Kota Ibushi once unknowingly high-fived WWE Chairman Vince McMahon; AEW's Kenny Omega reacts to it
New Japan Pro Wrestling Superstar Kota Ibushi, is considered one of the finest in-ring performers in the world of professional wrestling today. 'The Golden Star' is currently under contract with NJPW but has competed all around the world, even in WWE.
SirLARIATO, a wrestling GIF maker, shared an interesting story from a Daily DDT article from four years ago, regarding Ibushi's days in WWE. The particular excerpt that was shared on Twitter was regarding Ibushi's backstage encounter with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon at NXT TakeOver: Dallas.
The story claimed that Ibushi seemingly gave a "high-five" to a "big-man" when he went backstage during the show and coincidentally enough that "big-man" turned out to be WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon. The quote from the story further claimed that Ibushi apparently had no idea who Vince McMahon was, which made backstage staff "really upset".
Here is the tweet shared by SirLARIATO:
The Observer's Dave Meltzer also claimed that the story is indeed true:
Meltzer's tweet caught the attention of All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice-President and Ibushi's former tag-team partner, Kenny Omega. The former one-half of The Golden Lovers wrote that it might be hard to believe but some of the most talented wrestlers in the world aren't constantly walking on eggshells. You can check out Kenny Omega's tweet at this link.
Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi have quite a history with each other. The two men initially worked under DDT Pro Wrestling but made their way over to New Japan, where they eventually went their different paths with Ibushi embracing the love and support of the Japanese audience, whereas, Omega had gone rogue and joined the Bullet Club.
In 2018, however, The Golden Lovers reunited for the first time since 2014 when Ibushi saved Omega from a Cody Rhodes-led Bullet Club assault but after the creation of AEW, the two Golden Lovers parted ways once again in 2019.
Kota Ibushi's time in WWE
During his time with WWE, Ibushi competed in the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic Tournament and defeated the likes of Sean Maluta, Cedric Alexander, and Brian Kendrick but was eliminated by eventual tournament winner T. J. Perkins.
He then went on to compete in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where he was originally supposed to team up with Hideo Itami AKA KENTA but the latter was replaced by TJ Perkins due to an injury.
All this while Ibushi hadn't signed an official contract with WWE and following the elimination of him and Perkins from the Dusty Classic, Ibushi also marked his departure from WWE.