Kushida Heading Back To NJPW? – The belief within WWE is that Kushida is going to be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling at some stage in June, following his WWE departure, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
It was reported earlier this week by Fightful Select that Kushida had left WWE as his contract had expired, and Meltzer added that his deal actually finished this week. He also added that it is probably the case that he will be making a return to New Japan. It was also not a secret to the company that he was not going to stay. No official dates or announcements have been made regarding that. However, the company does have its Dominion show on June 12.
Kushida’s last official match for the company was on the March 22nd edition of NXT Level Up, which saw him and Ikemen Jiro lose against Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. However, he was also on NXT 2.0 last week, being attacked backstage by Von Wagner. This was seemingly done to write him out of the company. It is currently unknown what the plans are for Kushida’s former Jacket Time partner Ikemen Jiro.
Kushida originally signed with WWE back in April, 2019, and since then he has been primarily used on NXT. During his time with the company, he was able to capture the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, which he held for 161 days before dropping it to Roderick Strong.
The 38-year-old originally worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling from 2010 to 2019, and he enjoyed a lot of success during that period. Kushida held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title six times. He also held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles twice alongside Alex Shelley. Kushida also won the Super Jr. Tag Tournament with Shelley in 2012, and he won the singles version of that in 2016.
