Kota Ibushi Reflects On His Memorable G1 Climax 30 Matches, Upcoming Wrestle Kingdom Match vs. Tetsuya Naito

In a recent interview on NJPW1972.com, Kota Ibushi discussed his memorable G1 Climax 30 matches, his upcoming match at Wrestle Kingdom against Tetsuya Naito, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Kota Ibushi on finally getting to wrestle Shingo Takagi: “We’ve talked about the ‘1982 Club’ of wrestlers before, and I’ve met with him at those parties, but I never got to wrestle him. It really didn’t seem like we would have the chance, and then we finally got that chance on the big stage in NJPW. I really didn’t want to lose….for 12 years I ducked him. He’s a dangerous guy. Nobody knows this, but I actually got an offer to wrestle him six years ago, but I passed. And then it finally happened in New Japan.”

On his G1 Climax match with Minoru Suzuki: “Obviously with Suzuki you have to think MMA, and both of us have martial arts roots; albeit me with my kickboxing. I think that came through in the match. It was different to any of the other league matches. It stood out. I came in thinking ‘I’m going to obliterate him’, and I think I did it. The match really played to my strengths, which are in striking. Before there was a clear pecking order that I was on the bottom of, and he controlled the pace. This time it was me leading the way.”

On the atmosphere of his memorable “kicks” match with Taichi after Great O-Khan’s appearance: “I think Taichi felt the same way, and that’s probably why the match became what it became, to be completely different. I mean, there aren’t many guys in NJPW who kick a lot, right? So I figured ‘let’s build this thing around kicks’. Yeah, and then it seemed Taichi had the same idea. So I kicked, and he kicked back, and then it went from there. How many kicks were there? So there was a point midway through where I just thought ‘OK, let’s just do kicks’. I mean I guess I cheated at the end with the knee, heh. But that’s kind of a kick, right?”

On facing an Olympian like Jeff Cobb: “That was insane! I’ve always been a fan of guys that came from Olympic competition. I mean to make the cut for the Olympics is super difficult, right? You have to be complete package to just make it, just to compete…..so for me, this was a chance to see what it was like to face an Olympian wrestler. See just how strong he was. I’d like to see how any Olympian would fare in a wrestling ring. How a track athlete would cope with running the ropes, say.”

On his quest for the Double IWGP Championship in his upcoming Wrestle Kingdom match against Tetsuya Naito: “You look at Naito, he came into the Tokyo Dome this year with nothing, but then he walked out with everything. And he still has those titles. When you take 2021 into account, I want to be the one leaving with everything in the end, and I have to take it from him. I’m still not giving up on my dream, and my dream is to not just win the titles, but win them from Naito. And then, well, then the next dream will be on the horizon.”