Watch: Chris Jericho Hits Brutal DDT at Wrestle Kingdom 13

Chris Jericho stole the show at Wrestle Kingdom for the second year in a row on Friday, competing [...]

By Connor Casey

Chris Jericho stole the show at Wrestle Kingdom for the second year in a row on Friday, competing in a vicious No Disqualification battle with Tetsuya Naito at Wrestle Kingdom 13 inside the Tokyo Dome.

Unlike their previous encounters, Naito was the one to go on the attack first, hitting Jericho from behind as the IWGP Intercontinental Champion made his way into the ring. But Jericho would quickly turn the tides, dumping Naito to the outside by the commentator tables.

He then dragged Naito on top of one and spiked him headfirst with a vicious DDT.

But that was just a tase of what was to come, as the two men would go on to pelt each other with chairs and kendo stick shots.

Naito closed out the match by hitting Jericho with his Destino finisher, then smacking him across the face with the Intercontinental Championship belt. He hit a second Destino for the pin.

The rivalry between the Japanese superstar and WWE Icon first kicked off at the New Years Dash event in January 2018. A night after failing to beat Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Jericho attacked Naito from behind and left him knocked out in the ring. He'd appear again to hit Natio with a sneak attack several months later, setting up a match for Naito's championship at Dominion. Jericho jumped Naito before the bell of that match, setting him up for an eventual win to capture the 10th Intercontinental Championship of his career (he has a record nine reigns with WWE's version of the title).

Jericho successfully defended the title against Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate Evil at the Power Struggle event, and was eventually goaded into giving Naito a championship rematch at New Japan's biggest event of the year.

While Jericho has been making appearances in New Japan since November 2017, he has managed to keep a strong relationship with the WWE. In 2018 he appeared at both the RAW 25 special in a backstage segment and competed at the Greatest Royal Rumble in the 40-man battle royal. But he also appeared at the All In independent wrestling event in September, and has been rumored to be involved in some capacity with the new All Elite Wrestling promotion.

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