Kushida

Impact Wrestling

Real name: Yujiro Kushida
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 192 lbs.
Date of birth: May 5, 1983
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Pro debut: September 16, 2005
Trained by: Nobuhiko Takada, Oriental, Takumi Adachi & Yoshihiro Tajiri
Finishing move: Hoverboard Lock

Biography

– Kushida began his career in Tajiri’s HUSTLE promotion in 2005
– In 2007, Kushida began competing regularly for All Japan
– On February 15, 2008, Kushida & T28 won the AJPW U-30 Tag Team Tournament, defeating Daichi Kakimoto & Manabu Soya in the final
– In May 2008, Kushida left All Japan for a short stint in Osaka Pro before becoming a freelancer
– In April 2009, Kushida travelled outside Japan for the first time, competing in Mexico, the US and Canada
– In May 2010, Kushida began competing for New Japan
– In October 2010, Kushida made two appearances for American promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling
– At Destruction ’11, Kushida, Killer Rabbit, Schwarz, Tiger Mask & Weiss defeated CHAOS (Gedo, Jado, Hideo Saito, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii)
– At Wrestle Kingdom VI, Kushida, Jushin Liger, Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask defeated Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Atlantis & Valiente
– At NJPW’s 40th Anniversary Show, Kushida, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Hiromu Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Takaaki Watanabe
– On August 26, 2012, Kushida fought SWF Heavyweight Champion Dave Dutra to a no-contest
– In September 2012, Kushida and Alex Shelley formed the Time Splitters tag team
– At Destruction ’12, Kushida, Shelley & BUSHI defeated Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero & Gedo
– On November 2, 2012, Time Splitters defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) to win the Super Junior Tag Tournament
– At Power Struggle ’12, Time Splitters defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– Prior to Wrestle Kingdom 7, Kushida, BUSHI & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Jushin Liger, Hiromu Takahashi & Tiger Mask
– At The New Beginning ’13, Time Splitters defeated Forever Hooligans to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At NJPW’s 41st Anniversary Show, Time Splitters defeated Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At Invasion Attack ’13, Time Splitters defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At ROH All Star Extravaganza V, Kushida defeated Adam Page
– At Destruction ’13, Time Splitters defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku & Taichi)
– At NJPW’s 42nd Anniversary Show, Kushida & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Gedo & Jado
– At Dominion ’14, Time Splitters defeated The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On July 4, 2014, Kushida deeated Kota Ibushi in Toyko, Japan to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title
– At Destruction ’14, Time Splitters defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi & El Desperado) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At King of Pro Wrestling ’14, Time Splitters defeated The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At Invasion Attack ’15, Kushida, Alex Shelley, Captain New Japan, Yohei Komatsu & Yuji Nagata defeated Jushin Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka & Tiger Mask
– At Global Wars ’15, Kushida defeated Chris Sabin & Kyle O’Reilly
– In June 2015, Kushida competed in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament. He went on to win the tournament, defeating Kyle O’Reilly in the final
– Kushida defeated Kenny Omega on July 5, 2015 in Osaka, Japan to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.
– On August 16, Kushida defeated Ricochet to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– At King of Pro Wrestling ’15, Kushida, Jushin Liger, Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated David Finlay, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
– At Power Struggle ’15, Kushida, Shelley, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Chase Owens
– Following the 2015 World Tag League, Alex Shelley returned to ROH, ending the Time Splitters tag team
– At Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo, Kushida defeated Kenny Omega to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.
– At The New Beginning ’16, Kushida defeated BUSHI to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– On March 12, Kushida defeated ACH to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– At Invasion Attack ’16, Kushida defeated Will Ospreay to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– At Wrestling Dontaku ’16, Kushida defeated Jushin Liger to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– At Dominion ’16, Kushida defeated Will Ospreay to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– On July 12, Kushida and Marco Corleone won a one-night tag team tournament for CMLL, defeating Rey Escorpión and Shocker in the finals
– In the summer of 2016, Kushida won New Japan’s Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the final
– At ROH All-Star Extravaganza VIII, Kushida, Jay White & ACH defeated Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe & Toru Yano
– Kushida defeated Bushi at Power Struggle ’16 to regain the IWGP Junior Heavweight Championship.
