Kenny Omega at DDT Part 2

[cringekingsmashko]

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Disclaimer: I’m operating on google translate only apart from incidences where a human translator is specifically credited. I cannot speak or read Japanese. If you can and you notice any issues where the meaning is off, I would really like to know so that I can fix it. Thank you!

Interviewer: “How was it for you adjusting to the Japanese culture?”

Kenny: “Uh well… I was lucky that I sort of had a good introduction to DDT. I mean I made that YouTube video of the anywhere match where I’m wrestling around my cottage and DDT fans are kinda wacky so before even like arriving to DDT they were already really excited to see me. So I sort of had that little bit of buzz. The adjustment was really easy to do in ring and in the match. The more difficult adjustment was adjusting to the actual culture and the food and the language and that was sort of like, you know a really long slow process.

Cause I mean it’s… you’re on your own to learn the language, you’re on your own to figure out to eat properly and maintain your diet and maintain your conditioning and that took about three years to balance it all out and to get to like a level in my Japanese where I could converse and sort of survive.

So yeah, the matches and stuff, that was easy. It was the other stuff, the after/before match type of things, the time when I wasn’t wrestling that was most difficult.”

Under the Mat podcast 2014.21.04

Kenny seems to have had 9 matches on his first tour in Japan however, 6 of these were during the beer garden shows which were over and done with by the 10th of August.

At the same time, Kota was working other promotions aside from DDT including competing in Pro Wrestling Noah’s Junior Heavyweight tag league near the end of the month. This despite perhaps not being at 100% health-wise. There are reports on the blogs of him going to hospital to get checked out after his match with Kenny. The story is that he hit the back of his head when taking the Michinoku driver to the chairs and doesn’t remember the match clearly after that. Given that the main source for this is Takagi’s blog, it's possible he may be exaggerating for the sake of kayfabe but this wasn’t the only place I saw the rumor.

Kota worked a match on the 9th for K-DOJO three days after his match with Kenny but didn’t wrestle the final night of the beer garden shows on the 10th. He was at the show, but took part in a comedy skit and worked at the food stalls rather than doing the tag match he was originally advertised for.


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That night Kenny has a street fight against president Takagi himself! DDT Universe link here.



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Afterwards:

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Kenny loses the match but Takagi calls him “the best foreigner” and promises to call him in one year. The crowd chants ‘please come back’. And Nakazawa translates a promo from Kenny for them.

Kenny: “In my career, I was lucky enough to get a WWE contract before anything else. Next on the list, I made my Ring of Honor debut. And finally I came to DDT. And no matter what anybody says, DDT has the greatest promotion, the greatest fans the greatest wrestlers and this is my greatest accomplishment. So as long as the fans wanna see me, as long as Takagi-san wants to see me I will always come back here, because this is where I want to be.”

The bulk of the wrestling was over but Kenny stayed in Japan for another three weeks, performing on (at least) three more shows. One on the 17th in Nagoya, one on the 27th at Shin Kiba 1st ring again for another promotion called Great Pro Wrestling and one on the 31st at Korakuen Hall.

Tagaki’s promise at the end of the beer garden show hopefully gave Kenny some hope of a return visit to DDT but his concern to prove his worth to them was not unfounded. DDT was a small promotion. They didn’t have much money to spare flying in and hosting international talent.

The dormitory where Kenny stayed was in a run-down state. Matsui, one of the DDT referees, mentions on his blog that he was impressed at Kenny staying there the whole time without complaining. It was in an industrial area outside of the center of Tokyo. The residents were mostly elderly with little or no English and they often crossed the street to avoid him. When he got lonely, he used to go talk to the staff at the local convenience store. It was a 45-minute bike ride to the closest internet café. (If you want to know more about this, the Japanophiles documentaryon Kenny from 2013 is the best thing to watch. The other information is scattered about on various podcasts and shoot interviews.

Michael Nakazawa was a busy guy who appears to have been holding down multiple jobs, but he and Kenny became fast friends and he found time to hang out with Kenny often during his stay.

From his blog entries, it’s clear that Kota and Kenny’s connection was more or less instant too. The day after the beer garden shows end, Nakazawa and Ibushi take Kenny to Akihabara and they play arcade games.

Nakazawa:

August 12th - Ibushi vs. Omega, rebound match suddenly broke out!"



It’s a game though. (^ _ ^;)

Today we have come to play in Akihabara in a group of three.

A splendid O Mega revenge with an initial D! Happy.

Silent Hill played alongside teaming together. I heard that I have not seen Silent Hill’s gun shooting in the USA. You are pretty enthusiastic.

Even so, both of you are considerable gamers …. There is no language barrier in the game. That’s a relief. (^ O ^)

Interviewer: Then, if there are memories etc in DDT?

