Kota Ibushi was recently interviewed by New Japan Pro-Wrestling on their English site. The G1 2019 winner discussed if he considers Kazuchika Okada a rival, and his wrestling goals among other topics.
Check out some highlights below:
On his odd G1 sleep schedule:
I fell asleep at a weird time, y’know? The matches were quite early (the final day of the G1 started at 3 p.m. local time). I got home about nine, and all I remember is washing my hands, brushing my teeth, and then just lying down and *poof* I was out. Then I woke up about 12:30 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep until 8 a.m.
t wasn’t that I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I did want to get some more sleep, but I knew if I did I wouldn’t be able to make our scheduled 1PM. So I asked to put this interview off until after my press conference … Those two days turned into an experiment, kind of. I wondered if humans didn’t need to sleep all that much to still function. I even won my next match. But I did think I’d be in even better shape if I got some sleep.
If his G1 victory speech was planned:
Nope. I didn’t have that kind of bravado. Didn’t want to get into that mindset of ‘oh, what shall I say if I win?’ so I figured, if I won, I’d decide in the moment. Just say the first thing that came to mind the second I grabbed the mic. Spur of the moment, kinda thing.
On his wrestling Gods:
Nakamura and Tanahashi are my gods. I’m beneath them, but it’s not because I’m beneath them that I call them that. I have to surpass them, and I think that time is getting closer. But I don’t care whether he main events the Tokyo Dome, or he’s at an indie show in front of 50 people, Nakamura is still my god. I want to surpass him, I feel I have to surpass him, but it’s because I respect him so much I call him that and I always will until the day I die.
What he views Okada as:
So where Okada stands in all that, I’m still finding out. But rival is the closest word I have right now.
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