AEW Reportedly Bringing in Major New Japan Star for AEW All Out

Last night's AEW Dynamite (Fight for the Fallen) saw eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi [...]

By Connor Casey

Last night's AEW Dynamite (Fight for the Fallen) saw eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi appear via video message, announcing he'd be facing the winner of Lance Archer and Hikuleo for the IWGP United States Championship. That match was later confirmed for New Japan's Resurgence event in Los Angels on Aug. 14. Later in the night, Moxley cut his own promo on Tanahashi, calling out "The Ace" for avoiding him both here in the US and in his stints in New Japan.

All of that was followed up with a report from the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, who said Jon Moxley recently pitched to Tony Khan to face a "top New Japan wrestler" at the All Out pay-per-view on Sept. 5. Considering everything that happened with Tanahashi, "The Ace" seems to be the leading candidate.

Moxley first arrived in New Japan in May 2019, immediately winning the IWGP US title from Juice Robinson. He had to initially drop the title due to travel issues, but one it back at Wrestle Kingdom 14 by beating Archer in a Texas Death Match. His second reign lasted a whopping 564 days, eventually defending it on AEW programming against Yuji Nagata and Karl Anderson. He finally lost the title back to Archer in another Texas Death Match at Fyter Fest.

The former WWE star confirmed in an interview last year that the door is always open for him to go back overseas and wrestle in New Japan.

"... Later down the line, it was like, 'Yeah man, it's basically whatever you want to do. If you want to come in for one or two big shows, if you want to come do a tour, if you can do the G1, that will be sick! Whatever you want,'" he told Wrestling Observer.

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