allgoldenelite

[allgoldenelite]

It's finally here

i spent a lot of time and love on this piece. i think you'll know what i mean when you open the link. i recommend consulting this accompanying post as you read along, and all the rest you need to know is in the foreword and the reference list. enjoy!

[allgoldenelite]

hey guys please help me

as my long time followers probably know, i've had long covid syndrome since 2021. last september my condition suddenly got a lot worse and ive scarcely been able to get out of the house since. standing up for longer than ten minutes is basically impossible, and all the comorbid conditions ive accrued in the meantime have also gotten much, much worse. i've been unable to work, and my only financial support is my single mother who is disabled as well.

we've tried basically every treatment option that is available in this shithole of a country, but none of them are covered by national insurance and we are running out of money and options. there is a clinic in my city who does stellate ganglion block injections, which have helped some people with LC. the cost of two injections is 400.000 forint, or 1180 dollars, which we are not able to afford

since gofundme is not available in hungary i set up a ko-fi goal for this

i hate to have to e-beg again, but i dont have anything in the way of income right now and since my condition is not a recognized disability in hungary i dont get any financial support from the government either. this is my last resort

[allgoldenelite]

Together with the new site I will also drop...

my long deep dive into Dangerous Tekkers! This is a 30k beast that I'm very proud of and that I researched for literal years. There will also be several new translation pieces and other content, and a Contribute page 👀 Hope y'all enjoy 👀

Update

changed my icon and banner because...

🎉🎉🎉 I'm launching my new website Thursday next week (8/28) 🎉🎉🎉*

As you can tell from my banner, it will be called Lorecave.

And I need your help!

👉 If you're a wrestling translator and you have a site of some sort (can also be social media, but decentralized preferred), with your consent I will put a link into my footer! I want to make a move away from conglomerate social media and help translators be seen and see others.

All are welcome. In the future I plan on including wrestling artists and other creators in this, but for now it's focused on translation.

The links will look something like this:

(crummy screenshot because the field itself is very small)

Images are obviously placeholders, for the actual banners I'd use images provided by you. Anything goes, but the background needs to be an image you have the right to use, and ideally it would say the name of your online presence/website/social somewhere in there. Final size 93x40 only (and yes, you can still contribute even after the site goes live).

Of course, you may also link me on your website. How you specifically do this depends on what kind of access you have to your code. If you want to go old school, I have this template banner image that you can use (the image is tiny, so it's not recommended to go above a displayed size of 93x40 with this). The website is still in maintenance mode and therefore just links to a placeholder for now, but the URL is lorecave.com.

I'm a tiny account so please help spread this around. If you know a wrestling translator, don't be afraid to @ them, they might be interested!

* Yes, the old website (vendingmachineseat.com) will stay up for some time to allow for redirects. I'm working on setting this up but cannot guarantee every link will properly redirect. Also the new site does not have all of the content my old site has, and I'm gonna continue adding this as I go on. It takes a lot of time and effort. I would like to ask everyone to help spread news about the new site around especially once it goes live, so that as many people as possible get a chance to update their links.

[allgoldenelite]

Update

changed my icon and banner because...

🎉🎉🎉 I'm launching my new website Thursday next week (8/28) 🎉🎉🎉*

As you can tell from my banner, it will be called Lorecave.

And I need your help!

👉 If you're a wrestling translator and you have a site of some sort (can also be social media, but decentralized preferred), with your consent I will put a link into my footer! I want to make a move away from conglomerate social media and help translators be seen and see others.

All are welcome. In the future I plan on including wrestling artists and other creators in this, but for now it's focused on translation.

The links will look something like this:

(crummy screenshot because the field itself is very small)

Images are obviously placeholders, for the actual banners I'd use images provided by you. Anything goes, but the background needs to be an image you have the right to use, and ideally it would say the name of your online presence/website/social somewhere in there. Final size 93x40 only (and yes, you can still contribute even after the site goes live).

