Kota Ibushi surprised many when he made his return to The New Beginning show in Osaka, Japan; The former NEVER Openweight champion discussed his future with New Japan and confirmed that he was there to stay for the foreseeable future, which ultimately shutdown rumors on the New Japan star going to All Elite Wrestling.
Speaking to ShuPro (
translation via NJPW commentator Chris Charlton), Ibushi goes into detail on why he decided to stay with New Japan Pro Wrestling for the next two years, citing that he wanted to “keeping developing” in the promotion:
‘I want to wrestle exclusively for New Japan. If I can, I want to be on every card, every tour," said Ibushi.
“AEW said they just want me in their ring in some form. The ideal for them was for me to move to America and be there full time. I turned them down just after Wrestle Kingdom. If I went it would be the end of my career. There wouldn’t be anywhere else to go after that. No step up, nothing left to do. That would be the last step to make, and after that things would just go down. Great money, but I want to keep developing.”
Ibushi explains how his goals and Kenny Omega's goal in professional wrestling differ a bit:
“Kenny wants to change the world with wrestling. I think to change the world with wrestling, New Japan is the best place to do that. That’s where he and I differ. I can do all that here. I’m all the places I’ve been, NJPW is the highest level” Ibushi continued,
"What I realized (talking to AEW) was I really don’t care about money"
Ibushi is scheduled to take part in the upcoming New Japan Cup. The winner of the NJ Cup will challenge Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at NJPW-ROH G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.