In April 2024 at NJPW Windy City Riot in Chicago, AEW’s Jon Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to capture the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. It meant the world to Moxley and he stated that he had been chasing the belt for the past five years since leaving WWE. However, Naito intends to get his championship back this Sunday at AEW Forbidden Door.
Naito Answers Questions
Tetsuya Naito sat at a table before traveling to the United States on June 25th to answer questions about the IWPG Championship match. According to Tokyo Sports, Naito started the conversation off by saying, “I’m the one who leaked the belt, so I’ll take the responsibility for getting it back.” He believes the recapture of his country’s treasure is the supreme order.
However, at the moment, Naito is thinking about both the AEW Forbidden Door on June 29th and the NJPW Budokan Tournament in Tokyo on July 5th. The Tokyo Budokan tournament would mark a triumphant return to his hometown as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. In this tournament, Naito will be taking on Hiromu Takahashi in a six-man tag team match for the first time. Naito stated, “It’s not a title match or a singles match, but you want to stand in front of him with the belt because I’m your mentor. If it’s the first time I’m going to stand on the diagonal, I want to show my intentions as a master.”
Moxley Not in NJPW G1 Climax 34 Tournament
No one can say that Jon Moxley hasn’t been defending his championship. After winning the IWGP belt, Moxley has continued to compete in different one-off appearances at NJPW events. Many fans were shocked though when NJPW announced the wrestlers that would be in the G1 Climax 34 Tournament and Jon Moxley’s name wasn’t there. The G1 could be held without the NJPW champion for the first time in 16 years since the 2008 tournament.
Tetsuya Naito responded about Moxley’s exclusion with, “You don’t want to do that, but for the customers who came to the venue with not much knowledge of professional wrestling, they would say, ‘Oh, there’s no champion in the league to decide who is the strongest in this organization?’ I don’t think it makes sense.” Then Naito doubles down and says to Tokyo Sports that he would be willing to transfer his spot in the G1 tournament to Jon Moxley if he could not beat him this Sunday at AEW Forbidden Door.
Naito Follows Up with Fans’ Thoughts
For those who don’t know the G1 tournament is held every year all over Japan. There are two blocks of wrestlers and within each block, they do a round-robin style of matches. It is considered one of the most grueling tournaments in pro wrestling. They will be wrestling 18 matches in 30 days.
If you go to any Reddit forums, Twitter/X, or message boards, then you will see that the NJPW fans aren’t very excited about Moxley not being in the G1 tournament. Naito seems to say what some fans have been thinking.
He says, “I wonder if they didn’t offer him the title, or if they did offer him the title, but he turned it down. I don’t know if Moxley will have the schedule open, or if New Japan will approve it. However, there have been cases in the past where it was approved (when Satoshi Kojima handed it over to Hiroyoshi Tenzan before the 2016 tournament). If I don’t get the belt back, the IWGP World Champion who has beaten me consecutively will be a much more deserving opponent than me. After all, it’s a Grade 1 fight.”
Naito on AEW Dynamite
On June 26th, Tetsuya Naito showed up in one of his breakaway suits. He came down the ramp during the match where Blackpool Combat Club took on LIJ. Moxley met him on the ramp as Naito was pulling off his suit. Both men were brawling from the ramp to backstage. I’m excited to see this match.
I know many fans act like Naito is extremely old, but he’s only 42 years old and he put on a good match the last time with Moxley. However, I am afraid it will get out of control with both wanting to do something to get them noticed on the card. My prediction is for Jon Moxley to lose the championship. I hope it doesn’t happen because I would like to see him take on some others in NJPW, but I guess his time may just be over.
