Kazuchika Okada Says He’s Been Granted Paternity Leave Following G1 Climax 32

Kazuchika Okada will be taking some time off due to the birth of his son.

Kazuchika Okada will be taking some time off due to the birth of his son.

Okada recently won the NJPW G1 Climax 32 tournament by defeating Will Ospreay in the finals. Speaking with the media after this victory, courtesy of NJPW’s official website, Okada stated that he will be going on paternity leave following the birth of his son.

“The other day my son was born. I’ve been lucky enough to receive some paternity leave from the company, which I’m very grateful for, and as I take a little bit of time off, I’ll be refreshing and then coming back to kick ass in the next tour. Thanks very much,” he said.

NJPW will resume touring on September 2 with their Burning Spirit Tour. Lineups for the tour have not been announced. Beyond that, Wrestle Kingdom 17 looms large; the promotion recently announced that the show will be a one-night event next year.

As the winner of the G1 Climax, Okada will a get shot the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom because he has the G1 Briefcase. When asked to describe how he’ll be approaching the event, he stated that he plans to “bring the fire” through the end of the year.

“As the G1 winner, I think that I can go into the Tokyo Dome with a bit of a different approach than the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and there’s a really different approach that I can take. So if my challenge is in the Tokyo Dome like I’m requesting, then I can bring the fire through to the end of the year, and the champion can see what I’m doing and be more motivated as well. That way I think we really can create the best situation to sell out the Tokyo Dome.  I said that was my goal in the ring yesterday, but I think putting it out there makes the boys, even if they’re on different teams, want to put in the work to achieve that goal, and it brings the staff together to make that happen as well. So that’s how I want to approach the rest of the year,” Okada said.

NJPW recently announced that it will return to New York in October. More information is available here.