Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega earns New Japan Pro Wrestling an astonishing $300,000 per month, 4 years after the match first aired, in a shocking revelation.
The two Canadian stars headlined the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 12 as they battled over Omega’s United States Championship.
Kenny Omega picked up the win over Le Champion, but it was New Japan who ran out the true winners with the absurd amount of money earned by the match over the years.
Wrestling Journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer replied to a tweet discussing how Omega vs Jericho affected the subscribers to New Japan World, the streaming service that shows all NJPW shows.
He noted that NJPW grosses “close to $300,000” per month off the residuals from that match, owing it to the growth of subscribers to their platform once that match had been announced.
In his Tweet, Dave Meltzer reported about Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega;
“To this day NJPW grosses close to $300,000 per month off the residuals of that match”
It was reported after the fact that the match had helped grow the New Japan World subscribers by 10s of thousands overnight, as soon as the match had been announced.
Chris Jericho also discussed his impact on the company when the match was announced, revealing just how much of a success the Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho match was for the company.
During an appearance on the “AEW Unrestricted” podcast, Jericho explained that him appearing on screen to challenge Omega to a match immediately sold an extra 15,000 tickets for Wrestle Kingdom.
It also improved the streaming numbers massively over the previous years. Jericho then noted that they increased the subscriptions by “300 percent, if not more”.
“I think it was the fact that there was so much of a buzz, but the cold hard fact of the business that it did, because New Japan World, which is New Japan’s streaming service, I believe subscriptions went up like 300 percent, if not more, when that match was announced,”
“I know in the arena, in the [Tokyo] Dome, it sold an extra 15,000 tickets, which out of 50,000 tickets, think about that. That’s 30 percent of the tickets sold just from that match. So, I think a combination of the tickets and the business of the streaming is where Tony really thought, ‘I could do this.’
He also claimed that it was that match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 that was the catalyst for Tony Khan to have the idea to form AEW.
Khan would sign up Jericho a year later to a deal before making him the first ever AEW Champion.
Chris Jericho also wrestled Kenny Omega in the main event of the first ever AEW event, adding credence to the idea that it inspired Tony Khan to invest in AEW after the fact.
Chris Jericho got his win back by defeating Kenny Omega at AEW Double or Nothing 2019, earning himself a shot at becoming the first AEW Champion at All Out 2019.
Jericho went on to become the first ever AEW Champion, while Kenny Omega had the belts third reign.
Sandwiched between them was Jon Moxley, who faced Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega in two of their best matches in AEW.
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