Over the last few weeks, a series of mysterious vignettes starting appearing on New Japan shows. After Juice Robinson’s matches, vignettes would appear declaring that “Time’s Up”. To the shock of many on May 26th, it was revealed the mystery man behind those videos was none other than Jon Moxley. He would get his New Japan debut match on June 5th at the Best of the Super Juniors Final show. Not only would it be his debut but it would be for the IWGP United States Championship. As Jon Moxley Wins the IWGP United States Championship
It was nice to see the new character touches for Jon Moxley on Wednesday. He is the “Death Rider” and is wearing wrestling trunks for the first time in years. His style is certainly not PG anymore. But could he also produce a solid match in the New Japan style? After watching his hard-hitting twenty-four-minute encounter with Juice Robinson we can now safely say yes.
https://youtu.be/EGejBHtPZxg
The match consisted of brutal chair shots, multiple table spots, and Moxley even biting at the wounds of Robinson. It was a brawling style match that worked really very well. The match ended with Moxley’s new finisher, the Death Rider, that was a mix of Dirty Deeds and a DDT. And with that Moxley became a champion in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Jon Moxley Wins the IWGP United States Championship
Lasher’s Last Thoughts: It is not too shocking to see Moxley with the United States Championship in his New Japan debut. New Japan was in need of some star power and Moxley is arguably the hottest pro wrestler in the world right now. With AEW not starting its weekly show until sometime in the fall, it allows him to defend the championship in NJPW throughout this summer.
With the deep talent pool of New Japan, it should be a great time for wrestling fans. The achievement appears to be one of potentially many for Moxley moving forward.
