Chris Jericho has reportedly been in talks to appear at Wrestle Kingdom since August — and it sounds like Y2J’s upcoming cruise may have factored into his decision to venture outside of WWE.

ProWrestling.com first reported weeks ago that Jericho had been in discussions with NJPW officials and the site claims the plan to wrestle Kenny Omega has been in place since mid-summer.

Furthermore, Chris Jericho talked about his upcoming cruise on Killing the Town recently and it may shed some light on why he’s working with New Japan/Ring of Honor.

The 46-year-old wrestler explained that he’s financially responsible for “Chris Jericho’s Rock-n-Wrestling Rager at Sea” and wanted to partner with a promotion for the wrestling side of things. Chris admits he tried to get the NXT brand to perform on the cruise, but was denied after months of talks. Chris then told Triple H he’d still be doing the cruise without them.

He also told Busted Open in March that he was unsure if he’d ever return to WWE.

Since the announcement that Y2J will be wrestling Kenny Omega at WK12 there has been massive speculation about whether Jericho is working in conjunction with WWE on this deal — since he’s long said it’s the only place he’d want to work — but all signs point to Jericho doing this on his own.

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