Ahead of his headlining match against Tanahashi at Japan’s biggest wrestling show of the year Wrestle Kingdom 14, Chris Jericho was interviewed by SI.com.
On His match against Hiroshi Tanahashi he told them:
[AdSense-B]“I wanted to work with Tanahashi last year, when I attacked Naito in Korakuen Hall, I wanted to attack Tanahashi, but Gedo wanted it to be Naito, which turned out to be great. This is a main-event, money match, and there is a lot of buzz about it. I just watched the match Tanahashi had with Kenny from last year in the Tokyo Dome, and it was amazing.”
On his future with New Japan, and wrestling in general he said:
“I’m really excited for the opportunity. Tanahashi is one of the biggest stars in the business ever.”
“I came to work with Omega, Naito, Okada, and Tanahashi. Will I come back after the Tana match? I don’t know. I’d love to work with Ospreay and Ibushi. It might be mission accomplished after this, it might not, but it’s really cool to go back as a main event heavyweight after being a junior heavyweight.”
“How much longer am I going to wrestle? I have no fucking idea. I just go day by day, month by month, and whatever I feel, the instinct is usually correct.”
And on reinventing himself after leaving WWE:
“It’s hard to leave all the old gimmicks and catchphrases, and take a chance, but if you don’t do that, it’s like DX coming to the ring in 2019 and yelling ‘Suck it!’ It looks like a relic from the past, and I never wanted to be that.”
“If I was still in the WWE, I would still have to be doing ‘The List,’ and it would feel so old.”
[AdSense-B]“Y2J feels like a lifetime ago. There are still people that chant it sometimes, but to me, it’s like going to a Johnny Depp movie, and he’s playing Captain Jack Sparrow, but you’re chanting for 21 Jump Street. It’s two completely different characters, played by the same guy, but one character is old, and one is new.”
You can read the full interview at SI.com, and watch Chris Jericho take on Hiroshi Tanahashi at Day 2 of Wrestle Kingdon via Fite.tv.
