Kota Ibushi Talks Double Gold Dash, His Desire To Change Pro Wrestling
Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
Wrestle Kingdom 14 headliner Kota Ibushi recently talked to New Japan Pro-Wrestling about his match against Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and how he might have a chance to regain the Intercontinental Championship as well.
Check out highlights below:
His thoughts on the Double Gold Dash:
I haven’t given that too much thought. If I don’t win on the fourth, I can’t even get into the main event on the fifth. So it’s a bit like the last three nights of the G1. Until I win the first match, I can’t think about the second one.
At the Budokan, the A Block final was first, and I had to put all I had into beating Okada that night. If I didn’t win then I wouldn’t have made it into the final on the third night. It’s a similar scenario.
Wanting to broaden pro wrestling:
I want to broaden the very idea of what pro-wrestling is as a medium. There are so many possibilities for professional wrestling and that’s why I want to broaden it. But I don’t have a belt at the moment. I don’t have the platform that a champion has. At the moment it’s all just empty talk. That’s why the two titles are so important.
The [possibilities] are infinite really, aren’t they? There’s so much that’s open in pro-wrestling. In more ways than one, you escape disqualifications if you break on a four count. We fight in a four sided ring, but there’s nothing stopping it being a circle, or a triangle. It’s different to any other sports, it has more potential than any other sport.
Right. This is a bit difficult to explain but… In pro-wrestling, it’s not impossible to beat an opponent without even touching them. I think it’s not entirely impossible to beat an opponent without even moving. It’s a hard thing to understand, but I really think there are more possibilities when it comes to doing what we do.
How he differs from Okada:
He talks about furthering it, but I wouldn’t use that word. When Okada says it, I think he means that he wants more people to come and watch it, to do wrestle in bigger arenas, in front of bigger crowds, things like that. That’s not what I’m talking about.