JD McDonagh Claims New Japan Star Couldn't Lace His Boots

By Matthew Wilkinson

The newest member of the "WWE NXT 2.0" roster JD McDonagh (fka Jordan Devlin) has taken to Twitter in order to take a shot at New Japan Pro Wrestling star Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Both men utilize the term 'Ace' as nicknames in their respective careers, but the Irish Ace believes that he is the better of the two men, at least according to his latest tweet. WWE's NXT Twitter account shared the teaser for McDonagh debuting on the show soon, stating "The ACE everywhere he goes."

The Irishman then opted to share that, adding "Tanahashi couldn't lace my boots," in what was a clear shot at the New Japan Pro Wrestling competitor.

McDonagh has been repackaged ahead of his debut on the American brand, losing his previous Jordan Devlin name, but he has yet to appear on the show outside of vignettes. McDonagh's last match took place on "WWE NXT UK," where he has primarily worked throughout his WWE career as he was beaten by Ilja Dragunov in a loser leaves "NXT UK" match.

McDonagh has appeared in "WWE NXT" previously as he is a former "NXT" Cruiserweight Champion, winning the title at the 2020 WWE World's Collide event, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he wasn't able to appear in America, which led to an interim title being created and won by Santos Escobar.

The two men eventually clashed to unify the belts in a ladder match at NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver 2021, which was won by the Legado Del Fantasma leader, ending McDonagh's reign at 438 days. Since then he has been firmly focused on "WWE NXT UK," but he failed to capture the "NXT UK" Championship during that time.

Tanahashi also failed to win a title in his most recent match, as he was part of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door main event, competing against Jon Moxley. That encounter was eventually won by the former WWE Superstar, making him the interim AEW World Champion.

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