Kota Ibushi Discusses Working Through Foot Injury Following Wrestle Kingdom 15

Kota Ibushi came out of Wrestle Kingdom 15 as the new IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion, but he didn’t come out of the two-night event unscathed. 

Speaking to NJPW, Ibushi confirmed he suffered a foot injury at night one of Wrestle Kingdom 15 against Tetsuya Naito, but continued to wrestle despite the injury. 

“It was that first match with Naito, January 4. I think it was when I took a Frankensteiner off the top, and just landed right on my instep. So I think it either sprained or tore a ligament. It’s an injury soccer players get from time to time; I was told it’s best not to move it for three months, but then I had Jay White the very next night. I got to the building early the next day and got it patched up and treated well enough to just about wrestle,” said Ibushi. “I was able to jump, and put some power into it. Then it was really a matter of getting what treatment I could and working around it. It wasn’t so much about healing as it was to stop it getting worse. It’s about the same as it was around when I wrestled SANADA. I’m having to train around it, since I can’t really run like I would normally.”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported Ibushi would be taking time off to deal with his injury following his loss to Will Ospreay at NJPW Sakura Genesis. Ibushi returned to action on April 29. 

NJPW announced the company will return to live events on May 22.