Of course, you may also link me on your website. How you specifically do this depends on what kind of access you have to your code. If you want to go old school, I have this template banner image that you can use (the image is tiny, so it's not recommended to go above a displayed size of 93x40 with this). The website is still in maintenance mode and therefore just links to a placeholder for now, but the URL is lorecave.com.

I'm a tiny account so please help spread this around. If you know a wrestling translator, don't be afraid to @ them, they might be interested!

* Yes, the old website (vendingmachineseat.com) will stay up for some time to allow for redirects. I'm working on setting this up but cannot guarantee every link will properly redirect. Also the new site does not have all of the content my old site has, and I'm gonna continue adding this as I go on. It takes a lot of time and effort. I would like to ask everyone to help spread news about the new site around especially once it goes live, so that as many people as possible get a chance to update their links.

[allgoldenelite]

Hello! Do you know if any scans of the Golden Lovers DDT photobook are available anywhere?

sorry for the late answer i don't check this site much anymore

there's lots of links floating around out there and i'm sure somebody is gonna add them to this post, but here are my own crummy scans (GL only; the photobook contains more than just them but old me never scanned those in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

https://drive.proton.me/urls/G63AV99JHR#OU7BmEndIlPT

[allgoldenelite]

Found these in a translated interviewer and omg they're literally married ur honor!!!

[allgoldenelite]

i'm carefully aiming for a pride month release, but if by some miracle i manage to hit it'd be at the very end of the month. otherwise it'll just be during pride 2 (the remaining part of the year)

lol ppl in the tags like "dangerous tekkers posting! aaurghgh my heart" wait until i publish the comprehensive deep dive i've been working on for years now (that's not a joke)

it's gonna be over for y'all

[allgoldenelite]

lol ppl in the tags like "dangerous tekkers posting! aaurghgh my heart" wait until i publish the comprehensive deep dive i've been working on for years now (that's not a joke)

it's gonna be over for y'all

[allgoldenelite]

relax bro, ain't nobody gonna take him from you

except your own crippling inferiority complex, which caused you to slowly convince yourself over the years that not only do you deserve to be where you are but also that you're fundamentally incapable and unworthy of being loved, and thus keep everyone at a comfortable arm's length so you can't be disappointed, while simultaneously deeply craving the feeling of being loved as much as you love others, all of which helped you convince yourself that you're comfortable with the idea of you two being two estranged singles wrestlers forever

[allgoldenelite]

small update, but the match being ishii taichi vs zack akiyama now means he "unnecessarily" teased a schadentekkers teamup on stream lol. he knows what he's doing so i'm going to assume he did it for the drama of it all.

i'm normal. i'm so normal about this. i'm so normal about this "pov you're a side character in a movie and you have to witness the main couple who broke up but clearly still feel something for each other hover around each other like awkward teenagers" ass backstage promo what is WRONG WITH WRESTLING ON THIS DAY

[allgoldenelite]

i'm normal. i'm so normal about this. i'm so normal about this "pov you're a side character in a movie and you have to witness the main couple who broke up but clearly still feel something for each other hover around each other like awkward teenagers" ass backstage promo what is WRONG WITH WRESTLING ON THIS DAY

[allgoldenelite]

Ibushi as a guest on Aoki Shinya's channel translation/summary

Another day, another YouTube video with the Golden Star. Like the Nagata one, this is a written summary of the two videos he appeared in recently on Aoki's channel. The videos bring across a carefree mood and there's lots of laughing from all parties involved, which was nice to see.

Consider checking out the videos here and here and leave a like.

Part 1

(Some parts may be trunctuated or moved around in the chronology in the interest of readability)

The videos were filmed on 4/1. Ibushi says he is in the middle of getting his visa, and when he has it he will wrestle in AEW in May if everything goes well. Aoki is like "Oh really?" and from there it goes into talks about how Ibushi, after quitting New Japan, has done all these unexpected things, so the implication is it's difficult to determine what he's doing next. But he says he has his proper reasons for everything he's done so far.

