The New Japan website conducted a new interview with the IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley and asked Mox his thoughts on his first experience in the G1, his future goals in NJPW and his relationship with Shota “Shooter” Umino as just a few of the topics. Moxley is set to defend his title against Juice Robinson in a rubber match at King Of Pro Wrestling on October 14, but states in the interview that whether he’s US Champ or not at the time come January he plans to be at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Were there ever any particularly difficult moments of the tour?
Moxley: The hardest night of the G1 was when I faced Jay White. He isn’t the most physically intimidating opponent when you compare him to monsters like Shingo, Goto or Ishii, but he had a lot of help at ringside. Every time I got the jump on him, someone came in and it was like wrestling three guys at once.
More than that it happened to be… the second day, I wrestled Taichi on the first day, and it was fine. I went through him like a buzzsaw, off to a good start. I’d come in prepared and felt great but I don’t know whether it was the travel or over training or what, but I woke up the second day and ‘ahh!’ I couldn’t move my head side to side. The nerve running through my neck to my shoulder blade and to my triceps. I don’t know whether it was a pinched nerve, or something like a stinger, but even with ice or massage there was no real alleviating it. I kept coming back to different degrees. I could manage it through that 5-0 streak, but by the time I got to Jay White, my second to last opponent, I was really hurting.
I’m not making excuses, we all know why the match went the way it did- F you Gedo- but every time I hit the mat… it was very painful to get through. I felt like I weighed a thousand pounds. I felt a shot of pain every time I hit the mat, hit him, or he hit me. It was a grueling 15-20 minutes at full tilt. I didn’t want to be lazy; I could have tried to protect it or worked a safer style, but this is the G1 and I didn’t want to take my foot off the gas. In the end, I didn’t win, but I was proud of myself just for gutting it out.
You talked a fair bit about Minoru Suzuki before the G1, and you mentioned him earlier. He wasn’t in the G1 but he said on Twitter he’d be interested in fighting you. Can you talk more about Suzuki?
Moxley: He’s just one of those guys I’ve always been a big fan of. He might wrestle another ten years, you don’t know, but you never know how many chances you might have to get in the ring with some guys. I’ve had the chance to wrestle the biggest stars in the business, guys I grew up watching as a kid all the way to today’s best. There’s very few on the list to check off and say ‘I wrestled him once’. Just to get the chance, just to see what would happen. You never know the chemistry we might end up having, or even if I got choked out in two minutes, so be it, it’d be an experience.
To look ahead, we’re in the Tokyo Dome on January 4 and 5. Is that interesting to you?
Moxley: 100% I plan to be at the Tokyo Dome. I don’t know who I’ll be facing, whether I’m still US Champion. But I’ve been in Wrestlemania, in the G1, and this is the next step. Anyone who’s anyone in Japan has competed in the Tokyo Dome, so I absolutely plan on being there.
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