After convincing fans around the world a few weeks back that his affiliation with NJPW was over, and appearing back with the WWE for last week’s Greatest Royal Rumble, Chris Jericho shocked the world once again by appearing at today’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, emerging from the crowd to assault IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito and leaving the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon a bloodied mess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n95S9OFRFPk
Following his loss to Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 earlier this year, Jericho attacked Naito at New Year Dash the following night. The attack, while seemingly unprovoked, had been masterfully set up in the weeks prior, when Jericho and Naito got into a war of the words in the press while Jericho was preparing for his match against Omega.
But after his New Year Dash assault on the LIJ leader, Jericho disappeared from the New Japan landscape and the further it got from January 5’s attack, the more fans and pundits began to wonder if Chris Jericho would ever actually make his return, especially when he failed to appear at NJPW’s next big US show, Strong Style Evolved, on March 25 in Long Beach, California.
But in the weeks before Strong Style Evolved, Chris Jericho responded to a fan asking if he was still with NJPW, to which Jericho responded he was “done”.
@IAmJericho so…..you done with @njpw1972 ?
— howie doin (@bamsevern) March 5, 2018
Unfortunately yes. https://t.co/m7EdG57BzU
— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) March 5, 2018
But it appears that the man who has spent a career working the media and the fans was doing it once again, waiting for the moment that everyone had given up on Jericho ever setting foot back in New Japan and facing a superstar like Naito. But it’s clear now that his run is far from over and that indeed, the recently crowned IWGP Intercontinental Champion is still very much in sights. He was even sporting a new parody shirt that read “Los Ingobernables de Jericho”, mocking the LIJ themselves, as he bloodied Naito in the ring.
While nothing has been announced officially for when this showdown could take place, PWInsider has suggested that it could happen at NJPW Dominion on Saturday June 9.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiWqFKPlSY5/?utm_source=ig_embed
