Wrestle Kingdom 13 is coming up soon, with only the two Road to the Tokyo Dome shows left before NJPW‘s biggest event of the year. However, we haven’t seen one half of one of its biggest matches, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho, since Power Struggle, and his challenger, L.I.J.’s Tetsuya Naito, is getting frustrated.
Despite being bloodily brutalized by Jericho in one of his now-signature surprise attacks earlier this year, Naito said backstage on December 9 that he was expecting and looking forward his rival to making an appearance at the show. He teased that he might have to make the first move because “maybe [Jericho] just needs a slap on the ass.” Last night, said slap was delivered in the form of a self-recorded promo first released via Naito’s Twitter account. A subtitled version was later uploaded to NJPW’s English-language YouTube channel.
Highlights include:
- Naito continuing to doubt that Jericho is actually an international superstar
- Saying a true star wouldn’t use the type of makeup Jericho as being wearing (with visual aid by Naito) because “If he used make-up, he would do it cooler, wouldn’t he?”
- Taking offense at Jericho’s L.I.J./WWE crossover t-shirt, also too tacky for a real star
- Saying nobody else in NJPW wants to face Jericho, so again, he really can’t be that famous
With this provocation, it’ll be interesting to see if Jericho responds with just another video or strikes again in-person on the Road to the Tokyo Dome or a press conference. So far he’s only clapped back about those makeup comments by retweeting this:
What you buy // What you get
Naito wants to be @IAmJericho so badly that he doesn’t realize that the makeup looks awful on him 🤷🏻♀️😂 pic.twitter.com/SSsD0mFqtI— Paula (@BlazeofBones) December 11, 2018
