Jon Moxley is the current New Japan IWGP United States Champion but hasn’t defended the title in over a year due to worldwide events preventing him from traveling to Japan. In his absence, New Japan held a tournament to keep the championship active, with KENTA, known to US fans as Hideo Itami, winning. In doing so, he took possession of the #1 contendership briefcase. With KENTA set to defend his opportunity against Satoshi Kojima at Wrestle Kingdom 15, a Moxley promo aired before the match where he said he was coming for the briefcase holder. KENTA would retain the briefcase after defeating Kojima with the Go 2 Sleep, meaning he remained front of the queue to face Moxley in the future.
Now, in what came as a massive surprise, during last night’s episode of NJPW Strong, taped at New Japan’s training dojo in Los Angeles, Moxley made an unadvertised appearance. His arrival came after the six-man tag team main event, which featured KENTA. The dojo lights went out, and Moxley took out KENTA’s partners Hikuleo and El Phantasmo with belt shots when they came back on. He then traded elbows with the #1 contender before escaping a Go 2 Sleep attempt and hitting KENTA with a Paradigm Shift. Moxley would say on the mic that he doesn’t play political games and that KENTA’s dream of becoming the champion had become a nightmare.
This appearance was a big deal because previously, Moxley’s AEW contract prevented him from working on New Japan shows in the US. Clearly, Tony Khan has made an exception, potentially meaning New Japan and AEW are set to begin a working relationship. It should be noted that the episode wasn’t live, and when it was taped is unclear but likely to have been in December based on who else was on the show. With Moxley residing in Vegas, the trip wouldn’t have been too difficult for him, so potentially, he could make further appearances.
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