Kota Ibushi

Kota Ibushi (飯伏幸太, Ibushi Kōta; born May 21, 1982) is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Ibushi began his career with DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) in 2004. Over the next 11 years, he became a three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, five-time KO-D Tag Team Champion, and two-time KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion. Two of his KO-D Tag Team title reigns were with Kenny Omega as the Golden☆Lovers, and their combined total of 351 days is still a DDT record.

In 2009, Ibushi started working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and eventually signed with them in 2013. In NJPW, he is a one-time NEVER Openweight Champion, three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. He resigned from both DDT and NJPW in February 2016 and has performed in several different organizations as a freelancer, including both DDT and NJPW. He also participated in WWE's 2016 Cruiserweight Classic tournament.

After continuing to perform as a freelancer for NJPW after 2016 (including as Tiger Mask W from 2016 to 2017), Ibushi signed a new full-time contract with NJPW in 2019, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first and only time in his career in 2021 before unifying it with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to become the inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion later that year. He is also a former IWGP Tag Team Champion. He has won several tournaments for NJPW, including the 2011 Best of the Super Juniors, the 2015 New Japan Cup, and the 2019 and 2020 editions of the G1 Climax; he is the only wrestler to have won all three tournaments. He is also one of only four wrestlers to win two consecutive G1 Climax tournaments alongside Masahiro Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Kazuchika Okada, as well as the only wrestler to reach the final stage of four consecutive G1 Climax tournaments.