Aoki mentions Ibushi appearing in GLEAT and DDT as examples, and Ibushi says something that's all censored (I assume this is about the DDT drama). Aoki is like "We can't air that" and Ibushi is like "I don't know what goes and what doesn't go. I'm a pro wrestler, I don't know what goes or not." Aoki mentions that lately, whenever wrestlers say something that they probably didn't put that much thought into, the people listening to that (fans etc) read too much into it. Ibushi says he's the straightforward/blunt type who mostly says what he thinks/feels at that moment.

Aoki says compared when he met him at GLEAT, Ibushi seems to be in really good form, and Ibushi says he feels very good. They talk about his prior addiction to a type of takoyaki dish that helped bring him up to 106 kg (the other factor being his ankles being in bad shape), and he says he even ate it so much he got sick at one point cause it was all he was eating. Imanari (behind the camera) mentions Ibushi isn't picky when it comes to food, and Ibushi goes on to explain that whenever he finds something tasty he just eats that ad nauseum. Eventually he stopped because he was like, "If I don't, my life is over" (Imanari laughs loudly at that). Jokes around that he was suffering "from the side effects of the tako dish" when him and Aoki met at GLEAT, so he wasn't really himself. But he did feel really out of shape, short of breath and like he wanted to lie down after every move (mind you, he also had a fever at the time).

(I'm leaving out some stuff about the IPWRI and the various people associated with it here, it's mostly things people would already know about from other videos and appearances)

They talk about how other people will say Ibushi is beat up as hell and weird in the head because of (all the crazy bumps he's taken), but he personally doesn't feel like he's beat up at all. "I'm completely fine" (cue laughter from Imanari and Aoki). Aoki: "You're not punch drunk*?" Ibushi: "I don't think so. Do you think I am?" Imanari: "I think so." Ibushi: "No, I'm not, not all!" (laughter from Imanari and Aoki).

Aoki mentions that he's not sure where the performance of being punch drunk ends and where the real "punch drunkenness" begins, and asks if Ibushi ever forgets stuff. Ibushi says he does, but he thinks it's from ADHD, and that he has "some developmental disorder-ish things going on". I'm not sure how much of this is tongue-in-cheek because of the reactions of Aoki and Imanari and the general joking around atmosphere of the whole video. Take it with a huge grain of salt (this goes to the content scrapers who like to go through my work and reprint it verbatim).

They next talk about how they first met, which was in 2016 at a IGF show. Aoki asks what a match or promotion or whatever is that really made an impression on Ibushi, and he mentions FU★CK, which is a super tiny indie where fans could tell the wrestlers what moves to do (there would only be about 15 fans present).

After some talk about Sawada vs Fujita, Ibushi mentions how he kind of went wild after matches in the locker rooms in Japan America, like when he was at GCW (like play-wrestling around in the locker rooms so much that the other guy was like "Okay, hold on a sec").

Ibushi meant to say this as soon as he met up with Aoki, but he congratulates him for winning at ONE 172 (a combat sports event), and they talk a bit about how when you're older, the exhaustion/wear and tear just never goes away (they're about the same age). Aoki says that goes for both wrestling and MMA, but after a hard match you just continue feeling it for weeks, and Ibushi agrees, that you keep feeling the sore muscles and such from when you take bumps. Ibushi wonders how Takagi Shingo is still so spry, then. Says he never stops talking, not even in the locker room (after a match). From his experience, Takagi's so lively that even younger wrestlers will be like, "Little less, please" (again, the atmosphere is jovial, so how much of this is earnest or not, who knows).

They talk about how when wrestlers or MMA fighters put normal people in moves, they get flamed online from time to time, and how Aoki thinks that in the wrestling business it seems really easy to get caught in a shitstorm, which he also attributes to the current idol culture trend. Imanari mentions that Ibushi once did a senton on a really young girl and she ended up breaking a rib from it. At first it sounds like it's something that happened a long time ago, but then he says he was 38 at the time, so fairly recently. Even Imanari thought it was something that happened in Ibushi's 20s. Cue laughter from everyone.

