He’s back…Game Changer Wrestling has announced on Twitter that Kota Ibushi will return to action at GCW Collective 2023 as part of events on 3/30 & 3/31. Both events will stream live on FITE as part of FITE+, a subscription package available for $4.99/month or $49.99/year (and if you go annual, each year they give you enough credits to watch up to $24 worth of PPV content FOR FREE). It’s not known what this means for his status in Japan as his New Japan contract has presumably expired and he had been out since October 2021 due to injury and personal issues.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: There are reports Ibushi’s New Japan contract expired today (yesterday Japan time). Also, the original post has been corrected to reflect that the injury occurred in October 2021, not August 2021.
UPDATE 2: New Japan has announced on their Japanese website that Ibushi has left the promotion, confirming his contract expired today (yesterday Japan time).