From The NJPW Rumor Mill: Chris Jericho vs Tetsuya Naito possibly scheduled for Dominion 6.9
What’s the story?
During the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, pro wrestling expert Dave Meltzer claimed that it is likely that the star-studded match between Tetsuya Naito and Chris Jericho might take place later this year at NJPW’s Dominion pay-per-view.
In case you didn’t know…
During this year’s NJPW: New Year’s Dash event at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, former six-time WWE World Champion Jericho decided to brutally blindside attack the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon, Naito.
Earlier in the year, Jericho also competed and eventually lost a five-star match against “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome, during Wrestle Kingdom 12.
The heart of the matter
During the past few months, there has been a lot of speculation regarding Jericho’s current status with NJPW, as many experts recently claimed that Jericho would eventually return to NJPW during their first ever Strong Style Evolved PPV, which takes place later this year in Long Beach, California.
However, according to a recent report from The Wrestling Observer, Meltzer claimed that the reason why NJPW decided to scrap the Jericho vs Naito match at Strong Style Evolved is due to the show already selling out.
Additionally, Meltzer said, it is now likely that Jericho vs Naito will rather take place at this year’s Dominion pay-per-view instead.
What’s next?
Jericho, who is set to miss this year’s Wrestlemania 34 event due to being on tour with his rock band Fozzy, is likely to return to NJPW in June as part of the Dominion PPV, as per suggested by Meltzer.
This year’s Dominion show will take place on the 9th of June, at the Osaka-jo Hall.
Author’s Take
NJPW has already announced three big matches for this year’s Strong Style Evolved PPV: Golden Lovers vs The Young Bucks, Hangman Page vs Jay White- IWGP US Heavyweight Championship, and Rey Mysterio (who will be making his debut for the promotion) vs Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
In my opinion, adding Jericho to the SSE card would’ve definitely added a lot more star power to it, but, as aforementioned, the show is already sold out so it is best that Jericho vs Naito is rather saved for Dominion 6.9.