*aka CTE

Part 2

At the beginning of the second video, they talk about how Ibushi has never injured somebody else in a match. When it's him getting injured, he says that for the most part, he has a vague feeling before the match that something's out of place, like he can't visualize this move or that, and that's where the anxiety comes from and eventually the injury if things go badly.

They talk about how scary injuries are and that Ibushi (understandably) doesn't want to get injured anymore. He says there's not a place in his body anymore that wasn't at some point injured. Aoki mentions how crazy his matches in DDT and elsewhere were in the past, like the kind of moves he did such as the high-flying and the Phoenix Plex and such. Ibushi says he thinks he's only done the Phoenix Plex about 4 times (stopped doing it because it's too crazy).

The scariest match for Ibushi was vs Kenny at Budokan in 2012. He did the infamous balcony moonsault because he was told that he shouldn't, but he overthought it to where he thought he almost had to do it. He knew he shouldn't do it but Takagi had said that DDT wouldn't ever be able to come back to Budokan anyway, so he was like, "Might as well do it, it's the end anyway." But it was really incredibly high up. Aoki mentions the recklessness of wrestlers, and Ibushi says that for him at the time, he wanted to leave behind a legacy, so that motivated some of what he did. "It's ego."

Aoki says that to him, it seems like the kind of crazy wrestling Ibushi and co did for 10, 20 years inspired lots of people all around the world and then it kept getting too extreme. As he's mentioned in other places before, Ibushi says that after Budokan he sealed that dangerous style away. He felt like him and others had brought back the (dangerous) wrestling from the 90s and that it couldn't keep going like this so he stopped, but that Kenny kept doing it (I assume he means also in NJPW). Ibushi switched away from the Phoenix Splash to the Kamigoe as his main finisher, and through individual spots here or there kept up the illusion of being the crazy high-flyer from back in the day, but he had actually scaled it down dramatically.

They continue talking about the lasting influence of that old style, with Aoki mentioning that even nowadays people still wrestle like that, and that maybe people like Ibushi should say once more that it's really no good. Ibushi agrees and goes on to explain that he did show people in his matches that his style had changed, but the past is too strong of a presence in peoples' minds. They want that style from him. People say he's changed or washed and they don't understand him in the way that he thinks is good. Aoki says people say Ibushi is done, and Ibushi says "Yeah, they say I can't go anymore, I'm done. [...] But I've never really been swayed by other people." Aoki: "Even if people say you're done, as a creator, as a wrestler, you've still no doubt raised the quality, like, the degree of perfection of what you create, the matches and such. You can say that you have confidence in that yourself, right?" Ibushi: "Yes, I can. I'm confident that I can [still] win the Best Bout."

Aoki strongly relates and says that he's also been told his performance has fallen off and such, but in total he still has absolute confidence in what he creates. Ibushi: "I feel like now I'm wrestling by making full use of all the emotions [i.e. the story]."

Next, they talk about the news surrounding Ibushi's various injuries. Aoki mentions the ankle one from when he wrestled at NOAH, and how he thought that was cleverly crafted. He doubted for a while whether Ibushi had even really gotten the surgery for his ankle and just kayfabed it to stay in the news (needless to say, he did get surgery, but they're also lightly joking around here, so don't take Aoki's "accusations" too seriously). They agree being in the news is an advantage, and Ibushi says after that (NOAH show) he got the surgery and he started getting better and now the quality of his wrestling is higher, so it turned out for the better.

Ibushi says that people say they don't know what's real and what's fake (in regards to his character and wrestling and his real self and all that), but that he doesn't know either. He doesn't know where exactly the real Ibushi ends and the character begins, so it's more like he doesn't put on a performance in either role. Aoki can relate because the two also get mixed together for him. "You tend to think about what could be fun/interesting [for the fans] first and foremost."

