Jon Moxley is prepping for the grueling G1 Climax tournament.
The IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley has been outside the walls of WWE for several months now and within that time period he has signed with All Elite Wrestling, been announced for the company's All Out show in August and starting on July 13th, Moxley will begin his journey in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax tournament. Moxley is a part of the B block and his first match is against former two-time NEVER Openweight Champion Taichi.
Moxley's fellow All Elite Wrestling roster-mate Adam "Hangman" Page has stated that the G1 is one of the most grueling tournaments in professional wresting because of the toll it takes on one's body. Jon Moxley is expecting it to be a grinding tour but shared with ESPN that his time with WWE and making the rounds on those international tours have prepared him for the G1.
"I expect it to be a grinding tour," Moxley said. "But dude, I've done the most horrific WWE European and worldwide tours that you could imagine. Like no days off, 14 days straight, 25 minutes every night in the main event. Going through tables every single night. I could have done the G1 next year, done some more matches in Japan, got a feel for the style," Moxley said. "I've gotta do this sh*t in four weeks. Basically, this is a crash course in New Japan. This might be my one opportunity do it. I heard a lot of stuff about how hard this tournament is, how grueling this tournament is. When one of the top companies in the world with such great history invites you to their flagship event -- yeah, it'll be hard, but you only get one life. What am I gonna say? No? Why would I be saying no?"
Moxley reflected on the night he captured the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title from Juice Robinson. Moxley shared that once the match began, there was no chatter between the referee and a backstage official and he realized that it was just him and his opponent in the ring and that is what he feels is professional wrestling.
"Being over there [in Japan] was like, 'Oh, it's just pro wrestling,'" Moxley said. "It's like the pro wrestling I grew up on. Pro wrestling is a sport. It's simple. It's a story, two guys, the conflict. We're having a fight in the ring. Wins and losses. New Japan is very sport-centric. If you're kind of burned out on sports entertainment and watching people have big, long diatribes in the ring and you want to get back to sweat flying, people chopping each other, suplexing each other, going for submissions, the sport of professional wrestling -- if you miss that, then the G1 is gonna be for you."
Former WWE star KENTA, who'll also be in the G1 did an interview with NJPW1972.com and expressed that if his current run in wrestling does not work out, he is done. To check out his full comments, head over to Fightful's published article about the comments.
