Kota Ibushi

Kota Ibushi
Ibushi in 2023
Born (1982-05-21) May 21, 1982 (age 42)[1][2][3]
Aira, Kagoshima, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Kota Ibushi[1]
Hustle Kamen Orange[4]
Oda Nobunaga[5]
Robin Mask[6]
Sammy Lee Jr.[4]
Tiger Mask W[7]
Billed height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1][2]
Billed weight93 kg (205 lb)[2][8]
Billed fromKagoshima Prefecture[9]
Trained byMikami[4]
Shuji Kondo[4]
DebutJuly 1, 2004[1][2][3]

Kota Ibushi (飯伏幸太, Ibushi Kōta, born May 21, 1982)[1][2][10] is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist who is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure with New Japan-Pro Wrestling (NJPW).

His career began with the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion in 2004 and over the next eleven years became a three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, five-time KO-D Tag Team Champion and a two-time KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion. Two of the KO-D Tag Team title reigns was with Kenny Omega as the Golden☆Lovers; their combined total of 351 days is still a DDT record.

In 2009, Ibushi started working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and eventually signed with the promotion in 2013. In NJPW, Ibushi is a former NEVER Openweight Champion, three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. He resigned from both DDT and NJPW in February 2016 and has performed in several different organizations as a freelancer, including both DDT and NJPW as well as WWE, where he participated in the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic tournament.

After continuing to perform as a freelancer for NJPW after 2016 (including as Tiger Mask W, the protagonist of the anime of the same name, from 2016 to 2017), he signed a new full-time contract with NJPW in early 2019, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first and only time in his career in 2021 before unifying it with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to become the inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion later that year. Ibushi is also a former IWGP Tag Team Champion. Ibushi has also won several tournaments for NJPW, including the 2011 Best of the Super Juniors, the 2015 New Japan Cup and the 2019 and 2020 editions of the G1 Climax, being the only wrestler to have won all three tournaments. He is also one of only four wrestlers to win two consecutive G1 Climax tournaments alongside Masahiro Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Kazuchika Okada, as well as the only wrestler to reach the finals stage of four consecutive G1 Climax tournaments.

  1. ^ a b c d e 飯伏幸太. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e 飯伏 幸太. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Profile at Puroresu Central". Puroresu Central. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d "Cagematch profile". Cagematch. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  5. ^ Judgement2017～DDT旗揚げ20周年記念大会～. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  6. ^ "Kota Ibushi". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference TMW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ NJPW. "Kota Ibushi – 飯伏幸太 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  9. ^ "Tuesday Trios Update: KOT's turning Japanese..." Chikara Fans. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  10. ^ 飯伏 幸太. Inoki Genome Federation (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2016.