Next, they talk a bit about AEW. Aoki: "Do you know yet who you're gonna wrestle in AEW?" Ibushi: "No. Depends on what Kenny is doing then. That'll be where I come in. But, it's crazy I'm not watching AEW. It's my where I work, you know? And yet I don't watch it." Imanari mentions that Ibushi doesn't really watch pro wrestling in general, though, and that he mostly watches MMA. Aoki asks what he finds so fascinating about MMA, and Ibushi says he finds everything interesting, the matches, what happens outside the matches, the commentary, etc. He loves it all.

They keep talking about MMA here which I will spare you from. It's not terribly interesting in the first place aside for combat sports freaks. Ibushi also talks once more about how the IPWRI is more like a loose group that anyone can join once he gives them the OK, rather than a concrete group or place or promotion, but he has already talked about that elsewhere so you're not missing much here either.

But yes, technically Imanari is "signed" to two promotions since he's part of the IPWRI (he is signed to Ganbare). Which brings Ibushi to talk about his experience with his double contract with DDT and NJPW. He thinks that being signed to more than one promotion will always end badly. It's what broke him apart back then.

It seems he went missing once (with the connotation that overworking himself for the two promotions caused him to flee). Most of it is censored and they "fast-forward" through them talking about 99% of it, but he ended up somewhere where he hadn't planned to go, and he doesn't remember most of it either. So then he became a freelancer and 3 days after the news broke he was contacted by WWE, he did his stint there in 2016 and then came back to NJPW (as Tiger Mask W for a time), eventually signing with them because his goal was to become IWGP Heavyweight champ. Once he got that, he broke down. And now he's signed with AEW.

They talk more about karma and how Ibushi, even though he enjoys his life and thinks it's fun, feels like he always breaks down if he gets away from wrestling. Imanari mentions that other people are sometimes incredulous why he has attached himself to a guy like Ibushi, but Imanari doesn't see it that way at all. Ibushi continues saying that it's weird how he wanted to quit everything and retire at one point, but somehow wrestling doesn't let him. Aoki can relate. He says whether it's MMA or pro wrestling, somehow you can never get away from it. Ibushi tells Aoki that he doesn't want him to quit. He also says that he takes wrestling seriously when he does it, but it's not something he (pursues) to the degree of a personal hobby anymore (like he did when he was younger).

Lastly, they talk about Aoki going to Bloodsport and he asks for tips for wrestling in the States, and Ibushi compliments Aoki on his style and thinks he'll be well received by the fans over there. They talk some more about MMA and GLEAT (they both like the latter a lot), and say both they want the other to keep going wild in wrestling/MMA, and then the video ends.

(As a sidenote, it seems the two videos were very well received by Aoki's subscribers, who were greatly amused by what he talked about and how he talked about it, and that Ibushi made himself some new fans)

[allgoldenelite]

Ibushi as a guest on Aoki Shinya's channel translation/summary

Another day, another YouTube video with the Golden Star. Like the Nagata one, this is a written summary of the two videos he appeared in recently on Aoki's channel. The videos bring across a carefree mood and there's lots of laughing from all parties involved, which was nice to see.

Consider checking out the videos here and here and leave a like.

Part 1

(Some parts may be trunctuated or moved around in the chronology in the interest of readability)

The videos were filmed on 4/1. Ibushi says he is in the middle of getting his visa, and when he has it he will wrestle in AEW in May if everything goes well. Aoki is like "Oh really?" and from there it goes into talks about how Ibushi, after quitting New Japan, has done all these unexpected things, so the implication is it's difficult to determine what he's doing next. But he says he has his proper reasons for everything he's done so far.

Aoki mentions Ibushi appearing in GLEAT and DDT as examples, and Ibushi says something that's all censored (I assume this is about the DDT drama). Aoki is like "We can't air that" and Ibushi is like "I don't know what goes and what doesn't go. I'm a pro wrestler, I don't know what goes or not." Aoki mentions that lately, whenever wrestlers say something that they probably didn't put that much thought into, the people listening to that (fans etc) read too much into it. Ibushi says he's the straightforward/blunt type who mostly says what he thinks/feels at that moment.

