KUSHIDA absent from Declaration of Power, Replacement TBD

10 comments

1. Poor Kushida. Hope he gets well soon

2. >Thank you for supporting New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

   >KUSHIDA, who was scheduled to face Taiji Ishimori at Declaration of Power in Ryogoku on Monday October 10, is still recovering from a bout with hand foot and mouth disease, and will not be cleared to compete.

   >We apologise to fans who were looking forward to seeing KUSHIDA wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.

   >There will be a change to Monday’s card, to be announced at a later time before the event.

   >NJPW joins fans in wishing KUSHIDA a full and speedy recovery.

   New Japan make sure your talent is medically cleared for shows before announcing their participation challenge (impossible). (Also all the best to KUSHI, of course.)

3. New Japan really needs to try communicating with their medical teams.

   Or at least with their talent.

   This has become an unfortunate trend.

   EDIT: forgot a word because tired

4. Master heater finally going to get that title shot

5. Kanemaru beat Ishimori in the BOSJ earlier this year. Maybe we could get an impromptu title match?

6. wtf is hand foot & mouth disease?

7. I hope they switch cards around and give this match to Narita. Just replace him with one of the YL’s in his match. Would be a great homecoming match.

8. Despy

9. I think they got medical advice he’d “probably” be ok so hedged their bets by not making it a title match. I was critical of the Alex Coughlin fuck up but this I’m a little more sympathetic over. He’s in the recovery time period for the disease now. Unless it’s a shocking case this might just be precautionary because it’s pretty contagious.

10. Update: Master Wato has challenged Ishimori.

    [Wato](https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1578244802713649152):

    >Dear Mr. Ishimori

    >Have you considered ‘assessing’ someone different? [The storyline for the KUSHIDA feud is that Ishimori is making him go through an “assessment” to decide if Kushi’s a worthy challenger.] If you could give me a moment of your time October 10 in Ryogoku, I think it would be worth your while.

    >I’m actually on Twitter, so I await your reply. [When KUSHIDA was first announced as being out, Ishimori assessed him on Twitter, only to realize KUSHIDA doesn’t have a Twitter account.]

    >Master Wato

    [Ishimori](https://twitter.com/taiji_ishimori/status/1578249343211307008?) (machine translated):

    >Master Wato.

    >Single.

    >You passed the assessment immediately! [Which either means Ishimori doesn’t need to face him in a match in order to asses him, or he accepts Wato’s challenge.]

    >It’s refreshing to get involved on Twitter like this!

    >Taiji Ishimori (currently ill)

    [Wato](https://twitter.com/master_wato/status/1578267966835425281?) (machine translated):

    >I guess it’s decided.

    >Thank you.

    However the match has not yet been made official by NJPW.

    KUSHIDA has also provided an update on his condition via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/CjaE3_SSw6g/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) (please remember machine translation is far from perfect).