Japanese wrestling legend Yuji Nagata recently spoke with the NJPW Press to discuss his IWGP United States title matchup against Jon Moxley, a bout that occurred on an episode of AEW Dynamite. During the interview Nagata reflected on being on the TNT network for the first time since his WCW days, and how he was even visited by Shinsuke Nakamura backstage following his appearance. Highlights are below.
Says he assumed the match would happen on NJPW Strong:
“I honestly had thought the whole time we were going to do it on NJPW STRONG. However much I thought about how NJPW and AEW relate, I didn’t think we would do it on Dynamite at all.”
On his return to the TNT network for the first time in 23 years:
“It was a nice piece to that story. In a real way that was part of a warm welcome from them, to have that touch of having that match live on TNT. I’ve always believed in showing that Yuji Nagata has a lot more fire than the average wrestler. That’s the same for every match, but this time in particular, I was back on TNT for the first time in 23 years. It was being broadcast across the US, and there was a big reaction before the match even started, with social media I definitely got that impression. It was just a shame with COVID, the crowd was pretty limited.”
Says he was fired up to perform in front of all the fans watching at home:
“When you wrestle over there though, it isn’t as much about wrestling to the people in the building as it is wrestling to the cameras and the TV audience. That’s what had me fired up.”
On the first time he met Moxley:
“I thought I would just say hello to be polite, but we ended up chatting for a while. He said he had been watching my matches for a long time, that he had wanted to meet me for a while. I’m a different generation to him, but apparently he saw recent matches of mine and got drawn in.”
Getting visted by Sonny Ono and Shinsuke Nakamura:
“Sonny isn’t in the best of shape with his heart, but he made it all the way from Iowa to Jacksonville. Shinsuke Nakamura came by my hotel as well.”