Jon Moxley is working out just fine for New Japan Pro Wrestling, as is Jushin Liger's retirement tour.
Before Liger hangs it up this weekend, English-speaking fans seem to be taking well to his retirement tour -- specifically his battles with Minoru Suzuki. Along with Jon Moxley, a video of the two was the only current clip to break the one million view barrier on New Japan Pro Wrestling's English-language Youtube.
Elsewhere, Jon Moxley dominated the list, with his backstage promo with a loopy Shota Umino blowing everything else out of the water. The clip landed at 3.6M views, which is as much as #2-8 on the list got combined, and as many as the top six videos on the list not featuring Moxley.
Below, Fightful has compiled the top 15 videos of New Japan's year.
- Moxley and Shota's backstage promo (3.6M)
- Minoru Suzuki bows to Jushin Thunder Liger (1.1M)
- KENTA Joins Bullet Club (799k)
- Okada wins, Jericho speaks (525k)
- Moxley wants Umino to give him lines (446k)
- Moxley's post-title win (416k)
- KENTA wants in the G1 (408K)
- Liger and Suzuki won't quit (362k)
- Jay White wins, Goto, Okada, Ibushi, Tanahashi hit the ring (359k)
- Kishin Liger unleashed (332k)
- Moxley remains undefeated (306k)
- Hiromu Takahashi returns (300k)
- Moxley still undefeated (276k)
- Suzuki demasks Liger (273k)
- Liger says he and Suzuki will kill each other (266k)
It should be noted that the New Japan channel is still growing, and they don't usually post footage in the way WWE, AEW or IMPACT do. Most of their content is from post-match interviews or scrums.
The company's Japanese channel posts categorically different footage. There are plenty of highlights, news update videos and the like to better garner a localized interest in certain topics. The Suzuki/Liger feud maintained the interest of viewers, and Takashi Iizuka's retirement even landed on the top 15. There was some solid parallel between the two channels -- KENTA, Moxley, Liger, but plenty of differences along the way as well. The content is way different on New Japan's channel, even though many of the highlights could theoretically be posted on their US channel as well.
Below is a top 15.
- NJPW News Flash October 2 (639k) Kishin Liger thumbnail
- New Japan Cup 2019 Highlights (477k) Logo thumbnail
- NJPW News Flash August 12: KENTA In Bullet Club (441k)
- NJPW News Flash February 21 Iizuka Retires (424k)
- New Beginning In Sapporo Feb 3 Highlight (406k) Iizuka thumbnail
- New Beginning In Sapporo Feb 3 Highlight (395k) Okada/Tanahashi thumbnail
- NJPW News Flash September 20 (366k) Suzuki/Liger Thumbnail
- Jon Moxley Interview (364k)
- New Beginning In Osaka Feb 11 Highlight (342k) Jay White thumbnail
- NJPW News Flash November 3: Hiromu Takahashi returns (326k)
- Road to New Beginning Jan 28 (325k) Taichi/Naito thumbnail
- New Japan Cup March 10 Highlight (324k) Ibushi/Naito thumbnail
- G1 Supercard Highlights (313k) Okada thumbnail
- New Japan Cup March 24 Highlight (308k) Okada thumbnail
- Suzuki vs. Liger VTR (307k)
When using this list, please credit Fightful for compiling it.