Aoki says compared when he met him at GLEAT, Ibushi seems to be in really good form, and Ibushi says he feels very good. They talk about his prior addiction to a type of takoyaki dish that helped bring him up to 106 kg (the other factor being his ankles being in bad shape), and he says he even ate it so much he got sick at one point cause it was all he was eating. Imanari (behind the camera) mentions Ibushi isn't picky when it comes to food, and Ibushi goes on to explain that whenever he finds something tasty he just eats that ad nauseum. Eventually he stopped because he was like, "If I don't, my life is over" (Imanari laughs loudly at that). Jokes around that he was suffering "from the side effects of the tako dish" when him and Aoki met at GLEAT, so he wasn't really himself. But he did feel really out of shape, short of breath and like he wanted to lie down after every move (mind you, he also had a fever at the time).

(I'm leaving out some stuff about the IPWRI and the various people associated with it here, it's mostly things people would already know about from other videos and appearances)

They talk about how other people will say Ibushi is beat up as hell and weird in the head because of (all the crazy bumps he's taken), but he personally doesn't feel like he's beat up at all. "I'm completely fine" (cue laughter from Imanari and Aoki). Aoki: "You're not punch drunk*?" Ibushi: "I don't think so. Do you think I am?" Imanari: "I think so." Ibushi: "No, I'm not, not all!" (laughter from Imanari and Aoki).

Aoki mentions that he's not sure where the performance of being punch drunk ends and where the real "punch drunkenness" begins, and asks if Ibushi ever forgets stuff. Ibushi says he does, but he thinks it's from ADHD, and that he has "some developmental disorder-ish things going on". I'm not sure how much of this is tongue-in-cheek because of the reactions of Aoki and Imanari and the general joking around atmosphere of the whole video. Take it with a huge grain of salt (this goes to the content scrapers who like to go through my work and reprint it verbatim).

They next talk about how they first met, which was in 2016 at a IGF show. Aoki asks what a match or promotion or whatever is that really made an impression on Ibushi, and he mentions FU★CK, which is a super tiny indie where fans could tell the wrestlers what moves to do (there would only be about 15 fans present).

After some talk about Sawada vs Fujita, Ibushi mentions how he kind of went wild after matches in the locker rooms in Japan America, like when he was at GCW (like play-wrestling around in the locker rooms so much that the other guy was like "Okay, hold on a sec").

Ibushi meant to say this as soon as he met up with Aoki, but he congratulates him for winning at ONE 172 (a combat sports event), and they talk a bit about how when you're older, the exhaustion/wear and tear just never goes away (they're about the same age). Aoki says that goes for both wrestling and MMA, but after a hard match you just continue feeling it for weeks, and Ibushi agrees, that you keep feeling the sore muscles and such from when you take bumps. Ibushi wonders how Takagi Shingo is still so spry, then. Says he never stops talking, not even in the locker room (after a match). From his experience, Takagi's so lively that even younger wrestlers will be like, "Little less, please" (again, the atmosphere is jovial, so how much of this is earnest or not, who knows).

They talk about how when wrestlers or MMA fighters put normal people in moves, they get flamed online from time to time, and how Aoki thinks that in the wrestling business it seems really easy to get caught in a shitstorm, which he also attributes to the current idol culture trend. Imanari mentions that Ibushi once did a senton on a really young girl and she ended up breaking a rib from it. At first it sounds like it's something that happened a long time ago, but then he says he was 38 at the time, so fairly recently. Even Imanari thought it was something that happened in Ibushi's 20s. Cue laughter from everyone.

*aka CTE

Part 2

At the beginning of the second video, they talk about how Ibushi has never injured somebody else in a match. When it's him getting injured, he says that for the most part, he has a vague feeling before the match that something's out of place, like he can't visualize this move or that, and that's where the anxiety comes from and eventually the injury if things go badly.

