And he has done it...
Chris Jericho and Tetsuya Naito have had their issues with one another dating back to shortly before Wrestle Kingdom 12. Naito felt as if Jericho coming into New Japan and facing Kenny Omega stole some of the spotlight away from his IWGP Heavyweight Championship main-event match against Kazuchika Okada. The day after Wrestle Kingdom at the 'New Years Dash' event Chris Jericho attacked Naito in retaliation for the comments that Naito made about him.
Y2J would not be seen in NJPW for five months until he arose from the crowd on night two of 'Wrestling Dontaku' where he jumped over the guard rail and began his beat-down of Tetsuya Naito who was exiting the ringside area. Jericho left Naito covered in his own blood and that moment brought Naito out of his tranquilo state as he wanted nothing but revenge on Jericho. A match between the two was soon made official for NJPW's 'Dominion' show and the match was also scheduled to be an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. Naito won the title at 'Wrestling Hi No Kuni' but his stance on the Intercontinental Title is well known in it being that Naito believes that the title is unnecessary and the only gold he has his eyes on the IWGP Heavyweight Title.
Nonetheless Naito walked into 'Osaka Jo Hall' to defend the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Y2J. Both competitors started off the match stiff with one another and that carried through throughout the entire bout. Naito delivered many stiff chops and slaps to the face of Jericho and Jericho delivered the blows right back as he painted Naito's face once again.
The end of the bout saw a sly Chris Jericho deliver a low-blow to Naito while the referee was down. When Naito turned around he was met with a "Code Breaker" and in what was a moment that drew "Ooo's" and "Aahs" from the crowd inside of 'Osaka Jo Hall', Chris Jericho pinned Tetsuya Naito to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
Following the match Y2J continued to rub it in Naito's face by beating him down some more but Naito's stable-mate EVIL made his way down to the ring to run off Jericho. Nonetheless Chris Jericho is now the only man in the history of pro wrestling to win the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships and now the "Ayatollah Of Rock N' Rolla" has gold around his shoulder in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Fightful did have live coverage of NJPW's 'Dominion' event. To read up on the red-hot action that took place over the night, click here.
