In a video on his official YouTube channel, former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi addressed several topics, including his current status with All Elite Wrestling.

“During the discussion, they asked me how we could come to a deal, I said unless it has this, and this and this, unless it has these conditions, I don’t want to sign a contract, I said that if we’re just going to sign a contract, let’s do it today.

That was the hardcore match, double ring, cage, on that day, that’s the day we signed the contract, we had a verbal agreement. It has to be this way for me, I’m based in Japan and I will travel for the matches. Basically, I’m in Japan, I work in Japan, I will be active, I’ll be free to do that.

There are other things that make the contract even more flexible, like if I could appear for another promotion, that kind of thing is normal, like can I compete in another match. We talked about all of those kinds of details, I still got the OK, tell us anything you want, we’ll listen to whatever you say, reduce the number of matches a little bit more, because if I go too many times, my activities in Japan will be limited, so reduce the number of matches a little bit more. When I said that, that is okay too, it’s the best deal.”

The full video is available at this link.