Hideo Kojima Celebrates Launch of ‘Death Stranding 2’ By Attending Hardcore Pro-Wrestling Tournament

On the eve of the launch of Death Stranding 2, Hideo Kojima attended the NJPW Death Pain Invitational in Japan. The Metal Gear Solid creator celebrated the launch of his new game by attending a violent pro-wrestling tournament, which is actually pretty epic.

Hideo Kojima Attends NJPW Death Pain Invitational

Wrestling fans were in for a pleasant surprise when Hideo Kojima revealed that he was at the NJPW Death Pain Invitational on June 24. The pro-wrestling tournament was held in Tokyo and featured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship matchup between El Desperado and Jun Kasai.

Hideo Kojima shared a series of photos of himself attending the pro-wrestling event on his social media. The Death Pain Invitational lived up to its name, as the event featured hardcore matches that included glass, barbed wire, and lots of blood. Kojima went to the event on the same day that Death Stranding 2 launched in Early Access.

Many Death Stranding fans reacted to the unexpected crossover, joking that Hideo Kojima will include wrestlers in his next game. “Jun Kasai to be featured in Death Stranding 3 as Die-Harderman” a user on the SquaredCircle subreddit wrote. Another exclaimed, “It is now somehow not at all unrealistic for El Desperado and Margaret Qualley to both be in the same video game one day.” One commenter simply replied, “What a dope way to celebrate a new game launch!”

‘Death Stranding 2’ Is Out Now

Okay, technically, the launch of Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus, Death Stranding 2, is set for June 26, 2025. However, the game is actually available right now worldwide for anyone who purchased the deluxe edition. For $79.99, you get early access to the game for 48 hours. So, you can play it two days early for an extra $10 — which isn’t too bad, in all honesty.

While we are on the topic of Hideo Kojima and wrestling, I just needed to share this meme video from 2015. Using a wrestling game’s custom character creator mode, YouTuber JimVega hilariously created a scenario where Kojima gets jumped by Snake and Liquid. It’s basically a NWO-style beatdown. You might have even seen the GIF because this video never gets old.

All that said, it’s pretty cool to see Hideo Kojima be such a big wrestling fan. With WWE and Hollywood having more crossover than ever before? Perhaps we could see the Death Stranding 2 creator on Monday Night Raw or SmackDown? I mean, that would be awesome — and somehow perfectly fitting for Kojima.