The crowd at PWG Battle of Los Angeles two got a big surprise when Chris Jericho showed up to team with the Jericho Appreciation Society.
Jericho teamed with Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker to face Player Uno (Evil Uno), Kevin Blackwood, SB KENTo, Jonathan Gresham, and Michael Oku.
Speaking to Stephanie Chase, Oku recalled his experience sharing the ring with Jericho.
"I found out, doors were already open, I don't think the first match had happened. I was told night one, 'you're going to be in a tag night two.' The big tag that usually happens that night two for the participants that had been knocked out. 'You're gonna like who is in it, there are a few surprises.' 'I like surprises. Don't tell me. I don't want to know.' The furthest my mind did go was the fact that AEW was filming Dynamite in LA so there may be a few people in town or a few people local that were already in town. Danny Garcia is the PWG champion, so AEW wrestlers can appear. Who knows, they'll be someone from Dark or Elevation that'll pop up and it'll be cool. Everyone was asking me, and there were a few people that knew. SBKENTo came up to me and asked me who are opponents were. 'I don't know.' He didn't know. Backstage, there is usually a run sheet. I was like, 'let's find out.' It was my team versus team five skulls. 'Oh, it's being kept secret even backstage' Then, I was invited onto a bus, and there we go," he recalled.
Oku, who named Jericho as his idol, said it was probably better for him to find out he was facing Jericho in the moment than know for weeks and have too much time to think about it.
"I'm there and I'm thinking what could happen in the match and what we could do in the match and in my head, I've already dreamed of what I would do in a match with Chris Jericho. It was only dreams because it could never happen in real life, and here we are, we're going to do all the things I've dreamed of doing," he said.
Oku recalled members of the Jericho Appreciation Society making their entrances before Jericho finally appeared and the reaction from the crowd.
Speaking about the match, Oku reflected on being put in the Walls of Jericho.
"There was a lot of in the moment stuff, but the one moment that I had where I could be in the moment was when I was in the Walls of Jericho. I was like, 'this is actually happening.' Everything before that, I was just trying to be a good wrestler. When I was in the Walls of Jericho, I was like, 'this is it. This is why I do the half crab and it's my finish, because of this move that I'm in and the person doing it to me.' That was when I was in the moment to actually like, dare I say, drink it in," he said.
Oku noted that all the social media highlights make it seem like it was just him against Jericho, which excites him, once again saying how much influence Jericho has had on him as a wrestler. He went through other highlights of the match including hitting Jericho with his moonsault and the slow motion spot with everyone in the match.
Reflecting on his he felt after the match, Oku said, "I just kept shaking my head. I still haven't processed it fully. The time to sit down and really properly process the fact that I've wrestled Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, an AEW faction in one night for PWG BOLA, which is the last thing I would have expected. I would have expected and hoped for the weekend to go well, but you want to talk about exceeding expectations, I could have never in my wildest dreams guessed this would have happened. Happy it went well, happy everyone had fun, the crowd was up for it. Just amazing to think a match with Chris Jericho happened."
Asked if he spoke to Jericho after the match, Oku said, "He's a cool dude. He seemed very happy with everything and felt that everything was easy and was happy with our work and abilities, that's the only thing you worry about, he doesn't think you suck. If Chris Jericho thought I was not good, I would actually stop wrestling. For him to think it was good and easy and I did well, that was good stuff. He's posted a lot about it. He made me an Insta collab on Instagram. That's all cool. The hope is to hopefully keep in touch with him and we'll see each other soon. The thing in the air is AEW coming to London and being the one British wrestler that was in BOLA and the London wrestler that wrestled one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. I'm excited to see what happens next."
Oku went on to praise Jericho for always being willing to give back, noting how he puts over talent on television and on social media.
If you missed anything from PWG BOLA night two, check out full results by clicking here.
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