Kenny Omega at DDT Part 10
Apr. 11th, 2020 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cringekingsmashko
This post covers the second part of Kenny's 5th visit to Japan: January 14th 2010 - February 16th 2010.
Previous: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7,Part 8, Part 9
January 15th-19th - Ibushi and Michael in New York
Michael and Ibushi go to New York. Ibushi is in the main event of the first Evolve show against Davey Richards on the 16th.
(source)
On the 18th Michael says he and Ibushi are working on a secret in Brooklyn and that the photo below is a hint.
M-drop confirms he is filming the videos for Kaiju Big Battel.
If he was intending to do matches for them off of these it didn't happen for a long time. He wouldn't appear for Kaiju Big Battel until the next time he traveled to the US six years later.
(source)
On the way back, Ibushi clears Earthbound. Apparently he played all of it during the trip to America. Michael says he games too much.
Not much information about what Kenny was up to alone in Japan in the meantime. Takagi encounters him at Midbreath a few times. He hangs out with his MMA friends on the 20th for dinner and karaoke.
(source)
When Kota gets back to Japan he re-signs with DDT. It is agreed that he will fulfill the dates he's already booked for, and then take time away from wrestling to heal his chest injuries.
January 23rd
Kenny meets up with Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli who are over for NOAH's global tag league.
Chris Hero's Blog:
Claudio and I went to Harajuku and met up with fellow Ring of Honor wrestler Kenny Omega. He is over on tour for DDT. I met him at Jersey All Pro and got to know him better once he started with ROH.
He is a very innovative and talented wrestler. The three of us wandered around the local shops and enjoyed conversation. It is very surreal to me when I meet friends all the way across the world.
Wrestling has been so good to me. It is hard to believe that I can do what I love as my career.
January 24th - Kenny Omega & Yukihiro Abe vs Gota Ihashi & Kota Ibushi
(On DDT Universe here)
The Golden Lovers have a match where they are on opposite sides. They enter the match with their usual general enthusiasm but when it comes down to hurting one another...
...they are somewhat unconvincing.
Gota gets frustrated at Kota not using his hard kicks and demonstrates, only for Kota to come to Kenny's rescue.
The match totally breaks down. The Golden Lovers start using their double team moves on their unfortunate partners.
But then...
Kenny you treacherous little fuck.
He tries to apologise and for a moment it looks like things are still cool.
But Ibushi is no fool.
They fight seriously from then on, until Abe tries to get Kenny to do the Golden Shower with him.
Kenny pins Gota but there are no hard feelings at the end of the match.
January 28th
Takagi gets second place in the best promoter category of the Wrestling Observer Awards and is rather pleased about beating Vince McMahon. Ibushi wins best high flyer decisively with more than twice as many votes as the next runner up.
Kenny visits the DDT office.
(Note the pic of them in their samurai costumes on the wall!!!)
January 30th
Kenny goes to Midbreath again and also to a tanning salon in Shinjuku. It's his first time going there alone without Michael.
January 31st Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs Gedo & Jado
(On Youtube here)
So the big day comes, and the Golden Lovers have their first match for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
It probably could not have ended more poorly.
Jado gets a cervical sprain taking a cross slash from Kenny and is put out of action for seven months. From reading some reports it seems like Jado and Gedo collided badly with each other as they went down to the floor.
After it happens you can see Jado and Gedo communicating with Red Shoes, Ibushi hears and clues in Michael who is at ringside, Michael goes over and clues in Kenny just before the bell rings for the referee stoppage.
Nakazawa:
Today to Differ Ariake.
Today, I went to be Ibushi & Kenny's second where New Japan performed at Differ.
In the middle of the match, Jado-san was injured and it was a referee stoppage.
Despite the win, they weren't glad at the injury and it was a disappointing way to end. As expected, both of them were a bit depressed, but when eating together on the way home their playfulness came out. (Lol)
In any case, I hope that Jado-san isn't hurt much.
