NJPW's Golden Star, Kota Ibushi, earned that moniker for a reason. He’s performed in several promotions across Japan and wowed American audiences in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic. While he’s almost disarmingly handsome, the Golden Star can put on shows of absolute brutality when he needs to. In addition to amazing high-flying stunts, Ibushi can also break down his opponents with his wicked striking ability.
Ibushi has been wrestling for over a decade and has put on classics throughout the course of his entire career. One interesting fact is that his top ten matches span from 2007 to 2020, showing just how timeless the Golden Star is. With that being said, let’s get into the list.
11 Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega vs. The Young Bucks (3/25/2018) - 9.44
This match-up is special. It’s not a title match, but it arguably had more weight than any other tag match could have in NJPW at the time. Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega reunited about two months before this match occurred, but their reunion didn’t exactly usher in a honeymoon. Instead, Kota was sucked into the power struggle going on within Bullet Club.
The Young Bucks felt threatened by Kota’s presence and were jealous of all the adoration Kenny gave him. These feelings of betrayal led the Bucks to challenge the Golden Lovers to a tag match. It’s an incredibly emotional showdown with some very high-risk maneuvers. The Golden Lovers come out on top in the end, but it’s a pyrrhic victory, to say the least.
10 Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (4/8/2013) - 9.45
This is the first of Kota Ibushi and Shinsuke Nakamura's two singles matches. Like a few of the other matches on this list, it took place during New Japan’s G1 Climax. The match is very strike-heavy, which makes a lot of sense considering that striking is the basis for both men’s in-ring styles. It’s yet another gem in the diamond mine that is NJPW’s annual round-robin tournament.
9 Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito (7/17/2017) - 9.48
This match took place at a particularly notable moment in Kota’s career. After stealing the show in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, Ibushi made the decision not to stay in the land of sports entertainers full time and came back to NJPW. His run in 2017’s G1 Climax was all about making up for lost time. He and Tetsuya Naito went at each other relentlessly, as is typical for competitors in the G1.
8 Kota Ibushi & Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori (7/15/2007) - 9.53
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Before coming to NJPW, Ibushi bounced around the Japanese independent scene and made appearances in various other major promotions. One of these companies was Pro Wrestling NOAH. This match took place in a junior heavyweight tag tournament, created by NOAH to help bolster the division. It’s an incredible mix of high-flying, technical wrestling and brutal striking.
6 Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (7/28/2018) - 9.56
You can tell that Tomohiro Ishii is incredibly tough just by looking at him and watching the way he walks. Kota’s toughness, though, tends to come as a surprise. This match is hard-hitting from start to finish. Both men strike each other relentlessly with forearms, chops, and headbutts for a 20-minute strong style showcase. Kota managed to best the Stone Pitbull, something that not many wrestlers can say they’ve done.
5 Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega (8/18/2012) - 9.59
Kenny and Kota, the Golden Lovers, had been tag team partners for over a year before this match happened. You wouldn’t think that was the case watching this match. This was the Golden Lovers’ second singles match against each other. It happened in DDT and was for Kota’s KO-D Openweight Championship.
The match is extremely brutal, sometimes uncomfortably so. It’s also incredibly notable for when Kota kicks out of Kenny’s One-Winged Angel. He remains the only person to have ever kicked out of Kenny’s finisher, even a decade later.
4 Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega (8/11/2018) - 9.59
2018 was a very important year for these two. The Golden Lovers had their long-awaited reunion that February and just a few months later Kenny Omega was finally able to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against his rival, Kazuchika Okada. However, when Kota and Kenny were placed in the same G1 bracket, it provided some huge potential for strain between them. Kota and Kenny were brutal with each other, as they usually are. Kota Ibushi came away with the victory, taking his record against his partner in singles competition to 3-0.
3 Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada (1/4/2020) - 9.62
The major theme around Wrestle Kingdom in 2020 was the Double Gold Dash; by the end of the two-night event, the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles would be held by the same man. The only question was who would be able to do it? On the first night of Wrestle Kingdom, Kota Ibushi challenged Kazuchika Okada for the heavyweight title. The winner of this match would go on to face the winner of the IWGP Intercontinental title match, either Jay White or Tetsuya Naito. Okada and Ibushi are two of NJPW’s biggest stars, so a match between them would predictably be a showstopper. They absolutely lived up to the hype in this showdown.
2 Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (1/4/2015) - 9.72
Shinsuke Nakamura is charismatic and magnetic in a way that only a very few wrestlers can hope to be. In 2015, he was at his peak in NJPW; he recently won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, a newly-created “mid-card” title that Nakamura helped make prestigious. On the other hand, Kota Ibushi had just moved up to the heavyweight division and had a lot of doubters in front of him. This match was Ibushi’s first big test to see if he could hang with the heavyweights. Though he came up short against Nakamura, he showed the audience that he was more than capable of being a main event player.
1 Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8/12/2018) 9.77
This match was the finals of the 2018 G1 Climax tournament. Besides being the finals of one of pro wrestling’s most prestigious tournaments, the match had incredibly high stakes for both men on a personal level; some fans were beginning to question if Hiroshi Tanahashi had fallen past his prime and could still live up to the title of “Ace.” For Kota, a victory here would give him the chance to face his long-term partner Kenny Omega on the biggest stage in Japanese pro wrestling, something both of them had been dreaming about. Unfortunately for Ibushi, Tanahashi would walk away with the G1 trophy that year. He would go on to defeat Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Still, Kota put on an incredible performance that made this, according to Cagematch, the best match of his career.