Just a few minutes before TakeOver: New York went live, leading up to the big event, WWE decided to reveal their newest NXT superstar, former 6x New Japan Pro Wrestling IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, the “Time Splitter,” KUSHIDA.
https://twitter.com/KUSHIDA_0904/status/1114279468938477568
The 35-year-old veteran of 12 years, KUSHIDA announced his departure from NJPW, where he had spent the last eight-plus years, earlier this year. He wrestled his last match for the company on January 29th at Road to the New Beginning 2019 – Tag 3 against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Following his free agency, KUSHIDA was immediately linked to WWE and many expected he would be one of the traditional crowd debuts at TakeOver that NXT has become known for.
Triple H and William Regal were on hand to welcome KUSHIDA, who is also a 2x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Alex Shelley, 2x winner of Best of the Super Juniors (XXII and XXIV), 1x Ring of Honor World Television Champion and 1x Super J Cup winner (2016), to the black-and-yellow brand, with Triple H referring to his newest signing as “one of the biggest international stars in the world.”
With @TripleH & @RealKingRegal looking on, international Superstar @KUSHIDA_0904 signs his #WWENXT contract! pic.twitter.com/aCaDOCQIrC
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 5, 2019
We’re making history tonight…
…and the show hasn’t even started.Welcome the internationally renowned @KUSHIDA_0904 to @WWENXT. #GameChanger #WeAreNXT #NXTTakeOver: New York @WWEJapan pic.twitter.com/NtTzRgrBGu
— Triple H (@TripleH) April 5, 2019
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