Recently at New Japan’s Dominion show, Chris Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. But before the match, Jericho offered some very kind words for his rival, comparing him to some of WWE’s biggest stars. Speaking with Busted Open Radio prior to the bout, Jericho gave Naito an incredible compliment, calling him one of the biggest babyfaces in the industry today.
“Naito is a legit huge babyface star, think The Rock in 2001 or think John Cena in 2010. A legit superstar that everybody loves and when I attacked him about a month ago, children and women were literally crying.” He goes into further detail about the bout, talking about how he prefers the classic face vs. heel dynamic that the two could venture into during this bout, as opposed to his match with Kenny Omega, which saw two phenomenal performers simply going at it in a genuine fight.
It could have been easy for Jericho to give Naito a simple compliment, but he took it a step further, comparing him to The Rock and John Cena, two of the industry's biggest stars over the past 20 years, and it means that he truly means what he says. Jericho won the IWGP Intercontinental Title in the process of delivering a classic match (which will likely be Jericho’s second 5-star match of the year), and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here, but no doubt this will help elevate Naito and New Japan Pro Wrestling as a whole.
So what do you guys think? Is Naito really as big and as over as Jericho claims? Do you think there’s a better baby face in New Japan Pro Wrestling, or even the world right now? What did you think of their classic encounter at Dominion? As always, let us know all your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
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