Back on April 1, 2025, Tokyo Sports announced that former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito was working with New Japan Pro Wrestling without a contract. Given the news came out on April Fools Day, not many took it seriously, but that all changed a few weeks later when NJPW themselves confirmed that Naito, and his Los Ingobrenables de Japon stablemate BUSHI, would be leaving the company in the near future. It was news that shook the Japanese wrestling landscape to its core, surprising everyone, including one of Naito's former rivals, current AEW star Kenny Omega, who spoke about Naito's departure on a recent Twitch stream.
"Yeah, very odd,"Omega said. "Odd as in like I didn't hear anything about it, it just kind of came out of nowhere, not that Naito and I keep in touch or anything like that or let us know what we're thinking and how things are going. But yeah, sometimes you hear a bit of rambling and like murmurs, or whispers." While only crossing paths primarily in tag team bouts during their time in NJPW, Omega and Naito's trilogy of G1 Climax matches between 2016 and 2018, including the tournament final in 2017, are heralded as some of the greatest matches in NJPW history.
As for why Naito decided to leave NJPW, Dave Meltzer reported that money might have been the biggest stumbling block between the two parties, but given that the company themselves have stated that they are on good terms with their former World Champion, it is likely that Naito will one day reappear in NJPW when the time is right. However, once night two of Wrestling Dontaku on May 4 is over, Naito will become a full-time freelancer for the first time in his career.
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