Chris Jericho Dedicated Wrestle Kingdom 12 Match To Chris Benoit

At Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo, Japan, Chris Jericho wrestled Kenny Omega in a monumental no DQ match – and Jericho dedicated the match to his fallen best friends, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.

Jericho made the eyebrow-raising announcement on Instagram, where he re-posted a rather interesting piece of fan art featuring caricatures of Benoit and Guerrero standing behind Jericho. “I dedicate tomorrow’s match to the fallen brothers…” Jericho captioned the post.

For those who don’t know, Jericho, Guerrero, and Benoit all wrestled for NJPW prior to joining WWE. Guerrero wrestled as Black Tiger II and won the 1996 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, while Benoit wrestled as The Pegasus Kid and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Jushin Thunder Liger in August 1990. (Fun fact: Finn Balor started off his illustrious NJPW career as Pegasus Kid II.)

But while Jericho’s dedication is a fitting tribute, it also seems a touch inappropriate. In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Benoit murdered his wife and child before killing himself in June 2007, and WWE subsequently and understandably scrubbed his name from their history.

Unsurprisingly, Jericho has already received some criticism for the dedication – although a lot of people are defending him.

Here’s what Jericho had to say about it in the build-up to the match

Did you watch Jericho vs. Omega? What do you think of Jericho’s dedication of the match to Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit? Share your thoughts and comments below!