10 Things You Didn't Know About Kota Ibushi
3. He Debuted For Kaiju Big Battel Over WrestleMania Weekend
In February of 2016, Ibushi announced that he was leaving both New Japan and DDT in order to form The Ibushi Pro Wrestling Research Institute. While nobody knew quite what the Institute entailed, the pressures of working full-time for two companies were more than obvious. Whatever Ibushi's next move was, odds are that it would be a labor of love.
That turned out to be correct, but it made the announcement that Ibushi was joining Kaiju Big Battel no less shocking. Kaiju Big Battel, for those not familiar, is an artistic performance that's not pro wrestling, but not altogether dissimilar. It involves people dressed up as giant monsters (Kaiju, as they're known in Japanese) fighting each other in tongue-in-cheek battles over model cityscapes. The company has been running shows for two decades and has gotten repeated television coverage over the years.
Ibushi was announced as debuting at KBB's WrestleMania weekend event via a series of vignettes where he fought minions of the evil Dr. Cube. In the April 2 show's main event, Ibushi defeated Tucor to win the promotion's Hashtag Championship.