– Kushida defeated Marty Scurll on May 14, 2017 in Philadelphia, PA at War of the World to capture the Ring of Honor Television Championship.
– On June 3, 2017, Kushida defeated Will Ospreay in the final of the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament
– At Dominion ’17, Kushida defeated Hiromu Takahashi to win the IWGP Junior Heavywight title.
– At Best In The World ’17, Kushida defeated Marty Scurll to retain the ROH Television Title
– The next night, Kushida defeated Jay White to retain the ROH Television Title
– On June 27, Kushida defeated BUSHI to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– On July 7, Kushida defeated BUSHI & Sho Tanaka to qualify for the WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup
– On July 29, Kushida fought Kenny King to a no-contest to retain the ROH Television Title
– At War of the Worlds ’17, Kushida defended the ROH Television Title against Titan, Dalton Castle, Marty Scurll & Hiromu Takahashi
– In August 2017, Kushida defeated Kenny Williams, Zack Sabre Jr, Joseph Conners & Will Ospreay to win the WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup
– At Destruction ’17, Kushida defeated El Desperado to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– At Power Struggle ’17, Kushida, Jushin Liger, Hirai Kawato, Juice Robinson & Tiger Mask defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Taichi)
– At The New Beginning ’18, Kushida, Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi & Togi Makabe defeated Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taka Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka & Taichi)
– At NJPW’s 46th Anniversary Show, Kushida, Jushin Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi, Tomoyuki Oka & Yuji Nagata
– At Wrestling Hinokuni ’18, Kushida, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Michael Elgin defeated Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada
– On October 8, 2018, Kushida won the vacant IWGP Junior Heavywight title in a match against Marty Scurll
– In April 2019, Kushida signed with WWE, and reported to the WWE Performance Center. He made his NXT in-ring debut at the early-April TV tapings, defeating Kassius Ohno
– In September 2019, Kushida began appearing on 205 Live alongside his NXT duties
– At Takeover 31, Kushida defeated Velveteen Dream
– At New Year’s Evil 2021, Kushida & Shotzi Blackheart defeated The Way (Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae)
– On the April 13, 2021 episode of NXT, Kushida defeated Santos Escobar to win the NXT Cruiserweight Title
– A week later, Kushida defeated Oney Lorcan to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Title
– On the May 11 episode, Kushida defeated Santos Escobar in a Best of 3 Falls Match to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Title
– On the June 1 episode, Kushida defeated Carmelo Hayes to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Title
– On the June 15 episode, Kushida defeated Trey Baxter to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Title
– Kushida left WWE upon the expiration of his contract in April 2022
– Kushida made his NJPW return on the June 21 New Japan Road event
– Kushida debuted for Impact in July 2022
– At NJPW Music City Mayhem, Kushida fought Alex Shelley to a time-limit draw
– On the Hard To Kill 2023 pre-show, Kushida defeated Mike Bailey, Yuya Uemura, Mike Jackson, Angels & Delirious
– Kushida debuted for AEW in January 2023, losing a TNT Title match to Darby Allin
– At Battle In The Valley 2023, Kushida, Kevin Knight, Volador Jr & DKC defeated Josh Alexander, Rocky Romero, Mascara Dorada & Adrian Quest
– At Sacrifice 2023, Time Machine (Kushida, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated Frankie Kazarian, Steve Maclin & Rich Swann
– At the Impact/NJPW Multiverse event, Kushida defeated Lio Rush
– At Capital Collision 2023, Kushida, Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, Gabriel Kidd & Volador Jr defeated Rocky Romero, Lio Rush, Chuck Taylor, Clark Connors & The DKC
– On April 27, 2023, Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kushida & Kevin Knight) defeated Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At Wrestling Dontaku 2023, Kushida, Knight & Shota Umino defeated United Empire (Francesco Akira, Aaron Henare & TJP)
– At Slammiversary 2023, KUSHIDA defeated Jonathan Gresham, Alan Angels, Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey & Jake Something in an Ultimate X Match
– At MLW Fury Road 2023, KUSHIDA defeated Tony Deppen
– At Power Struggle 2023, KUSHIDA, Kevin Knight & Tama Tonga defeated Shingo Takagi, BUSHI & Titan
– In December 2023, KUSHIDA signed with TNA, making them his home promotion. He would still compete for NJPW when his schedule allowed
– On the Slammiversary 2024 pre-show, KUSHIDA defeated Rich Swann
– On the Victory Road 2024 pre-show, KUSHIDA defeated Leon Slater
– At King Of Pro Wrestling 2024, Intergalactic Jet Setters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) defeated Bullet Club (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On October 19, Intergalactic Jet Setters defeated El Reverso & Aiden Prince, Johnny Swinger & Brent Banks and Rogue Squadron (Sheldon Jean & Rohit Raju) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– KUSHIDA’s TNA contract expired in December 2024 and he became a New Japan full-timer once again