They talk about how scary injuries are and that Ibushi (understandably) doesn't want to get injured anymore. He says there's not a place in his body anymore that wasn't at some point injured. Aoki mentions how crazy his matches in DDT and elsewhere were in the past, like the kind of moves he did such as the high-flying and the Phoenix Plex and such. Ibushi says he thinks he's only done the Phoenix Plex about 4 times (stopped doing it because it's too crazy).

The scariest match for Ibushi was vs Kenny at Budokan in 2012. He did the infamous balcony moonsault because he was told that he shouldn't, but he overthought it to where he thought he almost had to do it. He knew he shouldn't do it but Takagi had said that DDT wouldn't ever be able to come back to Budokan anyway, so he was like, "Might as well do it, it's the end anyway." But it was really incredibly high up. Aoki mentions the recklessness of wrestlers, and Ibushi says that for him at the time, he wanted to leave behind a legacy, so that motivated some of what he did. "It's ego."

Aoki says that to him, it seems like the kind of crazy wrestling Ibushi and co did for 10, 20 years inspired lots of people all around the world and then it kept getting too extreme. As he's mentioned in other places before, Ibushi says that after Budokan he sealed that dangerous style away. He felt like him and others had brought back the (dangerous) wrestling from the 90s and that it couldn't keep going like this so he stopped, but that Kenny kept doing it (I assume he means also in NJPW). Ibushi switched away from the Phoenix Splash to the Kamigoe as his main finisher, and through individual spots here or there kept up the illusion of being the crazy high-flyer from back in the day, but he had actually scaled it down dramatically.

They continue talking about the lasting influence of that old style, with Aoki mentioning that even nowadays people still wrestle like that, and that maybe people like Ibushi should say once more that it's really no good. Ibushi agrees and goes on to explain that he did show people in his matches that his style had changed, but the past is too strong of a presence in peoples' minds. They want that style from him. People say he's changed or washed and they don't understand him in the way that he thinks is good. Aoki says people say Ibushi is done, and Ibushi says "Yeah, they say I can't go anymore, I'm done. [...] But I've never really been swayed by other people." Aoki: "Even if people say you're done, as a creator, as a wrestler, you've still no doubt raised the quality, like, the degree of perfection of what you create, the matches and such. You can say that you have confidence in that yourself, right?" Ibushi: "Yes, I can. I'm confident that I can [still] win the Best Bout."

Aoki strongly relates and says that he's also been told his performance has fallen off and such, but in total he still has absolute confidence in what he creates. Ibushi: "I feel like now I'm wrestling by making full use of all the emotions [i.e. the story]."

Next, they talk about the news surrounding Ibushi's various injuries. Aoki mentions the ankle one from when he wrestled at NOAH, and how he thought that was cleverly crafted. He doubted for a while whether Ibushi had even really gotten the surgery for his ankle and just kayfabed it to stay in the news (needless to say, he did get surgery, but they're also lightly joking around here, so don't take Aoki's "accusations" too seriously). They agree being in the news is an advantage, and Ibushi says after that (NOAH show) he got the surgery and he started getting better and now the quality of his wrestling is higher, so it turned out for the better.

Ibushi says that people say they don't know what's real and what's fake (in regards to his character and wrestling and his real self and all that), but that he doesn't know either. He doesn't know where exactly the real Ibushi ends and the character begins, so it's more like he doesn't put on a performance in either role. Aoki can relate because the two also get mixed together for him. "You tend to think about what could be fun/interesting [for the fans] first and foremost."

Next, they talk a bit about AEW. Aoki: "Do you know yet who you're gonna wrestle in AEW?" Ibushi: "No. Depends on what Kenny is doing then. That'll be where I come in. But, it's crazy I'm not watching AEW. It's my where I work, you know? And yet I don't watch it." Imanari mentions that Ibushi doesn't really watch pro wrestling in general, though, and that he mostly watches MMA. Aoki asks what he finds so fascinating about MMA, and Ibushi says he finds everything interesting, the matches, what happens outside the matches, the commentary, etc. He loves it all.

