Former WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida made his return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling at the end of Tuesday’s New Japan Road event. After Taiji Ishimori successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in the show’s main event, Kushida arrived to confront him. He cut a promo for the fans in attendance, saying he had re-signed with the promotion and intends to wrestle there for the rest of his career.ย
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Prior to his jump to WWE in 2019, “The Time-Splitter” was one of the most decorated junior heavyweights in New Japan history. He has held the division’s top title on six different occasions, the junior tag team championships twice and won the Super J-Cup, the Super Jr. Tag Tournament and the Best of the Super Juniors (twice).ย
“Antonio Inoki once said ‘It’s better to make the jungle than it is to protect it.’ I think we’re on the verge of something really cool here. I’m excited for it. I left the junior heavyweight division three and a half years ago, and Taiji Ishimori, Hiromu Takahashi, El Desperado have pushed the division up. They sold the place out tonight and had this incredible match. So if I don’t take that belt, then there isn’t a place for me in NJPW. To make a place for myself, I’ll give it all I’ve got,” Kushida said in a post-show press conference.ย
The Japanese star officially signed with WWE just a few days before WrestleMania 35 back in 2019. Unfortunately, other than a reign with the now-defunct Cruiserweight Championship, he never managed to make a noticeably impact in the company’s NXT brand. He started teaming with Ikemen Jiro as the comedic tag team Jacket Time in late 2021 and was written off TV by getting attacked by Von Wagner.ย
It’s unclear if Kushida will be involved in Sunday’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view crossover event with AEW. The card for that show currently features:
- Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
- IWGP World Championship: Jay White vs. TBA
- AEW All-Atlantic Championship: PAC vs. Miro vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Malakai Black/Penta Oscuro
- IWGP United States Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm
- ROH and IWGP Tag Team Championships: FTR vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan vs. Roppongi Vice
- Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
