NJPW: Jon Moxley has a chance to prove himself in G1 Climax
NJPW’s Dominion PPV earlier today saw Jon Moxley pick up a win over young lion rookie Shota Umino in the night’s opener. That’s not all we learned that night regarding the new IWGP United States Champion.
We also learned that Jon Moxley is going to be included in this year’s edition of the G1 Climax! Well, technically, he isn’t in yet. Moxley demanded to be in the G1 and in kayfabe, NJPW officials have yet to grant his demand. Which, in reality, since it’s been spun into a whole angle, that pretty much guarantees that this year’s G1 is going to be injected with some much needed lunacy.
For new fans who may not be familiar with the G1, it is an annual round robin tournament that takes place in NJPW every August and features the promotion’s top stars. The winner of the tournament is guaranteed a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom; NJPW’s equivalent to WrestleMania at the Tokyo Dome.
Just by competing in the G1, even if Moxley does not wind up winning the tournament, he has the opportunity to prove that he has earned any and all post-WWE success that he receives.
Considering how Jon Moxley became such a huge success in WWE, I personally believe he’s proven his worth outside of WWE for that alone. However, when he defeated Juice Robinson for the IWGP United States Championship at the Best of the Super Juniors show, some fans – however few it may have been – implied that Moxley didn’t deserve to win such a major title so soon in just his debut match, as if he was unproven.
As if everything he did in WWE doesn’t matter in NJPW waters.
Nobody should be surprised because njpw gives this title to all the WWE guys
— Tyson #1fan (@1fanTyson) June 7, 2019
A lot of those same fans either express sympathy for Juice, or believe Mox only won it because he’s an ex-WWE guy; or, as Michael Elgin may put it, one of NJPW’s “new toys.”
I disagree, but I understand the sentiment that so many of these NJPW fans share. Which is why I was delighted to learn that Mox could be duking it out for a month straight in the G1 Climax in a few weeks from now.
Above anything else, the G1 is a test of stamina and strength for every competitor in the tournament. Most NJPW stars are used to competing once – maybe twice – a month strictly for the company’s PPVs. The G1 Climax calls for a wrestler to compete several days at a time – perhaps every day in some cases – every week throughout August.
On paper, that sounds like old hat for Jon Moxley, right? For a guy who worked so many days a week regularly for WWE between tv tapings, house shows and the occasional PPV, this should be a walk in the park for ole Mox, right? Wrong. In theory, that should be the case, but the WWE wrestling style is far different NJPW’s frequent use of Strong Style; one of the hardest hitting, soul crushing styles in all of wrestling.
That same style cost Katsuyori Shibata his career two years ago. He still has yet to return to the ring after that devastating headbutt to Kazuchika Okada. That was merely one night of competing in Strong Style. Imagine having to put on hard hitting performances like that every single day, yet alone on a WWE-lite schedule. That’s the G1 Climax.
Bodies are not made to withstand that kind of damage on a daily basis. Wrestlers don’t just compete in G1 and walk away. They survive the G1. The G1 Climax truly forces wrestler to pull out a second wind they may not have known they had in them and for the sake of their health, probably shouldn’t be testing the waters in.
The G1 isn’t made for everyone, but if Mox proves in August that he was made for G1, he will have proven why he deserves the big spotlight afforded to him after his WWE career has ended.
If August comes and goes and Jon Moxley truly impresses as we all expect him to in the G1, he truly would have earned his stripes that he belongs not only in NJPW, but he deserves every bit of post-WWE success that he has and will receive going forward.
Next. NJPW: Michael Elgin is wrong about Jon Moxley. dark
The Death Rider will have proven that he’s more just a flash in the pan, a flavor of the month, or one of NJPW’s “new toys,” but that he’s truly here to stay. That he hasn’t found post-WWE success just because he’s an ex-WWE guy, but because he’s worked hard for it no matter how big or small the stage he wrestles on happens to be.