The sugar maple tree is the state tree of New York, but Sunday night, "The Learning Tree" graced Long Island with his presence. Chris Jericho teamed with "The Redwood" Big Bill and Jeff Cobb, all accompanied by "The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith, to take on Samoa Joe, HOOK, and Katsuyori Shibata. While Jericho's intentions may have been to stand tall and cast shade, the FTW Champion was ultimately chopped down by HOOK.
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The match was nothing short of chaos. While Shibata and HOOK made several passionate offensive maneuvers against Jericho, Bill and Cobb stopped them in their tracks several times. Joe equalized the playing field, and at one point, HOOK, Shibata, and Joe had submissions locked in on Jericho, Bill, and Cobb respectively. The final moments of the match saw HOOK and Jericho in the center of the ring, with all other participants occupied. Jericho attempted a roll-up pin on his former protege, but HOOK escaped, then took a page out of the master's book and nailed "The Learning Tree" with a clean Judas Effect to score the victory for his team.
Ever since Jericho dethroned the two-time FTW champion at AEW Dynasty 2024, there has been no shortage of bad blood between the two. It is currently unclear whether HOOK will stake his claim on a FTW Championship rematch following his pinfall victory over Jericho, or when Jericho will defend the title against former ally Minoru Suzuki.
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