Well, I tried Twitter for the first time. Please search for it at MichaelNakazawa! I'm tweeting at will. (Lol)
Matsui:
Differ!
Today, I came to New Japan's Diffa tournament.
The venue was overcrowded, even though Korakuen was yesterday.
Frightening...!
The development that caught Ibushi continued, he broke the phase with an overhead kick on the two of them, Kenny performed his own move and moved them out of the ring.
It was brilliantly decided to cross rush from there, but ....
At that time, the partners seemed to have collided with each other, making it impossible for Jado to continue the match so Ibushi's team won the victory. Because of the accident, despite winning the tag match, Ibushi and Kenny had no joy.
It seems that the reason was that they couldn't show their power and couldn't perform enough to satisfy the fans. It seems that Ibushi had hoped for "revenge in a thorough form." Even the evil side will not be silent as it is.
Expect some continuation.
Although after such a game the Lovers were disappointed, they recovered hearing the fans cheer as when they left the venue. At the family restaurant on the way home, they returned to being a usual disgusting couple.
It was good.
Jado-san is just like Giant, so he will come back as if nothing had happened.
I will return from now.
The images are:
1. Two idiots flirting as usual without worrying about the white eyes of the child in the next seat.
2. The CEO who was too happy to get the last curry at diffa and was happy to say,
"I did it!"
February 1st - Kenny's Holiday
Kenny, Ibushi and Michael film their Kenny's Holiday skit for Samurai TV.
(source)
February 3rd - New Beijing Wrestling - Old man To-go, Young Master To-go and Shuyu Gong Jin vs Former Elder, Yasuura no, and (dead) Giant Mashu.
(source)
So the story of this match as I understand it is this:
Old man To-go (Dick Togo) went undefeated for 4000 years. He traveled the world to get even stronger. He fell in love with a woman from a foreign land and lived peacefully there. But one day the time for his departure came. To-go gave his blue-eyed son, who was born between them, some of his secrets and went on his way.
(source)
Young Master To-go trained hard and joined New Beijing Pro-Wrestling. Finally his first tag match teaming with his father, Old Man To-go, will be realized!
Also joining them is Shuyu Gong Jin (Konaka) winner of the Oolong cup.
The other team is made up of Former Elder (GENTARO), a beloved ex-student of Old Man To-go's, Yasuura no (Yasu Urano), and Giant Mashu (Shuji Ishikawa) who is invulnerable and can revive himself no matter how many times he is killed.
(The Japanese New Beijing Wrestling page was my source for most of this kayfabe info. My romanisation for names is likely way off sorry.)
When the heel team enters Giant Mashu is particularly wary of Former Elder's sword.
Former Elder and Old man To-go fight with their hands behind their backs.
A father-son hadouken.
Unfortunately evil triumphs when Former Elder cuts down the Giant Mashu so that the body falls to make the cover on Shuyu Gong Jin.
February 10th
Kenny's holiday is broadcast on S-ARENA! It's an interview that shows what the wrestlers get up to when they aren't having matches.
Unfortunately the video of this isn't anywhere I can find, but there are enough recaps of it that its content can be reliably pieced together.
(source)
Kenny is working out at the gym when Ibushi and Michael arrive, Ibushi skips to Kenny and they hug while Kenny and Michael just have a handshake. Kenny does a 180 kg bench press with Ibushi's help, then both of them ignore Michael while he struggles.
As Griffon591 puts it: "The main content [of Kenny's Holiday] is that Kenny spends love time with Ibushi in the gym, game center and Ebisco, while the accompanying Michael is oppressed."
(source)
They go to do Purikura at the game center. The photos are to be given as a prize to a lucky Samurai TV viewer I think?
(source)
Next they go to Ebisco Tavern.
Kenny is interviewed while Ibushi "eats intently."
Poor Michael.
