Kota Ibushi Thinks The IWGP World Heavyweight Title Design "Will Win Everyone Over In Time"

Following the announcement that the IWGP Heavyweight Title and IWGP Intercontinental Title would be unified, the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt was unveiled on March 30 on the road to Sakura Genesis.

The new winged design received a mostly negative reaction and many compared it to the old butterfly WWE Divas Title.

Kota Ibushi was the first holder of the new belt and he recently told NJPW's website that he thinks the new design will grow on fans as time goes on.

"So when I first saw this title, I did think 'woah, this is really different!'. I think though that the design is something that will win everyone over in time," The Golden Star said.

Ibushi did admit, though, that he always thought a title belt should be round.

Ibushi would go on to hold the new belt until Sakura Genesis when he dropped it to Will Ospreay. The Commonwealth Kingpin has successfully defended the gold once since then against Shingo Takagi at Wrestling Dontaku. He was then supposed to face Kazuchika Okada later this month in the Tokyo Dome, but the show was scrapped because of the state of emergency in Japan.