Jon Moxley Confirms His Status With New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Even though he was still the IWGP United States Champion, Jon Moxley spent most of 2020 away from [...]

By Connor Casey

Even though he was still the IWGP United States Champion, Jon Moxley spent most of 2020 away from New Japan Pro-Wrestling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That nearly year-long hiatus finally ended last month when Moxley appeared via video message at Wrestle Kingdom 15, then attacked Kenta on the latest episode of NJPW Strong last week. Moxley conducted an interview with NJPW's website this week, explaining that he'll be sticking with the promotion for a long time.

"I made my intentions clear at Wrestle Kingdom with the short message I had for fans in Tokyo and watching all around the world," Moxley said. "I'm still, all this craziness in the world aside in the last 10 months, I'm still very much a part of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and will continue to be for as long as I damn well please, as much as I damn well, please. There ain't anything that's going to change that. There ain't anybody that decides that aside from me.

"I'm still a part of New Japan, you're going to have to beat me in the ring and your stupid briefcase, walking around, looking like an idiot," he continued. "The briefcase is very 10 years ago, I don't know why we're still doing that, it's an embarrassment. Belts, shiny gold bets, that's all that matters."

Moxley first arrived in New Japan in mid-2019, beating Juice Robinson for the US title in his first match during the Best of the Super Juniors 26 final event. He initially lost the title due to travel issues, but regained it by beating Lance Archer at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020. He successfully defend the title against Minoru Suzuki in February, then when unable to travel because of the pandemic. Once New Japan was able to start producing shows again, Kenta earned the right to challenge for Moxley's title by winning a tournament on NJPW Strong. He responded to Moxley's attack by jumping him at the end of this week's AEW Dynamite.

AEW president Tony Khan managed to tie Moxley's return to New Japan into the ongoing storyline between AEW and Impact Wrestling during his appearance on this week's Impact.

"I know that I upset a lot of people here at Impact last week with my comments, that the games I play here for fun and frankly out of spite are like a fantasy league to me," Khan said. "Like my own personal wrestling fantasy league. You might not like it, but the fact is I'm starting to make decisions I never would have made before. I'm letting Jon Moxley go to New Japan for the first time in almost a year and defend his title. Would I have done that before you came here and pissed me off? Probably not."

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