Kota Ibushi Expected to Miss New Beginning Tour

Kota Ibushi is one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s hottest stars. Since the beginning of his career in 2004, Ibushi has worked for several wrestling companies. International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP, NJPW’s governing body), New Japan Professional Wrestling (NJPW), Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), and even World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2016. With his first run in NJPW, he wrestled under the name Tiger Mask W. He was also the protagonist for the anime of the same name. He also recently participated in Wrestle Kingdom 14. It has been announced that Kota Ibushi to expected to miss the New Beginning Tour.

We have all heard reports that Kota Ibushi might be sick. It turns out it is worse than originally spectated. Through NJPW and Ibushi’s Twitter, we have learned he is actually suffering from Mallory Weiss syndrome. In this condition, the barrier between the esophagus and stomach is damaged and can be caused by aggressive coughing or vomiting. Vertical tears appear over the mucous membrane. If someone with this condition has strenuous vomiting or coughing, pressure can increase in the abdomen. It can then worsen the state of the affected.

Kota re-signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling as of January 2019. To spite this, we do not currently expect Ibushi to finish out the New Beginning Tour. He has already been removed from the card for Sapporo and Osaka. The tour runs through to Feb 9th. Previously we have seen NJPW and Dramatic Dream Team wrestling sideline Ibushi. This was due to a cervical disc herniation. This caused Ibushi and then partner Daisuke Sasaki to vacate their DDT tag team title on November 2nd, 2015. In February 2016, Ibushi re-signed from NJPW.