NJPW: Jon Moxley will have a title match at Wrestle Kingdom 14
AEW wrestler Jon Moxley made his return to NJPW on Night 17 of the World Tag League, and he challenged IWGP United States Champion Lance Archer to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January.
Jon Moxley hadn’t appeared in NJPW since the G1 Climax last year, where he defeated two of the best wrestlers in the company in Tetsuya Naito and Tomohiro Ishii. The AEW star made his return on Dec. 8 at the World Tag League Finals, spoiling the celebrations after Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki defeated KENTA and Yujiro Takahashi.
A former IWGP United States Champion himself who never actually lost the title, Mox challenged the current US champ, Archer to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 next month. And he made his statement by hitting Archer with the “Death Rider” before beginning his promo with the title challenge.
Moxley vs. Archer will take place as a “Texas Deathmatch”, per Moxley’s request, which adds even more intrigue to this match. Both men are hard-hitting and willing to go through extraordinary amounts of pain to put on a show, so this WK match will stand out from the others on the card and help increase the value of the US Title even more. Moxley is a very popular man in wrestling, so he’ll attract plenty of new eyes to NJPW’s biggest show of the year.
As for Archer, he’s enjoyed an excellent 2019 and has been one of NJPW’s breakout stars in terms of upping his game in the ring. He’s put on fantastic matches with Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay this year, in addition to his usual high level of work in the ring as a tag team wrestler. Archer won the US Title in October off Juice Robinson, who was Moxley’s original opponent before he relinquished the title, and has one successful defense against David Finlay.
Archer and Moxley will push each other to their limits, and this will be a must-see Texas Deathmatch on another Wrestle Kingdom card loaded with must-see matches on Jan. 4 and 5.