NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13: Every Match Ranked By Level Of Hype

I honestly don't know how "hot" this take will be, because the opinion of the "internet wrestling community" is so hard to define, but I'll just say it: Chris Jericho's run in New Japan has been terrible and mostly pointless.

When Jericho made the surprise return to the promotion after a near 20-year hiatus, suddenly, all eyes were on New Japan. Here was this WWE loyalist who previously proclaimed that he would only ever work for Vince McMahon for the rest of his career showing up in WWE's biggest rival and challenging their hottest western star. Jericho's involvement in the Wrestle Kingdom 12 semi-main event doubtlessly forced many newcomers to watch the event, and for his part, Jericho held his own with Omega in a stellar match.

After that, however, he wore out his welcome. His match with Tetsuya Naito at Dominion for the IC title was more an extended angle than an actual wrestling match (where Dave Meltzer saw the 4.5 stars, I can't tell you). He then disappeared from the promotion for months, showed up again to harass LIJ, and when it came to a title defense against EVIL at Power Struggle, Jericho looked more like an aging rockstar than a pro wrestler we should care about in 2018.

I don't mean this to come off as just a complete burial of Chris Jericho. His match with Naito still has intrigue because 1) It's Chris Jericho, and 2) Naito is still one of the most over acts in New Japan. However, considering how terrible Jericho's post-WK run in New Japan has been, and how much momentum Naito has lost since coming up short against Okada, this match really doesn't feel like the semi-main event.