Kota Ibushi was recently announced as making his GCW debut in March, and soon after, NJPW issued a statement announcing his departure from the company. The 41-year-old is now one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling, with any company doing well to sign him up.
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Since Ibushi is back in the collective consciousness, let's relive this moment from a couple of years ago where he explains how he lives on a 25-hour a day schedule. pic.twitter.com/HpNUCn4lgc
— Mr. Warren Hayes (@MrWarrenHayes) January 31, 2023
One promotion that has been linked with Ibushi is AEW, whose Executive Vice President and the reigning World Trios Champion Kenny Omega is his close friend. It has been reported that the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has attracted the interest of numerous companies, with AEW President Tony Khan also commenting on reports linking his organization to the star:
“There’s a lot of great free agents in the world of pro wrestling, but certainly Kota Ibushi is a great talent. When you have a name like that, that is certainly somebody everybody in the world of pro wrestling would be very fortunate to have in their promotion. We really wanted to work with him in the past, so I think that is certainly something we’d have to consider.”
Ibushi, who hasn’t wrestled since dislocating his right shoulder in the 2021 G1 Climax finals against Kazuchika Okada, will debut for GCW at The Collective 2023 during WrestleMania 39 Weekend in Los Angeles. He will appear in at least two events, with a match against Mike Bailey already announced.
