Jon Moxley's next title contender to be decided in #1 Contender match in tournament final

NJPW is finally making their presence in the United States known, even during the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. For a long time now, Jon Moxley has been the IWGP United States Champion, but never ended up defending it in the United States itself. While this could be because of a contract stipulation with his other company, AEW, where he is the AEW World Champion, that's not confirmed at the moment.

However, NJPW launched their NJPW Strong event for the United States, airing it directly after WWE SmackDown on Friday nights at 10 PM EST. The timing was well-crafted to ensure that they got the wrestling audience from the United States going on to see the events on NJPW World, as well as the Japanese audience, who would be able to see it due to the early hours of the day when it is being broadcast in Japan.

Currently, NJPW is holding the NJPW US Cup on the Friday night episodes of NJPW Strong. This tournament has featured a number of wrestlers from NJPW, who are all competing to win the tournament. The winner of the tournament is the one set to face Jon Moxley in a future match for the IWGP United States Championship.

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KENTA vs David Finlay to determine Jon Moxley's IWGP United States Championship contender

On this week's episode of NJPW Strong, the semi-final matches of the NJPW US Cup tournament took place. Although Jeff Cobb had said that he would be the one to face Jon Moxley and had even talked about a deathmatch, unfortunately, he will not be facing the Champion.

Are we sure the ring is gonna handle this match?? https://t.co/duEuxJ6Ali

— Darth Thought #JoinTheDarkOrder (@shadowsofthot) August 15, 2020

KENTA faced Jeff Cobb in one of the semi-final matches of the night and used a downed referee to his advantage. He kicked Jeff Cobb low and then pinned him, getting the win and one step closer to face Jon Moxley.

On the other side of things, David Finlay faced Tama Tonga in a rather short match and picked up the win to move on to the finals.

A STRONG start indeed! Up after the break, LEC presents New Japan Cup USA action! Who makes the finals? WATCH: https://t.co/Y4xnoDADpB#njcupUSA #njpwSTRONG pic.twitter.com/s3NpiWGvDB

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) August 15, 2020

On next week's show, KENTA will face David Finlay in the finals of the tournament, and the winner will face Jon Moxley. WWE fans will be familiar with KENTA, as he was known as Hideo Itami during his time with the company.