Kushida’s Impact Wrestling debut opponent has been revealed.
Impact announced today that Kushida will face Rich Swann at Friday’s Derby City Rumble TV tapings. The match will air on a future episode of Impact.
Kushida will appear at Friday’s tapings, and at Saturday’s tapings, but there’s no word yet on who he will face for his second match with the company. These tapings will be held at Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, KY.
Friday’s tapings will also feature Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin.
After a successful international career, Kushida signed with WWE in April 2019. He became a one-time WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion before parting ways with the company on April 18 of this year after his contract expired. Kushida returned to NJPW on June 21 during the New Japan Road event in Tokyo. He then returned to the NJPW ring on July 3 at the New Japan Road show, teaming with Alex Zayne and Hiroshi Tanahashi for a six-man win over KENTA, Gedo and Taiji Ishimori. He teamed with Tanahashi for a loss to KENTA and Ishimori the following day, and then teamed with Tanahashi and Jado for a six-man loss to KENTA, Gedo and Ishimori the day after that, July 5.
There is no word yet on if Kushida has signed a deal with Impact. When he returned to NJPW on June 21, he announced then that he had signed with the company and will spend the rest of his career with the company. He later made an Instagram post where he said he will be living in the United States, based out of Los Angeles. He added that he plans to “bring excitement” to NJPW, NJPW’s Junior division, and the NJPW LA Dojo.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. Below is the announcement on Kushida vs. Swann
BREAKING: KUSHIDA will face Rich Swann in his IMPACT debut THIS FRIDAY at Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, KY!
Get tickets and be there live: https://t.co/IQZ1hLHgOr pic.twitter.com/HJZFEz1T02
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) July 11, 2022
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