AEW's Chris Jericho Details His Best Match Of The Year

Chris Jericho celebrated his 53rd birthday in a big, exhausting, way, wrestling three matches in two countries in one week. Two of the matches took place in AEW, including the "Like A Dragon Street Fight" on the November 15 "AEW Dynamite," followed by Jericho and Kenny Omega defeating The Young Bucks at Full Gear just days later. Then there was Jericho's match in Japan on November 12, where he defeated Callis Family member Konosuke Takeshita. Jericho discussed all three matches during "Talk is Jericho," and while he enjoys them all, he has really taken pride in the Takeshita match, both because he sees it as the best match he had in 2023, and because he unexpectedly received support from the DDT fans.

"I think I was kind of slotted to be the heel," Jericho said. "But after being in Japan so many times and basically growing up there ... it was almost like I was the conquering hero, you know? So it was very much kind of a babyface vs. babyface match. Very hard-hitting. I really enjoyed this match. Like I said, it was one of my favorites that I've had all year. I'd never worked Takeshita in a singles match ... We'd had a couple of tag team matches a few times over the last year, six-man or whatever it was, but the one-on-one was the real secret."

"[It was] hard-hitting, some great moves in there, some great false finishes in there," Jericho continued. "Takeshita's very strong. He gave me a Blue Thunder Bomb off the top rope, which everybody asked me about, from Jay White to Trent Beretta to Bryan Alvarez. 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' It was a hard bump to take. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but you soldier through it."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Talk Is Jericho" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription