Kota Ibushi Diagnosed With Pneumonia

NJPW’s Kota Ibushi has been out of action for the majority of the Summer Struggle Series, and now it is being reported that the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has been diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia.

Originally, it was reported that Ibushi was on the sidelines due to side effects of a COVID-19 vaccination, but this has been debunked. Aspirational pneumonia has no links to COVID-19, or any vaccination programme associated with it, and NJPW have also revealed that Ibushi has not tested positive for COVID-19.

NJPW have made the decision to remove Ibushi from several cards at the end of July in order to give Ibushi more time to recover, affecting the cards on July 22 and 23 in Osaka, as well as July 24 in Nagoya. Ibushi could still wrestle at Wrestle Grand Slam on July 25, but a decision will only be made after NJPW officials have assessed Ibushi’s recovery.

NJPW revealed that Tomoaki Honma will replace Ibushi in tag matches with Master Wato against Shingo Takagi and BUSHI.