A Look Back at Kushida’s NJPW Career

Written by Alex Marco (@generalreaction)

In the fallout of Wrestle Kingdom 13 fans of New Japan Pro Wrestling were greeted with a shocking announcement: Kushida, the man who had served as the ace of the Junior Heavyweight division would be leaving the promotion to pursue new opportunities. With his existing New Japan contract set to expire at the end of January 2019, many rumors and signs are pointing towards the fact that Kushida will likely be bringing his in-ring talents to WWE in some capacity. Kushida will participate in his final New Japan Pro Wrestling match on January 29th, as part of the Road to New Beginning tour, where he will face none other than Hiroshi Tanahashi in a special singles bout. In preparation for his farewell match with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Turn Tweener wanted to take a look back at the storied career the Time Splitter has had with NJPW.

MMA Success and Early Pro Wrestling Career

(ZST MMA logo)

(Hustle Pro Wrestling logo)

Yujiro Kushida joined the Takada Dojo while he was still a junior in high school, and while there he began learning both professional wrestling and mixed material arts. He made his official MMA debut for the ZST promotion in 2003 and quickly rose to prominence within the promotion, winning the 2004 ZST Genesis Lightweight Tournament. While this victory would earn the young Kushida several offers to compete in multiple MMA promotions, he would ultimately turn them down to pursue a professional wrestling career. After taking a year off from his studies at Senshu University to travel to and train in Mexico, Kushida made his pro wrestling debut in the Fall of 2005 as a masked wrestler known as Yujiro.

Kushida returned to Japan in early 2006 where he began competing for the Hustle promotion; a place where he would make regular appearances until the promotion ultimately folded in 2009. During his time in Hustle Kushida would also make appearances for several other Japanese promotions - most notably All Japan Pro Wrestling - as well as appearances in many North American promotions including Chikara and Border City Wrestling. His international rise to stardom would eventually lead to New Japan Pro Wrestling taken notice of the talents of the future Junior Heavyweight ace.

Arrival in New Japan Pro Wrestling

(Yujiro Kushida)

In the Summer of 2010 Kushida made his first appearance in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he competed in that year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Participating in seven tournament matches, Kushida won four of them to earn a total of eight points in his first BSJ tournament run - a score which left him just shy of reaching the tournament’s semi final round. During that tournament Kushida would earn impressive victories over CMLL star La Sombra (now known as Andrade in WWE) and the tournament’s eventual winner Prince Devitt. Kushida would spend the remainder of 2010 competing primarily in tag team matches, as well as the Super J Tag Tournament and the Super J Tag League. On February 25th, 2011 Kushida officially departed from the Smash promotion, where he had also been regularly competing, to become a full-time member of the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster. On March 19th of that same year, Kushida would unsuccessfully challenge Prince Devitt for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Kushida would get another opportunity to capture the title later year when he once again battled Prince Devitt in September. This match came about when Kota Ibushi had to vacate the title due to injury, and result would find Kushida once again unsuccessful in his quest to capture the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.

Tag Team Success: The Formation of the Time Splitters

(Kushida with Time Splitters partner, Alex Shelley)

In 2012, while wrestling abroad in the United States, Kushida formed a new partnership with Alex Shelley after saving him from an attack by the then-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov (the Forever Hooligans). The pairing, dubbed the Time Splitters, where unsuccessful in their first attempt to wrestle the titles away from the Forever Hooligans. However, the team of Shelley and Kushida would compete in 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament where they would reach the finals and ultimately win the tournament by defeating Apollo 55 (the team of Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) to become the #1 contenders for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On November 11th, at the Power Struggle event, Kushida would earn his first taste of New Japan championship gold when the Time Splitters defeated the Forever Hooligans to capture the IWGP Jr. Tag Team titles for the first time. The Time Splitters would remain champions until May 2013 where they would lose the titles back to the Forever Hooligans, ending the team’s first title reign at 173 days.

