10 NJPW Matches To Watch Before AEW Forbidden Door
5. Jon Moxley Vs Toru Yano - G1 Climax 29
NJPW is known for its in-ring style, its focus on straight up wrestling matches, but it also excels at comedy. And no wrestler embodies that quite like Toru Yano. Yano had an excellent amateur wrestling career, and was originally a hardcore brawler in his early NJPW days. He founded CHOAS with Shinsuke Nakamura in 2009, and evolved throughout the early 2010s into the character he is today: the DVD-selling, low-blowing, roll up merchant who's always a threat to upset a big star.
In 2019, Jon Moxley entered the G1 Climax, NJPW's annual heavyweight tournament where the winner earning the right to challenge the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at Wrestle Kingdom. Moxley started his first G1 on fire, winning his first five matches with Young Lion Shota "Shooter" Umino at his side. Then he ran into New Japan's undisputed king of comedy.
What followed was pure comedy wrestling brilliance; wrist tape, DVDs, 10,000 yen, corner pads, and Moxley's first loss of the tournament. Mox wouldn't win another match in the G1 after this fateful day. Watch this match and see a side of Jon Moxley that he rarely shows in AEW, while being introduced to Toru Yano and the G1 Climax tournament.