It seems that anything can happen in the wrestling business these days.
In a huge surprise, it will be none other than Chris Jericho squaring off against Kenny Omega at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom event on Jan. 4 at the Tokyo Dome.
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The news came at Sunday's NJPW Power Struggle event where Omega successfully defended his IWGP United States Championship against Trent Baretta. Immediately after the match, Omega began cutting a promo on who would be his next opponent, teasing there was no one left for him to face. Then the lights went out and a video began to play.
Jericho stated that he is still the best in the world and the "Alpha" in the wrestling business. He put forth the challenge — "Alpha vs. Omega" at Wrestle Kingdom 12 — and Omega accepted.
The two Winnipeg natives had been exchanging words on Twitter recently, and most chalked it up to them simply having some fun with one another to get people talking. At most, it could lead to a possible match on Jericho's "Rock and Rager at Sea" cruise late next year. Instead, it's happening much sooner and on a much bigger stage.
This will mark the first time that Jericho, the first ever undisputed WWE Champion and the man who beat both The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on the same night as he likes to brag about, will wrestle for a major promotion that is not the WWE in 18 years when he was with WCW. He had a match in 2003 with Ohio Valley Wrestling, which was working at the developmental group for WWE at the time, and also in 2000 at the Gary Albright Memorial Show for World Xtreme Wrestling.
Jericho has been taking time off from WWE to tour with his band, Fozzy. He did make a surprise appearance on "SmackDown Live" in July where he lost in a triple-threat match to AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.
In other news at Power Struggle, Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWPG Junior Heavyweight Championship. Following the match, Scurll accepted a challenge to defend his title at Wrestle Kingdom in a four-way match that will include Ospreay, KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi.
Jay White also returned to the company at the show, revealing himself as Switchblade, a character who had been teased for weeks, and put his sights towards IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
The lineup for Wrestle Kingdom 12 is quite impressive so far, as expected for the biggest event of the year.
— IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
— IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
— IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Slingblade
— IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay vs KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi
— IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.