The Time Splitters would work their way back into the tag team title picture later on in 2013, and at Wrestle Kingdom 8 the following year they competed as part of a four-team match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (the other three teams being the Forever Hooligans, Suzuki-Gun, and the then-champions the Young Bucks). Shelley and Kushida were unable to capture the titles at the Tokyo Dome event but eventually earned another shot against the Young Bucks at the New Beginning in Osaka event on February 11th, 2014; the Time Splitters would once again fall short of reclaiming their championships. Finally, on June 21, 2014 at Dominion 6.21, the Time Splitters were able to dethrone the Young Bucks to become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions for the second time. Their second reign as champions would last 140 days, and would come to an end at Power Struggle on November 8th, 2014 when the Time Splitters were defeated by reDRagon (the team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly). The team would compete at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in a four-team match to try to regain the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship but would once again fall short as reDRagon were able to retain their titles. In what would be the team’s final attempt to once again become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Shelley and Kushida competed in a three-team match at the New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th, 2015 where the would fall to the winners of the match - and new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions - the Young Bucks.

Initial Reigns as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship

(Kushida as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion)

During his time as part of the Time Splitters tag team with Alex Shelley, Kushida would regularly find himself in the title conversation for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. After battling time and again to capture the coveted Junior Heavyweight crown, Kushida was finally able to claim the championship as his own when he defeated Kota Ibushi on July 4th, 2014 at Kizuna Road for his first IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship reign (making him a double champion at the time). The first reign for the soon-to-be ace of the Junior Heavyweight division would be a short one as Kushida would hold the title for 79 days before losing it to Ryusuke Taguchi on September 21, 2014. In May of 2015, Kushida entered the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors tournament with the goal of winning the competition to earn a title shot at then-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega. Kushida would ultimately win his block to advance to the tournament finals on June 7th against Kyle O’Reilly. After a grueling 30-minute classic of a match, Kushida was able to submit O’Reilly to win his first Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

By virtue of this win, Kushida earned a title match against Kenny Omega on July 5th, 2015 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka. Kushida was able to overcome the Junior Heavyweight ace of the Bullet Club to capture the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the second time. However, Kushida’s second reign as champion would only last for 80 days before he dropped the title back to Omega on September 23rd that same year. Kushida would invoke his rematch opportunity against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 10, where he would be successful in once again unseating the Cleaner to capture the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for his third reign.

Ace of the Junior Heavyweight Division

(Kushida as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, ROH Television Champion, and Winner of the Pro Wrestling World Cup)

After his victory at Wrestle Kingdom 10, fans and journalists alike started to view Kushida as the new ace of the Junior Heavyweight division in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Kushida’s third reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion would last an impressive 257 days while seeing the Time Splitter successfully defend his title on three separate occasions. Kushida’s third reign would come to a shocking end however when he was defeated by Bushi at the Destruction in Tokyo event on September 17th, 2016. This setback would not slow down Kushida’s momentum as he would recapture the championship from Bushi in only 49 days and begin his fourth reign as the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. But just when Kushida managed to vanquish one member of Los Ingobernables de Japon, a new challenger would burst onto the scene and into the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship picture. As Kushida was celebrating his victory over Bushi at the Power Struggle event on November 5th, 2016 Hiromu Takahashi made his shocking return to New Japan Pro Wrestling to announce himself as the next challenger for Kushida’s newly won IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.

The Ticking Time Bomb, as Takahashi called himself, served as perfect foil to the Ace of the Junior Heavyweight division and challenged Kushida to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 11. On December 10th of that same year, Hiromu would officially become a member of Los Ingobernables de Japon in the lead up to his title encounter with Kushida. In what many saw as an upset, Hiromu Takahashi was able to wrestle the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship away from Kushida at Wrestle Kingdom 11 to end Kushida’s fourth (and shortest) reign as champion. Looking to regain his title, Kushida lost his rematch against Takahashi at Sakura Genesis on April 9th, 2017 in less than two minutes after Hiromu dominated the encounter. In a final attempt to secure another title match against Takahashi, Kushida entered the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament in an effort to become the #1 contender for the title held by the sadistic Ticking Time Bomb. Kushida was able to win the tournament’s B Block despite only winning four of his eight tournament matches, and found himself up against the defending BSJ tournament champion Will Ospreay.

