Shinsuke Nakamura officially announced his departure from New Japan Pro Wrestling on Monday. The announcement was made at a press conference on Monday, where he was also stripped of his title. He didn’t mention WWE, but says he’s leaving Japan to advance his career. He claimed he felt like he was “stuck in a rut” after helping out younger talent in NJPW.

Nakamura’s final NJPW dates will be the January 29th and 30th shows.

As we first reported earlier in January, Nakamura is expected to start working out at the WWE Performance Center in February. He’ll do medical tests in Pittsburgh before signing. This is standard procedure for all new WWE talent these days. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Nakamura is expected to debut on the main WWE roster as opposed to NXT.