Veteran Wrestler Reportedly Gone From WWE

Veteran pro wrestler Kushida has reportedly left WWE.

There was some speculation on Kushida's status after his profile was moved from the WWE NXT roster to the official WWE Alumni roster earlier this evening, but now word is that he is no longer with the company.

There's no confirmation on what led to Kushida's departure as of this writing, but Fightful Select notes that his deal expired, but it remains to be seen whether or not a new contract was offered. At least one source thought the departure was related to a budget cut, but that has not been confirmed.

After successful runs in Japan and North America, WWE signed Kushida in April 2019. He recently worked with Ikemen Jiro as the Jacket Time tag team, but found little success there. Kushida leaves WWE as a one-time former NXT Cruiserweight Champion.

Kushida last wrestled on the March 25 edition of NXT Level Up as he and Jiro came up short against Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. His last singles bout came on the March 15 NXT 2.0 episode when he was defeated by the debuting A-Kid. Jacket Time lost to Harland and Joe Gacy on the February 25 NXT Level Up, Kushida lost to Enofe on the Level Up premiere on February 18, and Jacket Time came up short against MSK on the January 25 NXT show, which was a first round match in the 2022 Men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Kushida's last win was a tag team bout against The Grizzled Young Veterans on the December 14 NXT episode.

Kushida has not commented on his departure as of this writing, but we will keep you updated.

Stay tuned for more.