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theundergrounddog · 6 years

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Kenny Omega at DDT (Part 2)

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

(Quick disclaimer: I just want to make it clear that translation-wise I’m operating on google translate and common sense only. I cannot speak or read Japanese. If you can and you notice any issues where the meaning is drastically off, I would really really really like to know! Thank you!)

Kenny has 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 my main source for this is Takagi’s blog, he may be slightly exaggerating it for kayfabe’s sake however this wasn't the only place I saw the rumor that he was made to go to hospital after the match.

Kota works a match on the 9th for K-DOJO 3 days after his match with Kenny but doesn’t wrestle the final night of the beer garden shows on the 10th. He is at the show, but he just takes part in a comedy skit and works at the shop rather than doing the tag match originally advertised.

(Source)

Kenny has a street fight against the president Takagi himself! Unfortunately, apart from the Kenny vs Ibushi match and the tag match he had before that, none of the rest of Kenny’s matches from this tour are available online as far as I can find.

(Source) (Source)

Afterwards:

After the match (which Kenny loses) 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: "My wrestling career was so blessed to contract with WWE so that I could finally join ROH and finally come to DDT. Whatever anyone says DDT is the best company, with the best wrestlers and the best fans, as long as you want to see me, as long as Mr. Takagi asks me, I will definitely come back because this is where I am." (source)

So now the bulk of the wrestling was over. Kenny stayed in Japan for another three weeks, but only performed on 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 eased Kenny’s mind a little but his initial concern to prove his worth so that DDT would bring him back was not unfounded. DDT was a small promotion. They didn’t have a huge amount of money to spare flying in and hosting talent from across the world.

The dormitory where Kenny stayed was in a quite run-down state. Matsui, one of the DDT refs, actually writes on his blog that he was impressed Kenny stayed 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 documentary is probably the best thing to watch. The other tidbits of information are 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 still finds 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. The day after the beer garden shows end, Nakazawa and Ibushi take Kenny to Akihabara and they play arcade games.

Ibushi vs. Omega, rebound match suddenly broke out! (August 12th)

“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 ^)”

From an interview with Kenny in November 2008 (August 17th -ish)

“-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.”

Kenny’s match on the 17thwas a triple threat with Kudo and Masa Takanashi which Kenny actually won! Kota has 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. a copious amount of non-con kissing and heavily dick centered offense.

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

Today's Ibushi & Kenny Omega (22nd)

The events of this day were recounted in both Nakazawa’s and Matsui’s blogs.

Nakazawa: “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 start on the 23rd. Meanwhile, Kenny and Nakazawa hold the first Kenny Omega Night at Dropkick! He squishes the grapefruits with his bare hands apparently. They play street fighter with customers + other DDT wrestlers.

Then they play strip street fighter. Which goes badly for Michael.

They do a little 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.

Yesterday appeared in the S Arena! (August 27th)

Nakazawa:“Yesterday, Mr. Ibushi & 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 should 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 isn’t DDT called ‘Great Pro Wrestling’(?) but it was in the Shin Kiba 1st ring which was the same place the beer garden shows were held. I didn’t find out about it anywhere the rest of the match recaps are, but from our old friend Griffon591! 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 is also in the middle of the NOAH Junior Heavyweight Tag League at this point, fighting guys such as but not limited to: Daniel Bryan, Davey Richards, Kenta/Hideo Itami and Taiji Ishimori.

(source) (source)

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)

The big Korakuen Hall show finally comes and Kenny has his last match of the tour was against HARASHIMA.

(source)

Promos after the match:

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.)”

There’s also much amusement from Yukihiro Abe (another DDT wrestler) 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 leaves on the 4th but it looks like he probably says goodbye to Ibushi on the 1st. This makes sense considering Ibushi’s Noah matches. He has one on the 2nd and one on the 4th both of which are outside Tokyo, so maybe 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 (in a later blog entry): 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! Spoilers: Kenny does come back in January 2009 and many more times after that. Lots of cute shit happens then too. Go out onto Michael Nakazawa’s blog and discover it for yourselves.

*I say at the start that Kenny had 9 matches, but earlier this week I thought he only had 7 so there could easily have been more. I was going off cagematch’s results and then found the mystery 2 with blind luck lol.

#golden lovers research tag #Golden Lovers #Kenny Omega #kota ibushi #ddt #this is so long #i'm so sorry #also if there is something you want a source for and i missed it #you can ask #also the bit about saying goodbye to ibushi just kills me #and i really want a real translation of it

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