Kushida would defeat Ospreay using his newest finishing move, Back to the Future, to secure a pinfall victory and earning the Time Splitter his second Best of the Super Juniors tournament championship. Kushida would go on to challenge Hiromu Takahashi to a championship match Dominion 6.11 in Osaka on June 11th, 2017. After overcome the unhinged offense of the Ticking Time Bomb, Kushia would force Hiromu Takahashi to submit with the Hoverboard Lock earning him his fifth reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Kushida’s fifth run with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship would come to an end after 120 days when he dropped the title to another one of his rivals, and the man whom he had defeated in the 2017 BSJ tournament finals, Will Ospreay. Kushida would compete in a four-way match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 but would find himself unsuccessful in his attempt to regain the title.

Final Championship Reign and Departure

(Kushida at the press conference where he announced his departure from NJPW)

Kushida would remain relatively quiet in terms of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title picture for the early portion of 2018. He would receive a title opportunity against Will Ospreay on May 4th, 2018 at Wrestling Dontaku but would fall short and be defeated the Aerial Assassin once again. Kushida entered the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament to once again try to earn another title opportunity in his quest for a sixth title reign. But the 2018 BSJ tournament belonged to the Ticking Time Bomb Hiromu Takahashi, who defeated Kushida on the final night of B Block matches to advance to the tournament final. The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship would eventually fall back into the hands of Takahashi when he defeated Will Ospreay at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka to earn his second reign as champion. However, after suffering an injury to his neck during his title defense against Dragon Lee at the G1 Special in San Francisco, Takahashi was forced to vacate the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. In order to crown a new champion, a four-man tournament would be held that would consist of the four previous IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champions: Will Ospreay, Bushi, Marty Scrull, and Kushida.

Kushida would defeat Bushi in the tournament’s semifinals on September 23rd, 2018 at Destruction in Kobe to move one step closer to becoming IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the sixth time. He would then go on to face Marty Scrull in the tournament finals on October 8th, 2018 at the King of Pro Wrestling event. The Time Splitter was able to successfully overcome the technical prowess of Scrull to capture the Junior Heavyweight crown for the sixth time, moving him into a tie for the second-most reigns with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship behind Jushin Thunder Liger’s 11 reigns as champion. The first challenger for Kushida’s title was announced to be the Bone Soldier, Taiji Ishimori (who had finished as the runner-up in the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament) with the match being scheduled to take place at Wrestle Kingdom 13. In a dominant performance Taiji Ishimori was able to defeat Kushida to capture his first IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, bringing the sixth championship reign of the Time Splitter to an abrupt end.

In the aftermath of Wrestle Kingdom 13, Kushida stunned the pro wrestling world by announcing that he would be leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling upon the expiration of his existing contract with the company (which is set to end on January 31st, 2019). An emotional Kushida thanked the fans and NJPW for his time with the company and for the support they had given him during his time there. Kushida participated in both the New Year’s Dash event on January 5th, 2019 and the Fantasticamania tour (a collaboration between New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL). Kushida’s final New Japan match is set to take place on January 29th, 2019 where he will go one on one with the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in what promises to be a dream matchup for the fans.

Closing Thoughts

During his time in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Yujiro Kushida has left an unmistakable mark on the promotion and its Junior Heavyweight division. His accomplishments and championship accolades in New Japan Pro Wrestling include:

- Six reigns as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion (with a combined 684 days as champion)

- Two reigns as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Alex Shelley

- Two Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Championships (2015 and 2017)

- One Super J-Cup Tournament Championship (2016)

- One Super Jr. Tag Tournament Championship (2012) with Alex Shelley

As the Time Splitter prepares to depart from New Japan Pro Wrestling at the end of January, it goes without saying that he has elevated himself to being one of the top Junior Heavyweight wrestlers of this decade. Wherever his next venture ends up being, fans can be assured that Kushida will continue to captivate audiences with his unique blend of high-flying offense and mat-based technical mastery.