Shota Umino To Face Jon Moxley At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom If He Wins IWGP US Title At Power Struggle
New Japan Pro Wrestling have officially announced that Jon Moxley will face off with Shota Umino at Wrestle Kingdom.
The student could be battling the master come NJPW Wrestle Kingdom at the beginning of next year.
Shota Umino is scheduled to face off with IWGP UK/US Champion Will Ospreay at NJPW Power Struggle, and the championship will be on the line. To this day, Shota remains a protoge to Jon Moxley, with the pair yet to cross paths inside the ring since Moxley took Umino under his wing in 2019 when he made his way to Japan following his WWE exit.
Now, it seems that the two are destined to dance in the future. That is, if Shota Umino can dethrone Ospreay at Power Struggle. New Japan Pro Wrestling announced on Friday that should Shota defeat Ospreay, he will go on to face off with Jon Moxley at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th, 2024.
Tomorrow!
If @shooter_us wins the IWGP US and UK Championships at Power Struggle- he will challenge mentor Jon Moxley for Wrestle Kingdom!
Watch: https://t.co/NV5YPCrQeE#njpw #njpst pic.twitter.com/qx1A8Hn79j
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) November 3, 2023
This will be a dream come true for Shooter, as he recently stated that his dream is to face Moxley for the title at Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome.
Meanwhile, Moxley is currently involved in a rivalry in AEW for the International Championship, attacking Orange Cassidy on Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite. Moxley has previously held the IWGP US Championship on two occasions.
