Chris Jericho Explains Why He Won’t Wrestle at NJPW US Shows, All In or Other Non-WWE Events in the US
Chris Jericho is the new IWPG Intercontinental Champion after winning the title from Tetsuya Naito at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dominion event this past Saturday. I reviewed the show here and it was amazing. Jericho’s match was one of the best of the night. It’s incredible how well he’s performing at 47 years of age. Jericho winning the title was a surprise because it’s not expected that he’ll wrestle a lot for NJPW (this was his second match for NJPW this year) and we don’t know when he might wrestle for them again.
Jericho did a recent interview with our good friends at Inside The Ropes talking about his work in NJPW. During the discussion, which you can watch below, Jericho explained why he has no interest in working for New Japan or other promotions in the United States due to his loyalty to WWE. Thanks to WrestlingInc for transcribing his comments.
“I got asked to do [Strong Style Evolved in] Long Beach, I said ‘no.’ I got asked to do [the G1 Specialat the] Cow Palace, I said ‘no.’ I got asked to do “All In,” I said ‘no.’ I don’t want to do that. You should see how many indie promoters have contacted me over the last six months. … You guys have to understand, this is not just me…it’s a calculated, big money proposition. Big money for me, big money for the company doing it. I’m not going to work anywhere else, unless you want to pay six f—— figures, I’m not bragging, but this is where we’re at. This is McGregor-Mayweather type s— for me. I’m not saying I’m making $55 million like those guys, but what I’m doing it’s the most I’ve made for the least amount of matches in my entire career. So, it’s very calculated, everything I do has to be very smart.”
“It’s not a matter of just going out and doing indies – and like I said – I always felt like the unwritten rule is I don’t want to go into the states. I felt like that would be a real slap in the face of Vince [McMahon]. Ya know if something ever went down with us, I probably would do a show in the states and we could probably fill the Cow Palace. Jericho and Kenny [Omega] rematch, or whatever it may be. “All In” I’d love to be a part of that, but ‘A’ it’s in Chicago and ‘B’…at the risk sounding like an ass—-, but I can’t lower my value by working one of these shows. It’s about picking my spots with the right guys at the right places for the overall contract I’m signing.”
“I’m doing all these different things and enjoying the freedom, but still rooted in the respect for Vince McMahon and the WWE. And I don’t want to do anything that goes too far over that line, right now.”
Jericho will be involved with Ring of Honor wrestlers on the Jericho cruise that he has promoted heavily on social media for most of the last year. There will also be Impact Wrestling wrestlers on there as well.