Report: Kushida Leaves WWE
The former Cruiserweight champion is gone
Apr 19, 2022
Fightful Select has reported that former WWE Cruiserweight champion Kushida has left the organization.
The report indicates that the exit is due to Kushida's contract expiring, and wasn't a release. There's no word as to whether or not WWE offered him a new deal.
As it stands, Kushida's last match with WWE aired on the March 25 episode of NXT's Level Up, where he teamed with Jacket Time partner Ikemen Jiro in a loss to Edris Enofe and Malik Blade.
A week earlier, Kushida lost a five-minute bout to A-Kid on NXT 2.0.
Following a nine year tenure with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Kushida signed with WWE in 2019. During his time with New Japan, Kushida was a six time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with Time Splitters partner Alex Shelley).
Kushida won the NXT Cruiserweight title on April 13, 2021, defeating Santos Escobar. He held the title for a little over five months, before dropping it to Roderick Strong shortly after the NXT 2.0 rebrand.
