Those Times Wrestlers Dodged Career-Killing Bullets
6. Kota Ibushi Refuses To Join WWE During The Cruiserweight Classic
Before going on to become one of the greatest and most popular performers NJPW has ever seen - lifting the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and putting on five-star+ epics against the likes of Kazuchika Okada and Jay White - Kota Ibushi actually stepped inside of a WWE ring for a spell in 2016.
Appearing in that year's tremendous Cruiserweight Classic, Ibushi joined the likes of Zack Sabre Jr., Tajiri, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and more competing to win the tournament and eventually be crowned the new Cruiserweight Champion.
'The Golden Star' in particular inevitably shined during his contests, and there was even talk of him potentially joining many of the other Cruiserweight Classic participants and signing a deal with the company.
Ibushi wasn't a fan of that idea, however, and said there was "zero chance" he'd join WWE full-time - though he didn't close the door on the possibility of making more of these "one-shot" deals with the company.
With Ibushi never performing for the sports entertainment organisation again in the years that followed, it seems they weren't all that interested in only the occasional appearance from the talented worker.
And Ibushi's refusal to become a full-time cruiserweight saw him avoiding the messes that were the disappointing Cruiserweight division on Raw and 205 Live spin-offs that would have no doubt slowed down, or even derailed, an eventually magnificent career.