Chris Jericho: ‘I’m Not As Ear To The Ground With New Japan As I Was Even A Year Ago’

Chris Jericho says that Hiroshi Tanahashi is his last bucket list opponent from Japan, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t continue to have matches for NJPW.

Chris Jericho says because of AEW now having weekly television, he hasn’t been able to keep an ear to the ground with New Japan Pro-Wrestling as much as he was able to last year.

Speaking to WrestleZone’s Kevin Kellam for 101WKQX in Chicago, Jericho admitted that Tanahashi was the last of the requested names he wanted to work with but that he is letting the pieces fall where they may and not ruling out any future opportunities.

“When I came to AEW, I’d come right off the buzz of Japan and had six great matches, really enjoyed it. Two years. And I still wanted to work with Okada and Tanahashi,” Jericho said. “And so that’s what we did. We did Okada in June and Tanahashi at the dome this year. Am I going to do more matches in Japan? I don’t know. I just know that I got a chance to work with all of these tremendous performers, and Tana’s the last one. When you’ve been doing this as long as I have. And there’s someone you’ve never wrestled here is amazing. I want to know. I want to find out for myself. I’ve seen him. I saw him and Kenny Omega tear the house down last year. I want to know for myself, how good is he? So I’m really excited about it.”

Regarding where his focus is currently, Jericho talked about there only being one free week for him in December without AEW Dynamite for him to be able to focus on his upcoming match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14 and how this is different than his initial run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling where he built it to the Wrestle Kingdom 12 match against Kenny Omega.

“It’s funny because I had so much emphasis on Japan in 2018 and 19 that [going into 2020,] it was almost like… I’ve almost kind of forgot about it,” he continued. “Now once we get, you know, the weekly TV done, which December 18 is our last show, so we’re off this Christmas, then I’ll really start focusing on the Tana match. But I didn’t have weekly TV before to focus on. So it’s great. I’m excited about it. We did some great videos for it. I think people are excited about it, but I’m not as ear to the ground with New Japan as I was even a year ago. But I do know Tana is amazing. I’m expecting for us to have a great match.”

Speaking of the potential working relationship between AEW and NJPW, New Japan president Harold Meij recently spoke to Fox Sports about the possibility of the promotions working together. Learn more about that here.

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