Kota Ibushi: Rebuilding the Golden Star
A few days back, Kota Ibushi defeated Jay White to win the 2019 G1 Climax. Ibushi overcame the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenta and Sanada in his block matches and put on a classic show against White in the finals.
This win means that Ibushi will now be main-eventing WresteKingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome. Unlike previous years, New Japan will be running the Tokyo Dome for two consecutive nights, the 4th and 5th January. Following his victory in the G1, Ibushi teased competing in the main event of both the nights for the IWGP Intercontinental and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship respectively.
Ibushi's road to the main event of Tokyo Dome hasn't been an easy one. The Golden Star started his career in the Japanese indie promotion, DDT Pro Wrestling, before making his way to New Japan in 2009, alongside his tag-team partner, Kenny Omega. The duo known as 'The Golden Lovers' would capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship by defeating Apollo 55 ( Ryusuke Taguchi and Prince Devitt - aka Finn Balor).
Ibushi would then win the Best of the Super Juniors in 2011 and challenge Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion. At the event, The Golden Star would defeat Devitt to become the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Despite being hugely over with fans, and a great in-ring performer, Ibushi never really reached the heights that one would've hoped he would. This was primarily due to him not committing to a single promotion following his departure from DDT.
Ibushi worked as a freelancer for the majority of his initial run in New Japan. That meant that the company would never utilize as the main event star he was supposed to be, as he would leave the company for a short stint in various promotions.
The most prominent promotion was WWE, when the Japanese star was announced as part of their Cruiserweight Classic Tournament in 2016. Ibushi was the heavy favorite heading into the thirty-two man tournament.
Ibushi made it to the semi-finals before losing to the eventual winner, TJ Perkins. It was later reported that WWE offered a full-time contract to Ibushi which the Golden Star turned down as he didn't want to commit himself to a single promotion.
Following his stint in WWE, Ibushi would return to New Japan in 2016. He even reunited with his Golden Lovers' tag-team partner, Kenny Omega in 2018 for a brief period before Omega left New Japan for AEW.
There were reports of Ibushi signing with AEW due to his association with Omega and The Young Bucks. However, it was announced in February this year that Ibushi would be staying in New Japan and had finally signed with the company full time.
Ibushi won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Tetsuya Naito at the G1 SuperCard in Madison Square Garden in April this year, before dropping it back to Naito at Dominion in June.
New Japan has had a pretty rough 2019. Although the company is doing pretty well in their home base of Japan, the company's global expansion plan took a huge hit following the departure of Kenny Omega and the rest of The Elite.
Given his vast exposure in the western hemisphere following his stint in WWE and other American promotions, Ibushi seems to fit that bill perfectly. Given his performance in the G1, Ibushi taking the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Kazuchika Okada at WresteKingdom 14 is a realistic possibility.
2019 has been the coming out year for The Golden Star. After years and years of stop-start pushes due to his non-committal nature, Ibushi is finally getting to the spot that he deserves. Ibushi Vs Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event at the Tokyo Dome is going to be an absolute blast.
Are you excited to see Ibushi main-event WrestleKingdom next year? What do you think his future hold? Share your thoughts in the comments!