They eat ice cream for dessert and Michael has a lemon. ;__;7
February 11th - DDT Into the Fight 2010 - Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs HARASHIMA & Kengo Mashimo
In Kenny's last match in Japan the Golden Lovers do all their signature moves and pin HARASHIMA for the victory. Ibushi cuts one of his monotone cue-card promos.
Ibushi: "We won. Harashima was strong. Mashimo was also very strong. I would like to take a rest after this. Kenny will return to Canada. I would like to challenge the IWGP Junior Tag."
February 12th - Kenny Omega Night at Dropkick
Valentines edition!!
The special cocktail is the Canadian crepe. Made with kahlua, low-fat milk, whipped cream, and maple syrup. (Why even have the milk be low-fat at that point!?)
This event had a more chilled out, calmer atmosphere then previous nights. Griffon591 mentions that some of the fans from before have stopped coming which is "both happy and disappointing."
(source)
They put on some wrestling but end up mostly chatting through it.
Griffon591:
Free talk time with the feeling that the video is flowing away vaguely. Kenny seemed to be partly watching the video. Meanwhile, Kenny questioned the customers again.
Kenny: "I know Valentine's is different in Canada and Japan, but what do you do in Japan?"
From here, Valentine's Day discussions start. Kenny listens to it seriously. By the way, there was an answer of, 'Some people wear ribbons and say "eat me."'
Kenny: "Where is such a babe?... Well, Ibushi is already doing it. "
What a ridiculous thing to say w
They watch Kenny's Holiday and then happen to switch on to some NJPW. Kenny says that the next thing on his mind is 'revenge' and challenging for the IWGP Junior tag belts.
After that is a Valentines contest. The customers are to decorate bars of chocolate.
Griffon591:
Kenny: "It's about designing that tests your imagination. I will give something to the winner. I may dislike it but everyone is participating."
The chocolate boards and chocolate pens were distributed to everyone here.
Kenny: "I want you to do your best decoration. However, the judges are me and Nakazawa, so I want you to think about it. It doesn't have to be Valentine's day themed. Anything is fine."
In this way, the customers began the chocolate decoration match. … But Michael is panicked when the customer points out, “Does the chocolate pen have to be melted?” With the customer, for some reason, taking a boo from Kenny w
Kenny's hints as to what makes him most happy while boiling the water.
Kenny: "First of all, let's think about who is the judge. Of course, if you please us, the points will be high. Specifically ... sexual jokes and (laughs) flattering are welcome, but those who are original and have good designs I want you to express what you think without fear."
Sadly there is no record of who won the contest or what their entry was. Three winners were picked out of the chocolate decorating and then those three had another cake decorating contest to determine the final winner.
Takagi came by later in the evening.
February 14th - Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask vs Fujita Hayato, GENTARO & Kota Ibushi
Ibushi makes it into the opening tag match of another NJPW show. This event included the retirement ceremony of Milano Collection A.T.
Ibushi: "It was the first match, and I'm glad I was able to do my best, we lost because of various things we couldn't help. With the same lineup. I want to have another match."
February 16 - Goodbyes
Matsui:
See you soon!
Kenny came to the office.
He says he will be going back to Canada today.
But he's planning to come again in April, so it's just a little goodbye.
Good bye Kenny!
See you soon!
Nakazawa:
See you soon.
Today is the day when Kenny will return, but since Ibushi-san is playing at Shinkiba, he can't go to the airport. So stopped by Ibushi's house and said goodbye.
I'll see you soon.
Now, to Narita!
That's it for the moment. I honestly never thought I would make it this far! I may stop here and try things from a new angle.
I want to update my old posts (bringing them all over to dreamwidth in the process) as DDT have uploaded, and continue to upload more and more of Kenny's early matches. He's also said some things in interviews over the past year that would be nice to transcribe and include.
Feel free to message me on tumblr if you want some distraction. In the meantime, stay safe everyone.
