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Jon Moxley has maintained his hot streak since leaving WWE as the #1 contender for the AEW World Championship is as relevant as he's ever been in his entire career.
The former WWE Superstar regained the IWGP United States Championship from Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch at Wrestle Kingdom 14 earlier this month.
Dave Meltzer now reports that NJPW didn't know about the match stipulation until Moxley announced it on the fly during a live promo. It was an organic move that wasn't pre-planned.
Meltzer stated on the Wrestling Observer Radio that Moxley came up with the Texas Deathmatch stipulation as he realized that Lance Archer is from Texas.
It was revealed that NJPW booker Gedo may not have had prior information about Moxley's announcement. There was also some confusion regarding the rules of the match in NJPW. which were later clarified by the company.
Here's what Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed during a recent edition of the WOR:
Meltzer: Yeah, I'm trying to remember the exact story but essentially, the Texas Deathmatch happened organically. This was not like something where, when they were coming down with the card, they go, 'Let's make this into a Texas Deathmatch. Moxley was kind of like doing a promo and thinking about his promo,
Alvarez: This was not as the promo was happening?
Meltzer: Yeah, I think it was. And, umm, and Lance Archer is from Texas,
Alvarez: Is this a live promo?
Meltzer: It was a live promo. So he was just thinking Texas Deathmatch, and Gedo was fine with it.
Alvarez: So before he even asked Gedo, he like, just in the middle of the promo, he decided to challenge this guy to a Texas Deathmatch and he said it and then he went to get the okay?
Meltzer: I'm not sure whether he asked him right before he went out, I actually was told the story but I don't remember it 100% because it was late at night after a long flight, but he either said Texas Deathmatch to Gedo and Gedo said fine, or he already said Texas Deathmatch afterwards and Gedo said fine. But he did not know the rules of a Texas Deathmatch when he said Texas Deathmatch.
It was not Gedo, it was Moxley who came up with Texas Deathmatch because he looked at Lance Archer - he's from Texas, and Texas Deathmatch popped into his head, and somehow this wound up being a Texas Deathmatch, which was good because you probably figure, with all the regular matches on the show, you want to do something that will stand out and be different and all these other matches are going have all the near fall, near fall, near fall. So, with the Texas Deathmatch, it's the 10-count, so it was a different kind of a match.
Alvarez: Now didn't he know what a Texas Deathmatch was or just the way the rules would be in New Japan?
Meltzer: He didn't know what the rules would be in New Japan. He knew what a Texas Deathmatch was, he knew different versions of it.
Alvarez: You'd have to pin the guy first and then they'd count or just count?
Meltzer: Or they would do just 10, yeah. He didn't know that one, he did it, he just had the idea of a Texas Deathmatch and yeah, it was an organic thing.
