Kota Ibushi Hoping For Revenge In G1 Match With Taichi

In an interview with NJPW’s English-language website, Kota Ibushi spoke a bit about upcoming matches for him in the G1 Climax tournament, hoping he can get revenge against Taichi in their match. Here are highlights:

On facing Minoru Suzuki on October 10, their first match in seven years: “Since my first G1, yes. I was a junior heavyweight then, so it was a case of a junior heavyweight challenging a heavy. I’m a different man now. I was visibly much smaller than him back then, but now, we’re about the same size, and my style has changed as well. I don’t think I’ll be flying this time. there’ll be a lot of heavy hits for sure. I can’t afford a loss. Mind you, there’s no days off at all on this tour. However you look at Minoru Suzuki, the guy’s a beast. At his age, at this stage in his career, he trains hard, and he’s tough as hell. Obviously he’s smart too, he needs to be, so there’s no beating him in that regard. I think there’ll be an MMA feel to it, perhaps.”

On his final A block match against Taichi: “I want revenge in that one. There’s the losses we ate in the tag team matches through the summer, and he beat me in the New Japan Cup as well. That wasn’t a fair fight though.”

On who from B Block he’d like to face in the final: “Ideally, I’d say Tanahashi. After Jingu, we had that conversation. We took a break from tagging, and I said to him let’s meet in the G1 final instead. I’ll win it and then we can go back to tagging. You know, as my tag partner I hope he took those words to heart and will come up to meet me in the final.”