I was laughing to myself when we were getting ready for the match and people were like 'Jericho, can't keep up with Kenny Omega. How's he going to do the New Japan style?' What's the New Japan style? Good wrestling is the style," Jericho said. "I don't have to keep up with anybody. I'm Chris Jericho, I dictate the pace of the match as does Kenny Omega. He's not a f------ luchador in his first match, he knows how to work, timing, and all that sort of s---."
Additionally, Jericho also noted that performing some high risk moves inside the squared circle during a particular match isn’t going to make the match five stars and rather what matters the most for Y2J is the storytelling throughout the entire contest.
"I'm not going to take a dragon suplex off the top rope, that doesn't make it a good match," Jericho responded. "That makes it risky and stupid. You don't need that s---. I wanted a good story, I wanted to come out of the gate, I didn't want any rest holds. I wanted a high spot in the beginning and work this storyline. We went 35 minutes, I didn't know how long it was going to go and when it was done, I was like, 'That was really, really good.'"
What’s next?
Chris Jericho is currently expected to make his first IWGP Intercontinental Championship Title defense against Tetsuya Naito’s fellow LIJ stablemate Evil, sometime later this year.
