10 Live Observations From NXT TakeOver: Dallas

8. Kota Ibushi Was At Ringside... Briefly

kota ibushi

Prior to the Crews-Samson match, Kota Ibushi (with former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Funaki by his side) entered the arena and took a front-row seat. Ibushi was one of the top up-and-coming stars in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but he recently announced that he'd be scaling down his work with the promotion, leading to speculation that he'd be taking part in WWE's Global Cruiserweight Series.

Ibushi's appearance (which was met with chants of his name from the crowd) seems to confirm that he'll be working with WWE in some form. As one of the top cruiserweights in the entire world, he'd be a huge get for the GCS, but WWE would be wise to give him as much work as he wants.

"The Golden Star" wasn't able to stay long, though - after the American Alpha-Revival match, he left the arena. As Ibushi was advertised for a Kaiju Big Battel show at midnight, he presumably had to get there well in advance. Those sea monster costumes take a while to put on.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013