Kushida Calls The Turnover In WWE ‘Relentless’

Kushida is a true veteran in the pro wrestling world as he has been working as a pro wrestler since 2005. He made a name for himself in NJPW and won multiple titles all around the world. Kushida recently opened up about leaving WWE and his experiences at the company.

Kushida recently had a lengthy interview with the official NJPW website where he discussed a variety of subjects. He spoke about his choice to quit WWE and join NJPW during the conversation. While Kushida indicated he didn’t want to discuss his departure from WWE in great detail, he was happy to discuss his tenure there from 2019 until 2022.

Well, to set the scene a bit, the turnover in WWE is really relentless. In August of 2021, there was a really sudden change in thinking there. Essentially they wanted to train young wrestlers, under 30, that didn’t have pro-wrestling experience and had come from other athletic backgrounds. When it comes to me, I don’t think it’s controversial to say that left me redundant, effectively. You have to remember I was 36 when I got an offer from WWE. It still really seems kinda hard to believe that HHH would reach out with an offer…So with this youth push on over there, it wasn’t like I had a shoot time machine of my own, so it became ‘OK, what can I do here?’. Everyone was asking the same questions, I think, actually. And NJPW immediately popped in my head. I felt really strongly right away that LA would be the best place to base myself. Even when I was in WWE, I had wanted to move from Orlando to LA, but the company wouldn’t let me; that hurt my motivation a little, heh. I think there’s a little bit of magic around LA that made it somewhere I always wanted to live.

At the most recent NJPW Road show, Kushida made his comeback to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Taiji Ishimori, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, was promptly called out by The Time Splitter. For the position that Kushida has held six times, the two seem to be vying for it head-on.

Kushida said he has signed a contract that will last the rest of his wrestling life. It sounds like he will be a regular for NJPW Strong and possibly even make appearances for AEW. Kushida may be done with WWE, but he should still be very visible in the US going forward.

What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments!