Umino speaks candidly ahead of the title bout.
The next pay-per-view for the New Japan STRONG brand is Resurgence on May 11th in Ontario, California. The main event of the night will see Jon Moxley defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Shota Umino.
Moxley won the title from Tetsuya Naito at Windy City Riot and since then, he’s defended against Powerhouse Hobbs on AEW Dynamite and Ren Narita at Wrestling Dontaku.
Shota told NJPW1972.com that the title has been treated terribly with meaningless defenses. He added that he should’ve been the first challenger. Umino is more upset at New Japan than anyone else and said NJPW is not AEW’s feeder.
And (the IWGP World Heavyweight Title has) been treated terribly, with meaningless title matches elsewhere. I should have been the first contender and I became number three. There’s a lot I could say. I’m frustrated, and I’m angry. But he (Jon Moxley) took the title, so what he does and where he does it isn’t something I can complain about.
But NJPW isn’t AEW’s feeder. Foreign wrestlers respect Japan, respect NJPW and want to wrestle here. So where is NJPW’s pride? Why aren’t we proving that Japanese wrestling is best in the world? I’m honestly pissed at New Japan. I’m angry, frustrated, upset. That’s another reason why I need to take the title from Moxley.
(I want) to bring back that NJPW icon to NJPW. The three things I want right now is to take the belt back from an outsider, to restore pride in NJPW, in the IWGP and in strong style, bring that dignity back, and to properly start a new era in NJPW.
Umino stated that using the ‘Death Rider’ to take the title from Moxley would be huge.
While I was still a Young Lion, Moxley taught me that move (Death Rider). They might look similar, but in the details, I think I’ve made my version entirely mine. But my mentor taught me it. And it got me results while I was overseas. It got me to the point where I’m challenging for the World Title. Whatever move I do, I do it with pride and respect. Using it to beat Moxley would be huge.
Rocky Romero addressed the criticisms of the IWGP World Heavyweight Title presentation under Moxley’s reign. To read that, click here.
There will be coverage of Resurgence here on POST Wrestling.
