Night two of Wrestle Kingdom 15 did not end with a big splash after the main event (sorry SANADA), but many intrigues came from the press conferences that followed the program.
For his first appearance as ‘god’, Kota Ibushi wants to address an issue that many New Japan fans have raised over the past year – the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles have essentially been merged. Instead of dropping one or defending separately, Ibushi has another idea:
‘The IWGP intercontinental championship is the biggest band there is. The IWGP Heavyweight Championship is the strongest tire out there. I want to unite these titles. I want it to be the biggest and the strongest. No one has challenged for just one of these titles. What does a double championship mean then? I want to unite them. Then I will make my ultimate dreams come true. ”
See! Told you there was intrigue! And although Kota’s dreams depend entirely on Gedo and the bookers, the man he beat at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday is engaging us in a bit of work or shooting. Jay White is fed up and threatens to return to New Zealand after Wednesday New Year’s Dash !!
‘I feel like I’m physically the closest to death I’ve ever been, and hopefully I will ever be. You guys have all seen what I put on the line. I’m endangering myself, not for your entertainment or for myself. It’s your entertainment to be a by – product of me in the ring. So, through a proxy, I did it for your entertainment. I can barely walk and you stand and stare at me. Do you ever think of helping someone in need? Did you enjoy trying to walk me out myself! For what? I go through it all and you do not have even the slightest bit of respect or the least empathy for where you would think to help someone. If you can not do something so simple, I will never be appreciated as I should have been. Everything I did. Offers. The years gone by. I have not seen my family or my parents for three and a half years, because I have dedicated myself to this. I put everything into this! I believe in myself like you would not believe. I know what I can do. At least I thought I knew. I believed I was on the verge of becoming God. I was wrong. Do you like me saying that? I was wrong. This was not my new era. Doesn’t that make you all happy?
‘I’m out here, in Japan, wasting my life during a global pandemic, and why? I can be home. If I can not do it after all the time and sacrifice, then why am I here? I’m not going to do that anymore. Not for any of you. If I can no longer do it, I will not do it. It’s not worth me being here. Maybe my time will be better spent somewhere else. I do not want to do that anymore. I’m not going to do that anymore. Tomorrow, contractually, if they want me. If they want me to wrestle again after what I went through, and I do not just mean tonight, I mean the last one – in eight days it will be eight years until I started practicing for the first time. I’m not going to do that anymore. If they want me to show up tomorrow, that’s fine. I’m sure they will do it because you love nothing more than to see me anxious. Well. I show up tomorrow, but after that it’s it. ”
These are both very brilliant sequels to the amazing storytelling we got Wrestle Kingdom 15. Watch Rev. Claire’s reactions from Ibushi vs White and all night two action here, and we’ll see you tomorrow with news and outages of New Year’s Dash !!
H / T Fight for transcription