NJPW: Michael Elgin is wrong about Jon Moxley in recent interview

In the midst of a recent interview, Michael Elgin commented on Jon Moxley’s debut in NJPW, calling Moxley a “new toy” for NJPW management. Michael Elgin, in my opinion, is wrong in his assessment of how NJPW treats its gaijin stars.

While the crux of the Wrestling Inc interview with Elgin was about why he signed with Impact, the off handed comment about Moxley in NJPW is something that didn’t sit well with me as I read them.

When asked if he was surprised to see Moxley in NJPW, Elgin replied, “No, not at all… New Japan has always been very like, ‘Oh, here are our new toys. Let’s play with them!’ So, once I heard Jon Moxley was going, I knew what was gonna happen. So, it wasn’t really a shock to wake up to that news.”

Elgin went on to give his reasons for leaving NJPW, saying that he left because he wanted more high level singles matches.

Essentially, Elgin was not pleased with how he was positioned on the roster, and then left. That is his right, and not dissimilar to how others have left WWE or any other company. Elgin was clearly moved down the card in the last few years and did not work any of the US based NJPW shows; the likely reason for the latter being relatively well known at this point.

NJPW, showing some self awareness, clearly chose not to book him for the North American shows, knowing that it could likely hurt ticket sales.

In the same instance, they moved him slowly down the card in Japan, where I even noted in a previous review that it seemed like Elgin didn’t want to be there.

Elgin, while capable of putting on a great match, was getting far less of a reaction from the Japanese fanbase, showing that knowledge of the controversy surrounding him extended to Japan, though far fewer may have known about it there.

Nonetheless, the impact was seen, and Elgin was moved down the card.

In contrast to Elgin, Moxley was pushed right out of the gate, having an outstanding match with Juice Robinson.

Moxley, however, is not a “new toy” as Elgin put it. Moxley is a worldwide star that is a household name among wrestling fans. While Elgin’s push may have died in NJPW, Moxley’s will not due to how hard he worked in that match.

Moxley could have coasted, like Elgin seemed to the last year or so, or he could have decided to work hard and prove himself. He is in the midst of that, and I expect we’ll see Moxley in the G1 having the best matches of his career.

Elgin’s comments make it sound like he’s bitter that NJPW ceased pushing him, but to be fair to NJPW, he hasn’t seemed to have inspired performances for a long time there.

While Elgin could blame his lack of a push for losing inspiration, he never really gave NJPW a reason to push him since he resigned with them just after all this controversy surrounding him started. He had chances in the G1 to have blow away matches (and some of them were very good, to be fair), but in many, it seemed like he was just there.

So, in contrast to Elgin’s comments, I hope to highlight some foreign stars that NJPW pushed well and who were not just a “new toy.”

First, look no further than The Young Bucks. They were multi-time IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions and a major factor in many of NJPW’s storylines for years.

Kenny Omega was the lead foreign star for quite some time after the departure of AJ Styles, and was the one that ended Okada’s nearly 2 year reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion.