In his Wrestle Kingdom debut, Jon Moxley put up another classic performance at the Tokyo Dome, as The Death Rider won back the IWGP United States Championship from Lance Archer following a brutal Texas Deathmatch between the two former WWE Superstars.
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How did Jon Moxley lose the IWGP US Championship?
Having won the IWGP US Championship in his first-ever match for New Japan Pro Wrestling at the 2019 Best of Super Junior Finals, Jon Moxley was forced to vacate the title after having failed to travel to Japan due to Typhoon Hagibis before the King of Pro Wrestling event.
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Instead, Moxley was replaced by Lance Archer in the title match, as The American Psycho defeated Juice Robinson to win his first singles title in New Japan by capturing the IWGP US Championship.
Jon Moxley wins back the IWGP US Championship
On the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 and in the first singles title match of the evening, Jon Moxley won back the IWGP US Title from Lance Archer in one of the most brutal matches of the year (and its just the fourth day of the year!).
The two men hit each other with brutal chair and trash can lid shots throughout the match, and Archer even choke-slammed a young lion into Moxley at one point in the encounter.
The finish to the contest saw Moxley hit Archer a Death Rider DDT through two tables that were placed on the outside, as the AEW star became a two-time IWGP US Champion. Following the match, Moxley took to the microphone and sent a message to Juice Robinson, against whom the former will defend the IWGP US Championship on Night 2.
Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.
In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.
In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).
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