Chris Jericho Explains Why Facing Kenny Omega At WrestleKingdom Is Bigger Than Facing Him At WrestleMania

Chris Jericho argues his match with Kenny Omega at WrestleKingdom 12 is bigger at the Tokyo Dome than it would be at any WrestleMania.

He was recently on an episode of Busted Open Radio where he discussed the topic. For him, it all comes down to wrestling in Japan compared to wrestling in WWE. Even if there were no restrictions as to what they could do in WWE, wrestling in Japan for a Japanese promotion is something totally different, and a once in a lifetime kind of deal:

I think just the fact that if Kenny left New Japan tomorrow and I went to the WWE and we had the same match at WrestleMania, it wouldn't have the same mystique about it because there's something about it now where everyone knows that Omega is so big in Japan and Jericho has a history in Japan, which is another thing I liked about it. Kenny and I's careers mirror each other; I started in Japan, I grew up in Japan, I've been there 60 times, so there's a big history of Jericho in Japan as well that started before I ever went to the WWE," he said. "So there's a combination of a lot of things that make this very special and a once-in-a-lifetime type of matchup. I think if it was in the WWE, even if there was no restrictions, it still wouldn't be as big because it's still WrestleMania in a WWE ring. This is different, it's over in Tokyo, it's at the Tokyo Dome fore New Japan Pro Wrestling. I think that adds to the intrigue and the mystique of the match right off the bat, as well.

Jericho shocked the world earlier this month when he challenged Kenny Omega to a match for the IWGP United States championship at WrestleKingdom. Omega accepted, and they will be the co-main event to Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight title against Testsuya Naito. This will be the first time Chris Jericho has competed outside of the WWE since 1999.