Jon Moxley Defeats KENTA To Retain IWGP US Championship

Jon Moxley successfully retained his IWGP United States Championship on Friday night in a brutal match with KENTA on NJPW Strong.

This long awaited match certainly lived up to the hype. KENTA took advantage early on, nailing Mox with a DDT onto his No.1 Contender briefcase. Moxley’s title reign seemed to be in jeopardy when he was put through a table with a diving elbow.

Eventually Moxley fought back, catching KENTA with a flurry of offence before hitting the challenger with the Death Rider DDT. Moxley left the arena on a high note, telling fans that everything hurts, but he loves this feeling.

NJPW Global celebrated Moxley’s victory, taking to Twitter to declare Moxley the undisputed champion:

#andSTILL #MOXvsKENTA pic.twitter.com/mC4LoytwAv

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 27, 2021

Moxley won the IWGP US Championship for the first time in June 2019 in his NJPW debut. He was forced to relinquish the title due to travel issues, before winning it back at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in 2020.

Because of the pandemic, Moxley hadn’t been able to defend the title since February 2020. KENTA had been defending his No.1 Contender’s briefcase over the course of 2020, acting as an unofficial interim champion.

Moxley now has his sights set on regaining the AEW World Championship at Revolution 2021. Challenging Kenny Omega in an exploding barbed-wire death match, Moxley has promised that the match will be violent and unforgettable.

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• kenta
• NJPW
• Jon Moxley
• AEW

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