Vince McMahon told Chris Jericho ‘You have to do it’ when Chris told him about his match with Kenny Omega

Prior to the big Wrestle Kingdom 12 show tonight/tomorrow, Chris Jericho had New Japan’s color commentator Don Callis on Talk is Jericho (now on Westwood One) to discuss how Jericho’s big match with Kenny Omega came together.

It’s a great listen with a bunch of cool tidbits, but one that stuck out was Jericho’s story about Vince McMahon’s reaction when he told him he’ll be working for a rival promotion. In short, Vince was all for it.

Chris tells that he was on tour with Fozzy and postponed a VIP meet and greet while waiting for Vince to call him.

“I am like sh**ing my pants, like I feel like my dad’s calling me after I wrecked the car or something, you know? Answer the phone. A couple bad jokes to kick it off. I tell him, ‘Listen... I got a call from New Japan. There’s this guy called Kenny Omega, Winnipeg guy, really great performer. They want me to work there, their Tokyo Dome match against him at the Tokyo Dome show.’

“And it was not a long call and... right from the start he said ‘You have to do it. Absolutely.’ He goes, ‘This is great. This is great for you. It’s great for me.’ He goes, ‘Every one knows you’re a WWE guy. You’re flying the flag there anyways. It gonna be like here comes Chris Jericho of the WWE to face the top guy in Japan.’

“And I say, ‘It’s better for me when I come back. It puts me at a different level when I come back.’ He goes, ‘Absolutely.’ “

Jericho makes it sound like Vince was actually happy with it all and the only thing he asked is that Chris give him a buzz before the reveal happens.

Many fans wondered how Vince reacted when the match was announced at Power Struggle. Well, now we know from Jericho that Vince already knew it was coming and was totally cool with it. The businessman in him saw it as a plus that his brand would be represented at New Japan’s biggest show.

And while Chris is always ambiguous when it comes to his wrestling future, when he talks to Vince, he talks about “when he comes back.” So while it may be a ways away, Jericho will be back in WWE. Though that shouldn’t be a surprise. Y2J will surely end his career in the E.

The entire podcast is a really good listen, where they talk about how Don Callis works at New Japan due to Kenny Omega and how Callis was very instrumental in getting Alpha vs. Omega even started.