Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Ikemen Jiro, Jacket Time, Kushida, new japan pro wrestling, njpw, NXT, NXT 2.0, NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Triple H, wrestling, WWE Contract

NXT Superstar Kushida Has Left WWE; Is A NJPW Return Looming?

Former NXT head honcho Triple H's signing of Japanese superstar Kushida away from NJPW in 2019 was quite the coup at the time.  He had become a star overseas with his unique presentation and personality and of course because of his incredible abilities in the ring.  But now Kushida's contract with WWE is up and so is his time with the company, as they have come to a mutual agreement to part ways and not pursue a new deal.

The news of Kushida's WWE departure came via Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com last night.

Dave Meltzer went into further details about Kushida's (real name Yujiro Kushida) WWE run ending on today's Wrestling Observer Radio, while also detailing his likely return to NJPW in June. "He is done. His contract expired. It was not a secret that he wasn't going to stay. I know in WWE, the belief is that he starts with New Japan in June. That's what they believe, and it's probably the case."

Meltzer continued, detailing how Kushida's run on NXT 2.0 ended unceremoniously in recent weeks. "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."

So that's that for the 38-year-old Kushida in WWE.  His run began with a ton of promise when he debuted in NXT in May of 2019 and he went on to be a dominant force in the brand over the next couple of years, having show-stealing matches with some of the best talents in the brand and winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.

But then came NXT 2.0 and in the reshuffling and new management, the great wrestler was repackaged in a quite frankly racist comedy team with Ikemen Jiro called Jacket Time that played on silly Japanese stereotypes.  Kushida's last aired match was on the March 25 edition of NXT Level Up where Jacket Time faced Edris Enofé and Malik Blade in tag team action.

Even though his time with WWE is over, I expect Kushida still has plenty of great matches ahead of him around the world.  He's one of the most exciting technical wizards in all of wrestling and from the sound of things, we won't have to wait too long to see him in action again.

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