Samoa Joe commends Jon Moxley's decision to go after Tetsuya Naito.
After defeating Shingo Takagi in a bloody bout at NJPW Battle in the Valley 2024, Jon Moxley issued a challenge to Tetsuya Naito for a non-title match. The challenge was accepted in the match will take place at NJPW Windy City Riot in Chicago in April 2024.
Moxley is no stranger to World Championships. He is a former WWE Champion and the only individual to hold the AEW World Championship on three separate occasions.
The current AEW World Champion, Samoa Joe, recently applauded MOX's decision to take aim at a different World Champion. During an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Joe remarked that it was probably a tactical decision as Jon Moxley would rather face any World Champion in wrestling except for him.
“Moxley doing that, it doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Joe. “If I were MOX, I’d look to take someone else’s belt, too. He wants to fight any other champion in the world but me. There was thought behind what he did. Let’s not deny that.
“That gets back to the wonder of AEW: it’s a worldwide marketplace" he continued. "You can compete against champions from around the world, not just hidden in your own pocket dimension where no one else can get it. If Mox wants to parade that belt around the real world’s champion, I’d be more than happy to give him a better perspective on where his championship reign really stands.”
Samoa Joe is prepared to have his first defense of the AEW World Championship when he battles HOOK on the January 17 episode of AEW Dynamite. Fans can check out the full card for the event here.
Fightful has live coverage of AEW Dynamite every Wednesday night as it airs on TBS. We will also have a podcast breaking down all the action after the show goes off the air on our YouTube channel.
