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NJPW Star Furious Over AEW’s Title Double Standard

Jon Moxley promo on AEW Dynamite

With Forbidden Door just around the corner, one of the stars of NJPW has hit out at AEW for its double standards.

On April 12th at NJPW Windy City Riot, Jon Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title for the first time. Moxley’s title reign has proven to be controversial among the stars of NJPW as his commitments to AEW mean that he hasn’t been as visible in Japan as expected of the holder of the top title in New Japan. Even rising star Shota Umino – who Mox took under his wing during his first tour of NJPW – has hit out at his mentor for not being present ahead of his title defences.

Moxley’s first defence of the gold also proved to be contentious as he granted a title shot to Powerhouse Hobbs only days after winning the championship. Fans have complained that Hobbs had done little to earn the match.

Now, the announcement of a Forbidden Door Casino Gauntlet to determine the challenger for Swerve Strickland’s AEW World Championship has been met with scorn from New Japan star Jeff Cobb. Alluding to Hobbs’ title challenge, Cobb took to social media to complain that New Japan wrestlers would have to go through a gauntlet to get a shot at the company’s title despite “those dorks” in AEW just having to ask for a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Title.

“Funny, New Japan guys have to go through a Gauntlet “match” but those dorks can just say they want a shot at our biggest title and it gets granted. Even Stevie Wonder can see how stupid that is”

Jon Moxley In Title Eliminator Match On AEW Dynamite

Hot on the heels of seeing off a challenge from Konosuke Takeshita at Double or Nothing, Jon Moxley will be part of another IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Eliminator match on the May 29th edition of Dynamite. This time, he will put a potential title shot on the line against Rocky Romero, a man with a long history in New Japan and a Vice President behind the scenes in both NJPW and AEW.