10 Matches For The Ultimate NJPW Vs. AEW Supercard
2. Jon Moxley Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Another deliberate match designed to slowly absorb a crowd running on fumes at this point, this situates the Ace in a new, shocking context with major potential to exploit his once-in-a-generation babyface genius in a way we haven’t yet witnessed.
Moxley is a plunder match psychopath on the scant evidence of his AEW run thus far; Tanahashi a marvel with the ability to coax support from the crowd through his agonised selling alone. The unprecedented visual of Moxley wrapping Tana’s knackered bicep in barbed wire has an appeal both emotive and transgressive, but before that, this is a match with real potential to build as a physical battle before the gimmicks enter play.
Moxley excelled as every breed of pro wrestler in his excellent G1 run. His grappling in particular put him over as both elemental, physical force and astute tactician alike.
An early, mat-based encounter would escalate superbly into something decidedly less than pure in a match from which attention cannot be diverted: the intensifying tone of the dynamic and the inherent, different charisma of both acts is the foundation from which something as ugly and as it is beautiful can build.