On Monday eagle-eyed fan noted that Kushida had been moved to the alumni section of WWE.com. Subsequently, multiple sources would report his WWE contract had expired, and he had left the company. Now during the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer would discuss his departure and revealed that the 38-year-old is expected to return to New Japan in June.
He is done. His contract expired. It was not a secret that he wasn’t going to stay. I know in WWE, the belief is that he starts with New Japan in June. That’s what they believe, and it’s probably the case. So, yeah, he signed a three-year deal. Kind of wasted three years of his career, I think.
Dave MeltzerKushida made his name in his home country of Japan, competing for Hustle, All Japan, and New Japan while also wrestling. On occasion, he’d also compete in the US for Ring of Honor and in Mexico for CMLL. He would sign with WWE in 2019, just prior to WrestleMania 35, and went on to become an NXT regular, winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship the following year. Yet once he lost the title to Roderick Strong, he was no longer prominently featured. Instead, he had been wrestling as part of a tag team with Ikemen Jiro.
