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.
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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.
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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.
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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 is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
