Chris Jericho Says Wrestle Kingdom 12 Match May Have Been the Most Important Of His Career

– Chris Jericho spoke with Inside the Ropes and discussed his match with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 and more. Highlights are below, courtesy of Wrestling Inc:

On people’s doubt that the match would live up to expectations: “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. 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**king luchador in his first match, he knows how to work, timing, and all that sort of s**t.”

On telling a good story during the match: “I’m not going to take a dragon suplex off the top rope, that doesn’t make it a good match. That makes it risky and stupid. You don’t need that s**t. 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.'”

On the reaction to the match: “When I see all the results, ‘five star match,’ ‘match of the night,’ ‘match of the year’ candidate. Hey, everybody likes to hear that, I like to hear it. More importantly, it made me laugh at the people who didn’t think I could keep up, but I’m also a 27 year vet of the wrestling business and a disciple of Vince McMahon. And what’s the most important part of a match? Okay, five stars is great, did it make money? And the answer to that is f— yes, a s— ton of money. Through an extra 15,000 people buying tickets for the [Tokyo] Dome, through a 250% increase on the New Japan World subscriptions. That’s all money and specifically because of Jericho’s involvement with the company, which means more money for me, which is what the business is all about. … [It] made millions of dollars, that might be the most important match I’ve ever had at 47 years old.”

On taking Omega’s One Winged Angel onto a chair: “The one winged angel on the chair really hurt. I’m not saying it hurt like a joke, it really f—– me up. It hurt my back to where there’s something still not right, but whatever, I can never take that move again. I can never take the powerbomb on the apron again from Kevin Owens, it hurts, and wrestling is not supposed to hurt like that.”