Kota Ibushi says the femur he broke in a match last November has not healed, that the plate in his leg was replaced with a thicker permanent one last week, and that he considers a return to wrestling hopeless. He also says he intends to return anyway.
Ibushi, who has been under AEW contract since 2024, gave the update in a video posted in Japanese to his Instagram account. The quotes below are translated.
He said a checkup the day before his surgery showed the bone had not fused at all in the ten months since the fracture. “Last week Thursday, I had surgery to replace the plate in my leg with a thicker one. The surgery, fortunately, was a success, but it made something clear to me. A return to pro wrestling is hopeless.”
He said the new plate will not be removed. “Given my age, the plate I had put in this time will never be taken out and will stay as it is for the rest of my life. Thanks to it I’ll be able to live my daily life without problems, but if I wrestle, there’s a high chance it breaks again. If that happens, even daily life becomes difficult.”
Ibushi said the motivation he’d had for previous comebacks hasn’t returned. “If it were the old me, I’d still want to aim for a return, but that desire isn’t coming, and I’m confused by it. Is it my age? Is it that my body has understood that with this leg I may not get back to my peak? That’s what I was thinking, but two days after the surgery I was completely back to normal.”
“Even if it’s hopeless, I will absolutely return to the ring. I don’t know how many years it will take, but I will never give up.”
Ibushi suffered the femur fracture in an in-ring accident in November 2025. He has not wrestled since.
Ibushi missed most of 2022 with a shoulder injury suffered at New Japan’s G1 Climax in 2021, a period that ended in a public dispute with the company and his departure in 2023. He worked independents and GCW before signing with AEW in 2024.
Ibushi, 44, is a former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time G1 Climax winner and a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion. He was one half of the Golden Lovers with Kenny Omega in DDT and New Japan.
We wish Kota Ibushi a full recovery.
