Chris Jericho Attacks Tetsuya Naito At NJPW's New Year Dash 2018

'Y2J' sticking around in NJPW

Jan 5, 2018 Updated: January 5th, 2018

Just 24 hours removed from his incredible performance against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Chris Jericho crashed Los Ingobernables de Japon's celebrations after their New Year Dash main event victory over Kazuchika Okada's CHAOS stable with a vicious assault on Tetsuya Naito.

Emerging solo from the crowd, he leapt at "El Ingobernable" with a flurry of punches before a host of young boys and LIJ split the pair apart.

Naito remained 'Tranquilo' with a steel chair as Jericho was dragged away from the scene with the sneer.

The run-in appeared to guarantee Jericho's continued presence with the group after the Tokyo Dome brawl with 'The Cleaner' received universal praise.

Elsewhere on the card, future title showdowns were teased between Okada and LIJ's SANADA, Kenny Omega and Jay White and/or Cody Rhodes, and Minoru Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, & Tonga Roa also defeated Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii, & Toru Yano to reclaim the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

New Japan are next on pay-per-view with 'The New Beginning' over three nights on January 28th, 29th and February 10th. Bosses have presumably banked on Jericho to galvanise the enormous buzz around Wrestle Kingdom 12, hoping it will continue their incredible renewed momentum following the chaotic closing moments.

Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett

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