Various: KUSHIDA Reportedly Returning to NJPW, Satnam Singh on AEW Signing, Indies

WWE

Apr 19, 2022

KUSHIDA Reportedly Expected to Return to NJPW

As noted before, NXT talent KUSHIDA recently left WWE following the expiration of his contract with the company.

Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources within WWE stated that KUSHIDA is currently expected to return to New Japan Pro Wrestling by this June.

Meltzer stated “He is done. His contract expired, it was not a secret that he wasn’t going to stay. I know in WWE the belief is that he starts with New Japan in June. That’s what they believe and it’s probably the case.”

Prior to signing with WWE, KUSHIDA had worked in NJPW from early 2010 to January of 2019.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

Satnam Singh Comments on His Decision to Sign with AEW

Sports journalist Ruby Arora held a recent interview with Satnam Singh. One of the topics discussed included his reasons for his decision to sign with AEW.

“I had trials for WWE as well and I liked it very much and I liked AEW as well. AEW is like brand new. It’s only been a couple of years, and it’s really [hot]. I thought that if I go to AEW, I would be a ‘first’ again. First wrestler from India, I will make [more] history for India in AEW and if I go into WWE, that would be amazing but amazing why? Because they already have Indian people over there, they already have Indian wrestlers. Why don’t I go start there with no Indian guys? Where there are no Indians. I should go there and create history again after reaching there. Not for me, for the Indian wrestlers, for everyone.”

Singh also gave his thoughts regarding why he decided to step away from a career in professional basketball for a career in professional wrestling instead.

“Absolutely, I was there [at the Sacramento Kings versus Indiana Pacers game in India in 2019].
That’s a really big question [why I was not promoted to be in attendance for the game]. But, on this thing, I also at that time, meaning… I thought, ‘Why didn’t that happen?’ I was thinking to myself, ‘Why didn’t I do that?’ But yes, I did get an invite from IMG Reliance, those who helped me get here. IMG sent me to the game like, ‘Come check it out. Come watch the game.’ So I was invited through them. There was nothing from the Federation or the NBA or anything. I was only there because of the IMG Reliance letter I received that we would like to invite you to that game and the NBA had the responsibility. They should have done that because they had an Indian basketball player who’s been drafted. They should have done these things, they had the responsibility. They should have, but they didn’t. I don’t know, I didn’t focus much on these things at the time and also I didn’t say, ‘Why didn’t you? Why didn’t they do that?’ I didn’t say anything. I silently watched the game and after the game, I went to my village, stayed home. But my eyes opened after that. There is no career in India in basketball. Okay… and… the only thing in India is that you get a job, be it a Punjab government job or a private job. You make money, that’s it. That’s your job. In India, no one cares what you do, where you’re from. If at all the NBA had thought that they could do anything, they could have achieved so much through me in India. They could have done so much for basketball through me …
No. No one greeted me [at the Kings versus Pacers game in India], nor any coach. Yes, a player or two who knew me, I just raised my hands up to some players. But no one came down to meet me — yes, oh, one came. The Commissioner of the NBA [Adam Silver]. The commissioner definitely came to meet me. Yeah, he came to me and he talked to me. I sure did meet him. Apart from that, no one came to meet or greet me.
I felt very low that day. I felt myself being very down. But at the time I thought one thing, that, ‘Satnam, it’s okay. What has happened, happened. What is done is done. What is going on, just leave it and just watch the game, see everyone and leave this forever.’ After that, I walked away from it forever. I said goodbye at that moment.
In America, there was a very good basketball player [Satnam referring to himself] but that moment in India showed that even if you have any problems or are in trouble, if you want to do something, you can only do it yourself.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

This past Sunday’s Stardom’s Cinderella Tournament 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan featured a video announcement of former Stardom talent Konami returning to the company for their Golden Week 2022 events this May. Konami previously worked for Stardom from December of 2016 to December of 2021. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)

Ring of Honor reportedly aired their final ROH TV episode on Sinclair Broadcast owned television networks this past weekend, according to the Wrestling Observer. This final episode featured replays of a Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards match from 2011, a Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal match from 2015, and a Jonathan Gresham vs. Dak Draper match from 2021.

As noted before, former wrestler Tammy Sytch was involved in a fatal car accident this past March in Florida. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the estate of the late Julian L. Lasseter, the man who was killed in the car accident, filed a civil lawsuit against Sytch and her boyfriend James F. Pente on April 12th to the Circuit Court of the Sevenths Judicial Circuit in and for Volusia County, Florida. This lawsuit reportedly is claiming that Sytch committed negligence and Lasseter is “vicariously liable” for allowing Sytch to operate a vehicle while intoxicated. The estate of Lasseter is currently seeking in excess of $30,000 in economic and emotional damages.

AEW coach Jerry Lynn announced on Twitter that he recently opened a new wrestling school called The FXE Wrestling Training And Performance Academy in Hendersonville, Tennessee. This new school was stated to be co-run by Lynn and former indie wrestler AJ Gallant.

AEW talent Tay Conti announced on Twitter that her boyfriend’s Sammy Guevara’s Twitter account was recently hacked and warned people to not click on any links sent from recent tweets from his account due to them being malicious in nature.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that this year’s Tournament of Survival event, Tournament of Survival 7, will be taking place on June 4th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

GCW also recently announced that they will be holding an event called C.O.S. on June 5th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.