10 Things You Didn't Know About ALL IN
2. The Real Story Behind Chris Jericho's Surprise Appearance
All In 2018 was Chris Jericho's first wrestling appearance in North America for any promoter not named Vince McMahon in just under 20 years, and the surprise of him even being on the show let alone the manner he managed it went a long way to establishing the event as perhaps a little more than just a celebration of the independent scene.
But his classic cameo as a swap-out for Pentagon in order to ambush NJPW rival Kenny Omega almost couldn't go ahead.
Speaking on the September 7th edition of his Talk Is Jericho podcast, Jericho laid out some of the administrative absurdities that went into the moment, saying that;
“We could have probably had another [costume] made, but here we are at like 7 o’clock, 7:10, and he has a gold costume and a silver costume. They’re not matching anyways, even in the design, but the colors are completely different. The idea is, once again, Kenny wins the match, Penta is selling, lights go off, lights go on, everyone is like, ‘What the hell is going on, there’s nobody in there?’ Penta’s still down, Penta gets up, attacks Kenny, bam bam bam bam, unmasks and it’s Jericho. So I’m looking at this costume. In the back of my mind, I’m like, ‘What the f**k are you guys thinking? Like, did nobody think of this?’ But I’m the vet. I’m the pro. I come from the Vince McMahon school of ‘Well, we better think of something.’"
He continued;
“So, then I started scrambling through my mind, ‘Get both your costumes, Penta.’ He goes, he comes back. I’m looking at them, and I’m like, ‘Well, you gotta get some gold. At first, it was like gold Sharpies, gold tape, gold paint. ‘You gotta find a hardware store!’ We’re looking at like Ace Hardware stores, 50 miles away or whatever it is, and we find a Home Depot that was 10-12 minutes away. He [Penta] was super cool. He was super cool about it. That guy was really cool. If someone took my gear and started like, basically ruining it, I’d be like, ‘Hey, come on guys!’ But he was ‘all in,’ no pun intended. Once again, putting it on and looking at it, you guys have no idea how close it was to just me wearing a damn silver costume.”
That all this happened shortly after Jericho flew in from a Fozzy gig on the same night only makes the moment all the more miraculous.