Report: Kota Ibushi Just Waiting For NJPW Release

Kota Ibushi recently made headlines after voicing his dissatisfaction with New Japan management, even alleging that NJPW had ties with the Yakuza.

Although it had been reported that NJPW were hoping to keep hold of Ibushi, a report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggests the inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion is eager to leave:

“Another wrestler very close to the situation who knows Ibushi said that he is just waiting to be released and isn’t going to say any more right now,” reported Meltzer. “But he said Ibushi has a lot more he could say, but doesn’t want to hurt the wrestling industry in Japan by doing so. There is a basic feeling in New Japan that the wrestlers care about the other wrestlers and people like Gedo in management do, and the doctors there very much do, but a lot of management treats them like pieces of meat. They believe they don’t care about the wrestlers themselves and that leads to problems…

“However, Ibushi also believes a lot of fans have turned on him for saying things negative about the company and privately because in Japanese society that is rare, people try to downplay what he’s said or dismiss it with the idea he’s nuts or bitter, especially revealing things like bookers and such which in the Japanese industry you don’t talk about publicly in that country. Ibushi has made it clear he also has no interest in returning to DDT.”