Rumored plan for Kushida's in-ring return after his WWE exit
It looks like former WWE Superstar Kushida will return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling. New reports state he is interested in donning a new character back in his previous home.
Beginning his WWE journey in 2019, the star left the company on April 18 after his contract expired. Despite winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in 2021, the 38-year-old had an underwhelming run. It was also reported that the Japanese star desires to look for success elsewhere after his run with the Stamford-based promotion.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kushida did not have the same loyalty as the other wrestlers in NJPW when he left the company. Dave Meltzer highlighted that the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion now wishes to work with the best talent in New Japan with a change in character:
"New Japan has expected him [Kushida] back for some time since everyone could see very early in the run that he basically wasted three years of his prime doing almost nothing. At the time he left he wanted to try WWE while still in his prime and he wasn’t a New Japan dojo guy so he didn’t have the company loyalty that a lot of the talent there has... He does want to be a different character going back and work with the higher-profile guys.” (H/T - Cultaholic)
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Details on how WWE planned Kushida's exit
WWE came up with a plan to end the six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion's run in the company.
Kushida's last appearance in WWE came on the April 12 episode of NXT. He was scheduled to face Von Wagner, but the match didn't happen, with the Japanese star instead suffering a beatdown.
According to Dave Meltzer on his Wrestling Observer Radio, the company decided to showcase him suffering an injury to mark the end of his stint:
"They advertised the match [against Von Wagner] and then decided that they would just beat him up instead and injure him and that they would have Ikemen Jiro do the match instead. So, yeah, the powerbomb over the suitcases, that was writing him off the show."
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However, nothing has been confirmed yet, and fans will have to wait for an update on the star's future. It remains to be seen if he can repeat the same success this time if he indeed joins NJPW again.