On April 12th at New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Windy City Riot in Chicago, Jon Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Many fans have taken to social media to “celebrate” Moxley “making history” by becoming the first wrestler to hold the WWE, AEW, & NJPW World Championship. Pictures of a bloody and war torn looking Moxley holding the IWGP World Heavyweight Title are all over social media to the delight of many fans. I am here to say that NJPW putting their top title on Moxley is a bad decision. Very bad decision.
First things first. Moxley is a signed AEW talent who has wrestled in Japan for NJPW a total of 8 times since 2023. Naito has given his life to NJPW and deserved a much longer reign. This was most likely the final reign as NJPW’s top champion for Naito and he should have held that title throughout the year. NJPW owed him that. When he won the title back at Wrestle Kingdom 18 after defeating SANADA, the over 27,000 fans chanted one name that echoed through the Tokyo Dome and that name was Naito’s. He is the one the NJPW fans wanted as their champion, he was the one that was most deserving after 18 years with the company.
Here is something that really confuses me. NJPW loses Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Jay White to AEW and then makes an AEW signed talent their top champion? Is Tony Khan calling the shots at NJPW? If Khan lost Kenny Omega, Samoa Joe and Shane Strickland to NJPW, would he then make Shingo Takagi the AEW World Champion? Would he ever make a NJPW signed talent the AEW World Champion? The answer is no. So why would NJPW do this?
Now let’s say, for argumentative sakes, Naito was hurting and needed to drop the title to take some time off, the title change should have come at Sakura Genesis on April 6th. NJPW is in need of a new star to fill the void left by Okada & Ospreay. Yota Tsuji IS that star. Tsuji is becoming immensely popular amongst the fans of NJPW and winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Title would have greatly elevated him to superstar status. Remember Tsuji is 30 years old and, in my opinion, the best of the new crop of wrestlers on the NJPW roster. In addition, there’s Shingo Takagi, Zack Sabre Jr, and former champion SANADA all willing and able to step in to be the top guy while Tsuji, Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura & Ren Narita all develop into the stars they are destined to become.
If NJPW was hellbent on putting a title on Moxley, it should have been the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title. They could have made him the inaugural Global champion and then had him feud with Nic Nemeth over that title. That would have made a lot of sense. Moxley, the IWGP Global Champion, being chased by Nemeth for the title would have been very intriguing. Add David Finlay to the mix and you have a very exciting group of matches for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
I will end this by saying, I am not in any way shape or form downplaying the talent Moxley possesses. Moxley is an incredibly talented professional wrestler and has proven that time and time again. Yes, he has a big name that draws attention but no, NJPW should not have put the IWGP World Heavyweight Title around the waist of an individual who is signed by another promotion.
“The views expressed in this article are the views solely of the author and not necessarily the views of the rest of the staff at Bodyslam.net”.
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