Kota Ibushi Discusses Double Gold Dash, Broadening Pro Wrestling

G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi is ready for his IWGP Heavyweight Championship opportunity against reigning champion Kazuchika Okada. The two will face off for the gold this Saturday during Night One of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 14 event.

Speaking with njpw1972.com, Ibushi addressed the Double Gold Dash conditions of this upcoming weekend. The winners of the IWGP Intercontinental and IWGP Heavyweight Championship matches on Saturday will subsequently compete against one another on Sunday. The winner will then claim both belts.

Looking to what it would mean to emerge victorious on Sunday as a double champion, Ibushi stated how “Whenever I’ve talked about wanting two championships, it’s always been with the dream in mind of furthering professional wrestling. Having two titles would make for the ultimate platform for that message.”

Despite the magnitude of these championship opportunities, Ibushi is clear that he has no interest in cheating or fighting dirty to ensure victory.

“I don’t want to be fighting dirty, or for there to be any doubt,” he said. “This is all about furthering wrestling in my opinion, and it has to be done the right way. […] I have faith in my own style of wrestling to do what I want to do.”

Ibushi confessed that one of his driving motivators in coming away with both belts lies in his ambitions to “broaden the very idea of what pro-wrestling is as a medium.” He explained, “There are so many possibilities for professional wrestling and that’s why I want to broaden it. But I don’t have a belt at the moment. I don’t have the platform that a champion has. At the moment it’s all just empty talk. That’s why the two titles are so important.”

He noted how pro wrestling has “more potential than any other sport” and how he really wants to explore these “infinite” possibilities if given the opportunity—one Kota Ibushi believes can’t be denied if he were to hold both the IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championships.

Wrestle Kingdom 14 takes place this weekend on 1/4 and 1/5 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.