Omega: There are lots of memories and it is difficult. If I had to give one, I guess it’s the hot spicy challenge with Ibushi. We went to a restaurant in Nagoya. There was a Russian roulette pizza in that shop, and one of the 6 piece pizza had hot sauce on it. Me and Ibushi are poor at eating spicy foods and can not eat them at all, but decided to do the challenge because it would be funny.

Eating with us was a rookie from Nagoya. He ate first but there was nothing. And then we ate, but there was nothing at all. Why?

‘The truth is that mine was hit.’ The new guy turned white, the Russian roulette pizza was over. But then it’s not fun, right? So Nakazawa passed a spicy sauce to Ibushi, and Ibushi made the sauce for my pizza. In return I put sauce on Ibushi’s pizza, but I slipped and put it all over (laugh) But, for the time being, I handed it to Ibushi and decided to eat that pizza quickly.

Then it’s hard to do anything! The two of us drank water, I put ice in my mouth, but I still felt like drinking water. Ibushi cried tears it was so spicy. So, Ibushi wiped the tears with his hands, but his hands actually had hot sauce on and so more and more tears flowed. So, both of our tongues are still burning, I asked for ice cream, but my tongue was still burning, still continued drinking water and then it took a long time to settle out. That was a good memory.

November 2008 M-Drop interview with Kenny

Kenny’s match on the 17th in Nagoya was a triple threat with Kudo and Masa Takanashi which Kenny won! Kota had a match with Dino in the main event. Can’t find either match online but the latter looks like its pretty standard fare for a Dino vs Ibushi match i.e. copious amounts of non-con kissing and heavily dick centered offense.




Ibushi wins but the Extremeparty recapper still notes some concern over his physical wellness.

August 20th

Kenny goes to Dropkick



Nakazawa:

Today’s Ibushi & Kenny Omega August 22nd

We joined with Mr. Matsui and Mr. Ibushi, who didn’t play at Noah today, we went to Ikebukuro. When people went to America with ROH before, people who became indebted people are connected, but the barbecue has become a treat for everyone. Well I have not eaten such good meat after a long time Nobunashima ….

Street brothers Kenny and Ibushi-san were playful while eating ice-cream. Good relationship. In this case you do not need an interpreter anymore.

What close friends you are, before they leave the office, they say they say “Hado-ken!” Or something like a fireworks that happened to be sandwiched with both hands and shoot it with you. Ah Ibushi I’m burning a hand. f (^ _^;)

Matsui:

Tonight, Ibushi and Michael were invited by the mother who took care of me during the expedition of ROH. Ibushi, Michael, Kenny, and me got to eat meals.

It was delicious!

Also moved to the shop that they are doing.

Despite the fact that Kenny did not drink a single drop, he sang English songs for a long time without giving up the microphone, and it made me drink.

Love song sent to Ibushi was sweet and painful.

So, now we will return.

Kenny wanted to stop by the arcade,

“If you play now, the train will be gone!” I said in Japanese.

Kenny Omega Night August 24th

Ibushi’s Noah matches started on the 23rd. Meanwhile, Kenny and Nakazawa held the first Kenny Omega Night at Dropkick! He squished the grapefruits with his bare hands apparently. They played street fighter with customers + other DDT wrestlers.



Then they played strip street fighter. Which went badly for Michael.



And Kenny did a Q&A with Michael translating:

“The reason that I came this time was to fight Ibushi. The fight against Ibushi was the most important match. I did not expect it, but after fighting we got along well. I want to do a rematch with Ibushi when coming next time, but, only if Ibushi has the same idea, it is possible we could tag. ”

“It’s boring to stay in the dormitory, I’m a rarity in Adachi-ku so it is not very pleasant. It’s not like that in Akihabara or Shibuya. I like all Japanese food, but I have to ask Michael and Matsunaga to explain all the menus. I was surprised by the Moss Burger Rice Burger. How does rice replace the buns? I thought it was delicious when I ate it. I had an image of Japan as the advanced country of technology, the impression has not changed since coming. ”

There is more strip-Streetfighter and Michael loses again.



Appearing on S Arena! August 27th



Nakazawa:

Yesterday, Ibushi-san & Kenny appeared on the S - Arena on Samurai TV, so I was present as an interpreter. I wonder if I can translate properly. It’s my first time to interpret something on TV. It is not bad usually as usual.

