NJPW/Bullet Club star Tama Tonga recently spoke to WrestlingINC on a variety of topics, including NJPW’s loss of KUSHIDA to WWE.

The Samoan star revealed that he and KUSHIDA share a longtime friendship. This dates back to when both men first joined the company.

When asked how he believes NJPW will cope without the Junior Division legend Tonga replied “It’s gonna be a huge gap, but I know we’ve got guys to step up and fill that gap. But KUSHIDA and I made our debut together on the same day here in New Japan in 2010 for the Best of the Super Juniors. We always remembered that.”

Tonga elaborated further, saying “I worked with him a lot for the first couple of years, and then when I went heel we shared a lot of memories going against each other. He’s just an all-around great dude.” Tama also spoke about KUSHIDA’s personal life, saying “He just had his child last year, and so did I. I feel like his story and my story kind of intertwine here and there, which is nice and unique. He’s been great for the company, he held the junior division very, very tight and held it up very high, set standards for everybody to come up to.”

Tama Tonga finished by saying “He’s gonna be really missed out here. He’s a good friend of mine, and he’s gonna be really missed. But since I live in Florida, if that’s where he’s going, I’ll see him out there.”