Kushida Opens Up About Considering Retirement ‘After Every Match’ In 2017

Kushida has opened up about his pro-wrestling career, revealing that he was considering retirement only a few years ago.

On last night’s episode of NXT, Kushida was pinned by Kyle O’Reilly in a non-title match. The Japanese competitor has noted that it was his goal to wrestle O’Reilly in a WWE ring.

Earlier today (June 23) Kushida took to Twitter to discuss the mental and physical pain he experienced following his matches in 2017. Noting that “our fight will go on forever”, Kushida wrote:

In 2017, around this time, I was considering retirement after every match. I was concerned about my mental and physical health after every match. I wrestled back and forth between Japan and the United States twice a month.

During that time, I sometimes suffered from severe abdominal pain after matches. I crouched on the floor with a cold sweat and had no choice but to wait for the pain to pass. I had to insert a gastro camera down my throat at the hospital to examine my stomach. But the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. The doctor’s diagnosis was that my autonomic nerves must have been disturbed. My level of this abdominal pain wasn’t normal. And, if it continued, I couldn’t wrestle anymore. I knew it wasn’t an exaggeration. And I knew that my wrestling career could be over at any time.

I had a match with Kyle O’Reilly at that time. It was four years ago in London. At that point, it was rumored that Kyle O’Reilly would soon sign a contract with WWE. After our match, I talked to him directly. He told me his honest intentions. At that time, I thought it would be great to have a match against him in the WWE some day. I knew my professional wrestling life wouldn’t last forever.

So Yesterday was special. WWE/NXT universe! Thank you for watching.

Our fight will go on forever.

Here is the tweet:

https://twitter.com/KUSHIDA_0904/status/1407683571666632705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1407683571666632705%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fkushida-reflects-past-health-issues-and-his-feud-kyle-o-reilly-keeping-him-motivated

Kushida is currently the NXT Cruiserweight Champion, pinning Santos Escobar for the gold in April. He has since defended the title against Oney Lorcan and Carmelo Hayes.

NXT will reportedly be adding more focus on the brand’s cruiserweight division heading into the summer.

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• Kyle O Reilly
• KUSHIDA
• retirement
• nxt

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