Chuck Taylor Is Going to New Japan! (And I Guess Chris Jericho Too)

He's coming to World Tag League!
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

New Japan Pro Wrestling ran its annual Power Struggle show, the last stop before its World Tag League event and the last usual time when it'll put in jeopardy its January 4 Tokyo Dome main event. While Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito was never in doubt, an exciting wrinkle was added to WrestleKingdom that will be of great interest to potential new fans. Chris Jericho was announced as Kenny Omega's opponent New Japan's biggest event of the year. Jericho and Omega have been feuding on Twitter for the last few weeks. Many thought it would culminate in a match on Jericho's wrestling-themed cruise, where Ring of Honor will be promoting a tournament. However, this news puts the match on a much bigger stage.

Jericho has not wrestled a match outside of WWE since 1999. Every time he left the biz and come back, it has been to WWE, which makes this announcement as pleasantly surprising. The fact that someone so entrenched in WWE lore left at the height of its hegemony to work with the number two alliance is a boost to the entire industry. While I have my doubts as to whether the match will be good — Jericho has been in two good matches since Beast in the East, both of them violent, personal brawls against Kevin Owens — it'll still have a ton of novelty. Besides, Omega is a miracle worker in the ring.

Of course, before arriving at WrestleKingdom, New Japan will be doing its yearly World Tag League, which is like the G1 Climax, only with tag teams. You can find the entire slate here on this tweet, but a few pairing stick out at me. First, Michael Elgin has replaced Matt Riddle as Jeff Cobb's partner, which isn't surprising. Japan has some of the most draconian drug laws in the world, and Riddle loves the devil's lettuce something fierce. The important thing here is that Cobb is still going, and oh my, that team is in the same block as CHAOS' offering of Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii. Seeing Ishii and Cobb in the same ring together gives me the vapors just imagining it.

But the biggest addition has to be Chuck Taylor, who will be teaming with his partner and Best Friend Barretta. Taylor's brand of comedic grapples and Twitter self-deprecation has made him a fan favorite of many, and the latter in that duo has made things like this even more special. He's fought so many years for success in the business, and between finally winning the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship and arriving in New Japan, things are finally coming up Dustin. They too are in the same bracket as Yano and Ishii, so the possibility of Taylor and Yano yukking it up will get a lot of folks excited.

Between this and the company coming back to America in early 2018, it's hard not to get excited for New Japan's future. Hopefully, it can continue to grow in America and offer a second premium option for people to get excited about. Competition breeds nothing but good things for wrestling fans, you know.