Right before he begins his quest to win a second consecutive G1 Climax, Kota Ibushi looks back on the toll last year's tournament took on him.
Speaking to NJPW, Ibushi looked back on his journey to win last year's G1 Climax. Ibushi revealed that not only was he working the tournament with an ankle injury but that the pain and the gruesome run of tough match after tough match actually brought him to tears out of pain.
"No doubt, it was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my career. I’ve never cried out of pain and frustration like that in 16 years of doing this. After matches, I’d be overwhelmed with how difficult it was. It’s always tough, but you throw an injury on top and it’s something else. It nearly broke me, but I had to think ‘I can’t stop here’ and I had to keep picking myself up," Ibushi said.
Ibushi was able to overcome the injury, win the tournament but fail to win the Double Gold Dash at Wrestle Kingdom 14. With the tournament set to start soon, Ibushi had thought pacing himself better during this G1, but upon hearing that he's facing Kazuchika Okada in his first match, Ibushi laughed and said he has to go all out again.
"You know I always talk about going as hard as I can and putting in everything I have. Recently I caught myself talking about pacing myself in other interviews. But then again as soon as these cards were announced it was like ‘woah, the main event of the block right off the bat’. So yeah, I guess I’ll go hard and give it everything I have after all (laughs)," Ibushi said.
Fightful will provide results of every G1 Climax card, starting with the September 19 card.