However, it was a big pinch before recording. We were meeting at the studios at half past eight, but no one had come yet. Well Kenny I know was at Great pro’s match at Shinkiba from 7 o'clock before this recording, but Ibushi-san was late for no reason as usual (lol). What would I do if they never turned up? He was not upset but upset. Actually, Ibushi-san arrived after broadcasting had begun. f (^ _^;)

If you were watching the broadcast yesterday, you will understand, but there are not any words such as the language barrier, they are really good friends. They are is about the same age, and wrestling is a person who can respect each other, both of them are fond of games, they cannot drink alcohol or spicy food. They like the streets, and like indies. I guess there are things that germinated through fierce fighting and sympathies that they both feel.

After that, we went to eat Okonomiyaki by three people, we cooperated together and breathed in briefly and baked over with one more thing! Another photo was baked by Kenny: Smiley Okonomiyaki It was my first taste & mischievous but it seemed like it was.

Kenny’s last match in Japan for the time being is 8.31 Korakuen convention, please come and watch! Without business, Kenny Omega once I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.

The match Kenny has before going to the TV station on the 27th is a bit of a mystery. It’s for a promotion that wasn't DDT called Great Pro Wrestling but it was held in the Shin Kiba 1st ring. The match was against JOM Taro but I’m struggling to find much information on it. Griffon591 did however take some really cute photos of Kenny standing about.




Before Korakuen (August 29th-30th)

Everyone is busy in the run up to the big DDT show at Korakuen Hall. Kota was also in the middle of the NOAH Junior Heavyweight Tag League at this point, fighting the likes of Daniel Bryan, Davey Richards, Kenta and Taiji Ishimori.


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Matsui:

Yesterday I made a mozzo in my office, and I drank with Kenny and others. I nearly missed the last train.

It looks like Kenny managed to learn how to get back to the dorm from here by train.

Korakuen is nearly here so today I stayed at the office for a while. There was one meeting and two meetings. I will return from now. The office has always had a high population density in the production of DDT. About 9 o'clock, Ibushi, Kenny and Michael came to the office, but of course he was playing.

However, the way of Ibushi and Kenny’s communication is quite creepy. Words are hardly exchanged, communication is measured only with a smile. Surely, I wonder if there is something known only to crazy people.

DDT Summer Vacation Memories August 31st

Kenny last match of the tour was against HARASHIMA at Korakuen Hall.




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Post match promos:

HARASHIMA: “Kenny Omega! Your last trick, it worked … Damn, I lost, as you know, Kenny will return to Canada at the end of the game, but I will not allow running away. We will play with this DDT ring!”

Kenny: “HARASHIMA-san, Thank you. Korakuen Hall, DDT, DDT fans, This is my dream. And my dream has come true. For you fans, I gave 100%, I gave everything in every match I had in DDT.”

“(He did not have an interpreter this time, but chose language that was easy to understand.)”



DDT wrestler Yukihiro Abe is amused that Kenny has the [for private use] copyright warning on his gear.

Kenny’s knee was apparently injured during this match but it’s not so bad that he doesn’t keep wrestling on it.


Saying goodbye (September 1st-3rd)

Kenny left on the 4th but it looks like he probably said goodbye to Ibushi on the 1st. Ibushi had matches scheduled with NOAH outside Tokyo on the 2nd and the 4th so possibly he just wasn’t coming back in between.




Matsui:

Today, slowly to the office from the evening.

I was thinking that I would normally take a day off but I decided to go in because Kenny is coming by.

Kenny is going to return to Canada on the 4th.

We may meet again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow but we may not meet with everyone so we took a photo.

He wasn’t selfish, even though he lived in a dorm for a long time he did not complain, but it was a truly wonderful foreign player who performs great in the ring (even on the street).

Good bye Kenny.

Until the day we meet again!

Nakazawa:

Since from today Ibushi-san has matches with Noah, campground, SEM and so on, we will have a memorial photo with everyone as this is probably the last chance we can meet with all of you. Mr. Ibushi must also be missing. It will come back again soon.

Nakazawa (the next day):

Kenny says, “It is a funny thing, as returning to Canada comes closer, it becomes a bit sad every time people say: "Kenny, today is probably the last day to see you before your return.” Yesterday is really something I (almost?) cried, I rarely get such a thing. I finished playing games at the arcade and it’s about time to go home and say goodbye to Ibushi. I came back to sleep with an attitude almost incomprehensible because it was difficult to cry.

See you! (September 4th)



Nakazawa:

Yesterday was the last chance to see Kenny. Today I work in the gym so I cannot go to the airport to see you off … I’m sorry.
At night I went for dinner with Mr. Matsui and Inokuma but I had my two-shot taken at the end. Double Hadoken! (Why naked and in the station premises)
We shook hands and hugged and parted. It was a busy month after Kenny came, but it was fun. I am really looking forward to seeing you again and again. There are also opportunities to have a match against you next time. See you!

And that’s the end of Kenny's first visit to Japan!



Part 3