Csonka: The Genius of Jericho, Drink It In Man

Welcome back to column time with Larry! I am here to talk about the blockbuster announcement that Chris Jericho will challenge Kenny Omega on January 4th, 2018 WrestleKingdom 12. I hope that you enjoy today’s column, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Love him or hate him, you have to respect the drive and business acumen of Chris Jericho. He busted his ass for years, made it to WCW and then got signed by WWE. He overcame the odds (and WWE size bias) and became a true superstar when many said he couldn’t do it. The man then started a band, which so many people said would fail, but his love, drive and hard work took a vanity project and turned it into a pretty successful group. Jericho became such a big star that he was able to leave WWE on his own terms and pursue outside projects, and keep his star power in the business. Jericho also earned the respect of Vince McMahon to the point that he has been able to come and go to WWE as he pleases, enjoying a lot of creative freedom and doing things on his own terms. And there was no bigger example of that with his newest announcement.

It was announced at last night’s NJPW Power Struggle 2017 event that Chris Jericho will challenge Kenny Omega on January 4th, 2018 WrestleKingdom 12. After IWGP US Champion Kenny Omega successfully defended his title against Trent Beretta, Omega joked that this was the time that his next challenger would appear to set up his next match. Chris Jericho appeared on the big screen claiming that many have claimed to be the best but that he had beaten them all. Jericho then challenged Omega for a match at WrestleKingdom 12, which Omega accepted. Jericho and Omega have been going back and forth on Twitter, with many assuming that they were setting up a match for the Chris Jericho cruise.

You have to give Jericho a ton of credit, he’s always been a troll, teasing about various things on social media to rile up fans, but always claiming he’d never work anywhere but WWE. He’s always had his outside projects, but no one saw this one coming. Trolling Omega on Twitter and appearing to set up a match on the Cruise of Jericho was a great way to get attention, to piss off the Omega fans and divert people from the real objective, WrestleKingdom 12. Jericho makes his NJPW return on the biggest show of the year, in one of the top matches on the card with one of the hottest stars in the business. It’s quite the personal accomplishment at age 46. Add onto that the fact that he’ll likely get a big offer from Vince to work WrestleMania (and WWE may possibly try to lock him into some sort of downside deal to stop this from happening again), and this looks to be a genius play by Jericho.

You also have to give NJPW a ton of credit, this is a huge get for them for their biggest show of the year. They have made themselves an extremely desirable destination for talents all over the world. The company wants to expand globally, and a move like this shows that not afraid to be aggressive about becoming a worldwide powerhouse. Love the move or hate it, question if Jericho can keep up with Omega all you want, but in terms of looking to score more US subscribers to New Japan World for their biggest show of the year, it’s a great move. Jericho coming in as a special guest, to work with a top guy may be the gateway reluctant fans need to check out and or invest in NJPW. If you want to make an expansion work, and become an actual worldwide powerhouse, moves like this are needed. With the addition of Jericho, the WrestleKingdom 12 card looks like this…

– IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
– IWGP IC Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay “Switchblade” White
– IWGP US Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Marty Scurll vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3K vs. The Young Bucks

We still have more to build to, the tag titles, the six-man titles and NEVER Openweight title match just to name a few. I think that the addition of Jericho is huge in terms of growing a fanbase, I think NJPW stepped outside the box and did something pleasantly unexpected and created a tremendous amount of buzz on a show that many, myself included, wrote off as predictable and far from must see. They shook things up, they threw us some curve balls, and Jericho pulled off a huge move for himself that only ups his already top tier profile. It will either strengthen his independence or allow him to score a big payday from WWE out of fear that he’ll leave or that more may dare to bet on themselves and opt out. Jericho and NJPW made a big move that could be huge for the company. Chris Jericho may be the new smartest man in wrestling…

The Genius of Jericho, Drink It In Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.