AEW's Jon Moxley Loses in Gruesome Fashion at NJPW Strong's Independence Day Event

By Connor Casey

Jon Moxley's latest appearance in New Japan Pro-Wrestling resulted in a rare loss this week as he and Homicide faced El Desperado and Jun Kasai in a "Doomsday No Disqualification" Match at the NJPW Strong Independence Day show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. The match was unsurprisingly a violent, bloody affair given the stipulation and the work of Moxley and Kasai (a Japanese deathmatch wrestling legend) and eventually saw Kasai stab Moxley in the head with a handful of chopsticks. Desperado pinned Homicide shortly after that spot, giving Moxley a rare loss. 

He's still set to appear via pretaped promo on this week's AEW Dynamite, hyping up the upcoming Blood and Guts Match between his Blackpool Combat Club faction and The Elite and Eddie Kingston. With Bryan Danielson out of action with a broken arm, it's unclear if The BCC will acquire a fifth man for the match or narrow The Elite's ranks down to four ahead of the July 19 episode of AEW Dynamite in Boston. 

AEW Dynamite Card (July 5, 2023)

  • Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament: MJF & Adam Cole vs. TBD
  • Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament: Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin
  • Owen Hart Cup Tournament: Dr. Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho
  • Kenny Omega vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • Jon Moxley Promo

Bryan Danielson Injury Update

Danielson's injury took place during the main event of this year's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view when he took an elbow drop from Kazuchika Okada where his arm was in the wrong place upon impact. He initially tried to downplay the injury in the post-show media scrum, only for his wife Brie Garcia (fka Brie Bella) to post an x-ray days later showing that his arm was completely broken. 

"We think I fractured my right forearm with about ten minutes left to go. But talking to our doctors, and I love the AEW medical staff and trainers, they think it's going to be 6-8 weeks for this specific injury," Danielson said at the time. Reports of AEW needing to change plans because of "The American Dragon's" injury have been popping up ever since. 

"I do also want to say that being a part of an Okada match was one of those moments that you'll never forget and being a part of any Bryan Danielson match is special, especially when he worked the last part of that match with a broken arm. He put that stretch plum on or whatever we call it, the LeBell lock, on with a broken hand and he put his first hand in, and then he was doing this. Of course, now we don't know if he's working or not at this time. He does this and he does this and he forces his hand to lock under that much pain," Tony Schiavone said on the latest What Happened When episode regarding the injury (h/t WrestlingNews.co).

"It's an unforgettable moment. It really is for me. I'll remember that because I was right there seeing him take the second hand and hook him and stretch that LeBell lock on. I've seen the X-rays and I know how bad the break is. It's a severe break," he added.

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