Chris Jericho says his NJPW match with Kenny Omega led to Tony Khan starting AEW
Chris Jericho feels his match with Kenny Omega led to the start of AEW.
While talking with Spencer Matthews, Jericho gave his Mt. Rushmore of wrestling opponents, first listing Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), The Rock, and Shawn Michaels. For his fourth, Jericho named Kenny Omega, saying that their match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 back in 2018 made history.
“We changed the business when we had our match at the Tokyo Dome, which at the time was crazy because nobody ever thought it would happen,” he said. “We’re both from the same small town in Canada called Winnipeg, and we pretty much packed the Tokyo Dome. Digital streaming was through the roof for New Japan Pro Wrestling, which then led to Tony Khan seeing and deciding that he could form AEW because there was so much demand for wrestling that was not WWE.”
Khan founded AEW in 2019, one year after their Wrestle Kingdom match. Both joined the promotion and became AEW’s top stars, with Jericho becoming the first-ever AEW World Champion. His status with the company is currently in question as reports indicate his contract has been frozen due to taking time off.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.