Flip Gordon explains what happened with his visa that has forced him to withdraw from NJPW Best of Super Juniors.
Earlier today, NJPW announced that Flip Gordon is out of the upcoming Best of Super Juniors tournament due to visa issues. Fightful reached out to Flip to get his side of what happened and why he won't be in Japan for this year's tournament.
Flip explained that "the second certificate of eligibility, in order to apply for a new visa, got lost in the mail. They sent it back on April 12. I should have had it in enough time to apply for a new visa. It was a miscommunication with the consulate. I drove to the consulate to see if we could get an extension on the current visa, which was the wrong via, but we didn't know the current visa had expired until yesterday."
Gordon clarified that he applied for, and received, a visa in January to work the NJPW Honor Rising tour in February. However, instead of getting a re-entry visa, which would have allowed him to work BOSJ despite missing Honor Rising, he received a shorter term visa, which expired in four months.
"The visa I had would have worked had I gone to Japan (in February) because they would have taken the certificate of eligibility and put the stamp in my passport and I would have had re-entry (for Best of Super Juniors)," he stated.
The recently sent certificate of eligibility, which was lost, was necessary for Gordon to apply for a new visa that would allow him to work BOSJ as the wrong January visa had expired.
When asked if he or NJPW had any bad feelings towards one another for how the whole unfolded, Flip said, "They didn't seem mad at me because it's out of my control and I'm not mad at them. It's a miscommunication."
By not taking part in the Best of Super Juniors tournament, Flip's month has opened up. Upon finding out he would not be able to travel to Japan, Flip said, "I called Ring of Honor and said, 'I just want to wrestle. I've already missed three months due to injury. If I can't go to Japan, I want to be on every single show that there is. I'm not missing anymore wrestling.'"
ROH is in the middle of its War of the Worlds tour, which saw Gordon take on Bandido in Buffalo for night one of the tour. They still have stops in Michigan and Illinois this weekend.
"I'm trying to look at the bright side," said Flip. "I may get to see my family because ROH has shows in Washington and I'm hoping to get on those. My knee isn't 100% so maybe it's better off for my knee. It's motivating me. I'm angry but you can use it in two different ways. You can piss and moan about it or you can turn it into motivation. I'm trying to turn it into motivation. I have more that I want to prove because I'm missing out on (Best of Super Juniors). I just want to wrestle. I don't care where it is. I'll be back in Japan and I'll work hard to get back there."
As of now, Flip has not been announced for this weekend's ROH events.
