Not reading everything here, but everyone Jericho has defeated prior to this has had weapons similar to Deathstroke, so your whole point on weapons FRA here are false.
I'd like to see the sources, as I've watched WWE constantly for a long time and I really don't recall people fighting with very sharp and pointy edged weaponry.
And again, I must reiterate how much you guys are underestimating the value of weaponry in a fight. First off, skill isn't unilateral, one can be several times more skilled fighter in unarmed fighting, but having no skill, or at least not the appropriate skill type to deal with specific kinds of weaponry. Second of all, weapons are
extreme game-changers. Like, I can give you several dozens of examples of how much a weaponized fighter, even an amateur one, has the advantage over even professional-level fighters out there. While, for sure, an unarmed fighter can move around to stay out of reach and, certainly, could parry and counter weapon movement if they moved perfectly, to do so consistently and well requires very specific forms of training against weapons.
And, once again, I need to reiterate how hard it is to take out someone's weapon out of their hands, even for someone far weaker than you are, it is more likely that you would throw the entire person rather than pulling out the weapon if you just attempted to yank it, and to really pry it out of them, you'd need to devote your entire body into it. Jericho has a big help here in his far greater LS and grappling skills, which guarantees that he can just pry open Deathstroke's hand and literally pull out his weapon. The problem being that he'll need to do that without exposing any other body part to Deathstroke's blows with his other hand, wielding a knife. And that is something I genuinely don't think is possible in any grappling position.
And Jericho's feats in IR do not really impose the kind of advantage I'd expect for someone to deal with weapons.
And, lastly, Deathstroke isn't merely a guy that uses weapons. He is an extremely skilled unarmed and armed fighter of several different disciplines. He knows precisely how to use a sword against an unarmed opponent.
I’m pretty sure this is first key Deathstroke, and Jericho’s profile is kinda weirdly formatted in P&A but long story short he doesn’t have fireballs here that’s exclusive to his second key.
that’s important mainly because Deathstroke doesn’t get regen, glancing at the extras that his second key provides
Oh, that is good! Then it is closer, Jericho can likely rush in far more easily.
Before I was leaning into Deathstroke, but without regeneration and, honestly, more about the ES helping him here. Without it, Jericho's blinding is pretty effective.
Now I'm leaning towards Jericho, but it still could go either way.