Chris Jericho held a press conference on Tuesday in Japan about his upcoming Wrestle Kingdom 12 match with Kenny Omega as the build for their Jan. 4 match has picked up considerably over the past week. On Monday, Jericho appeared at a New Japan event to ambush Omega in the ring and hit him with a Codebreaker.
After that attack, it was only a matter of time before Omega retaliated, and considering Jericho won’t be making appearances in the ring until their Jan. 4 match, he had to get creative about where he could fight back.
Jericho’s press conference provided the perfect opportunity, and towards the end of the over-30-minute-long press conference, Omega stormed the table where Jericho was talking and started beating him down before a host of wrestlers ran into the room and pulled him off. The entire sequence is pretty great and it fires up Jericho into delivering an absolutely incredible promo afterwards.
The part where Jericho picks up the table and launches it at Omega and everyone holding him back is hysterical.
He launches that thing and Omega takes it straight to the dome (as does the poor guy trying to push Omega off the stage). After Jericho gets some punches in, the two are separated as he screams at Omega to come at him, which like, he just did, Chris. After settling himself down a bit, Jericho returns to the stage to finish his press conference by cutting an awesome promo (him ripping the microphone off of the podium was tremendous).
“This is gonna be a match that you’ve never seen in New Japan,” Jericho says. “This is not about 5 stars, 7 stars. It’s not about how many times you can go for your finishing move. This is a fight. It’s a war. It’s Alpha vs. Omega. And Kenny, you are going to get the sh*t kicked out of you. You understand me. You get it! I’ve been in Japan 60 times. This match at the Tokyo Dome is the most important match I’ve ever had in Japan — what are you laughing at f*ckface, shut your mouth.”
Then Jericho goes full Jackie Moon in promoting the match for about 30 seconds, and it’s delightful.
“I am the best in the world. I am the greatest of all time and I’m going to prove it January 4 at the Tokyo Dome. We’ll see you there. Don’t miss this match, cause you’ll never see it again in New Japan. Ever. Dream match. Alpha vs. Omega. One time only. Tokyo Dome. January 4.”
Remember when The Rock and John Cena fought a Once in a Lifetime match at WrestleMania and then did it again literally a year later? Great stuff from WWE. I feel like this match way more earnest in saying it’s “one time only.” Anyway, Jericho wasn’t done. He then declared, after lots of heavy breathing, this would be Kenny Omega’s last match in Japan.
“Kenny Omega. It’s time for the Cleaner … It’s time for the Cleaner’s career to be done. January 4 will be Kenny Omega’s last match in the Tokyo Dome. It will be Kenny Omega’s last match in New Japan. Write that. Write that down. His last match. Ever. Kenny Omega is finished in Japan.”
Then he wrote it in a reporter’s notebook to make it official, because once it’s written on a sheet of paper it becomes truth. This match is going to be fantastic and this is some incredible promo work out of Jericho.
