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A new challenger for Jon Moxley!
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that the promotion will be hosting its first-ever New Japan Cup USA Tournament, as the Japanese promotion continues its expansion in the United States of America.
The tournament will feature eight men in two different columns in a single-elimination tournament, and the eventual winner of the tourney will get a shot at Jon Moxley's IWGP United States Championship. The inaugural NJ Cup USA Tournament will begin on the 7th of August on the debut of NJPW Strong.
The eight men who will be competing in this tournament are currently in the US and haven't been able to compete on Japanese soil for NJPW for quite some time now, mostly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The competitors and the matches that have been confirmed for the first-ever NJ Cup Tournament are:
- Karl Fredricks vs KENTA
- Jeff Cobb vs Tanga Loa
- David Finlay vs Chase Owens
- Brody King vs Tama Tonga
Jon Moxley's reign as IWGP US Champion
Jon Moxley is currently in his second reign as IWGP US Champion after having won the title back from Lance Archer at this year's Wrestle Kingdom 14 event. However, due to the ongoing travel restrictions caused by COVID-19, Moxley is unable to travel back-and-forth between Japan and the USA.
Jon Moxley is also the reigning AEW World Champion, meaning that he is almost required to appear on AEW TV every week for Dynamite and traveling between Japan and the USA on a weekly basis, at this stage, isn't exactly the safest option.
Nevertheless, with NJPW announcing a brand new version of the New Japan Cup in the US, it now looks like Jon Moxley will finally be defending his IWGP US Title on American soil. The tournament has a lot of Bullet Club influence on it, with four out the eight members currently representing the faction and there is a possibility that by the end of it all, the IWGP US Title could go back to the Bullet Club.
