Teams Set For Kota Ibushi's Debut Match In GLEAT

Kota Ibushi's participation in AEW Blood and Guts will not be the only big-time five-versus-five match that he will compete in this Summer. While it has been known that the ex-New Japan Pro-Wrestling star is set to compete at GLEAT Ver.MEGA in Ryogoku Sumo Hall next month, the match and its participants have now been confirmed, with Team Kota Ibushi taking on Team GLEAT at the major event.

During a GLEAT tour show earlier today, STRONGHEARTS member El Lindaman rallied other young members of the GLEAT roster, beckoning them to join forces to face Ibushi on August 4. Lindaman succeeded in his efforts, forming a temporarily united force alongside Check Shimatani, Soma Watanabe, Takanori Ito, and Kaito Ishida in anticipation of the Ryogoku Sumo Hall event.

Ibushi also named his teammates for the upcoming bout, though he did it in a video published by his official YouTube account. In the video (translated and summarized here by @ash_mann1021), Ibushi decided to call in non-GLEAT members to team with him on the show, specifically noting that each of them is over the age of 40. The "Golden Star" named All Japan Pro Wrestling's Shuji Ishikawa, Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Daisuke Sekimoto, freelance wrestler Hagane Shinno, and Ganbare Pro wrestler Yumehito Imanari as his four teammates. Imanari, who is only 37, got selected for the match because Ibushi says he is "basically 40" like the others.

The ten-man tag team match will be Ibushi's first match in Japan since 2021. Ibushi's long-awaited return to a Japanese pro wrestling ring comes nearly two years after he severely injured his arm in a match against Kazuchika Okada in the finals of NJPW's G1 Climax 31.