They keep talking about MMA here which I will spare you from. It's not terribly interesting in the first place aside for combat sports freaks. Ibushi also talks once more about how the IPWRI is more like a loose group that anyone can join once he gives them the OK, rather than a concrete group or place or promotion, but he has already talked about that elsewhere so you're not missing much here either.

But yes, technically Imanari is "signed" to two promotions since he's part of the IPWRI (he is signed to Ganbare). Which brings Ibushi to talk about his experience with his double contract with DDT and NJPW. He thinks that being signed to more than one promotion will always end badly. It's what broke him apart back then.

It seems he went missing once (with the connotation that overworking himself for the two promotions caused him to flee). Most of it is censored and they "fast-forward" through them talking about 99% of it, but he ended up somewhere where he hadn't planned to go, and he doesn't remember most of it either. So then he became a freelancer and 3 days after the news broke he was contacted by WWE, he did his stint there in 2016 and then came back to NJPW (as Tiger Mask W for a time), eventually signing with them because his goal was to become IWGP Heavyweight champ. Once he got that, he broke down. And now he's signed with AEW.

They talk more about karma and how Ibushi, even though he enjoys his life and thinks it's fun, feels like he always breaks down if he gets away from wrestling. Imanari mentions that other people are sometimes incredulous why he has attached himself to a guy like Ibushi, but Imanari doesn't see it that way at all. Ibushi continues saying that it's weird how he wanted to quit everything and retire at one point, but somehow wrestling doesn't let him. Aoki can relate. He says whether it's MMA or pro wrestling, somehow you can never get away from it. Ibushi tells Aoki that he doesn't want him to quit. He also says that he takes wrestling seriously when he does it, but it's not something he (pursues) to the degree of a personal hobby anymore (like he did when he was younger).

Lastly, they talk about Aoki going to Bloodsport and he asks for tips for wrestling in the States, and Ibushi compliments Aoki on his style and thinks he'll be well received by the fans over there. They talk some more about MMA and GLEAT (they both like the latter a lot), and say both they want the other to keep going wild in wrestling/MMA, and then the video ends.

(As a sidenote, it seems the two videos were very well received by Aoki's subscribers, who were greatly amused by what he talked about and how he talked about it, and that Ibushi made himself some new fans)

[allgoldenelite]

some things that you can do:

go find your local activist groups. join us on the streets. meet people, form connections, learn from others who have been doing this for longer than you

if there isn't a local activist group, start one. you will find your people. the best time to start a group was years/months ago; the second best time is now. you will gain experience over time

learn how to achieve change without doing it through the existing political system. learn about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement. get involved with a union and learn about collective bargaining and how to utilize strikes

learn about local mutual aid efforts/free pantries. support them if you can! know that you have people in your community who will help you if you need it

show visible, material support as much as possible for any and all groups of people who are most negatively impacted by American politics. wear your keffiyehs and your covid masks. make sure that your marginalized neighbors know that you have their backs. support trans people, indigenous people, Black people, immigrants. nurture local communities full of people who will protect each other if and when our government fails us

do these things while it is still easy to do them. it might be about to get harder. you might have to get braver than you want to be, so get started now so that you have time to learn how to be brave

[allgoldenelite]

Help out a Palestinian in the West Bank by taking Arabic classes!

For the past few months, I've been taking online Palestinian Arabic classes from a teacher in the West Bank who lost his last teaching job due to the war.

With Israel escalating its violence in the West Bank, things have gotten increasingly tough for him, so I offered to help promote his classes with the tiny bit of social media reach that I have.

He sent me this to share:

"Marhaba all! My name is Ahmed. I live in Nablus, Palestine, and I’m an Arabic teacher with almost a decade of experience. If you’re looking to learn Levantine Arabic, particularly the Palestinian dialect, I’d be happy to teach you! Here are some details about my classes:

I can teach beginners to advanced speakers. Everyone is welcome

Rate: $25/hr. for private classes, $20/person for group classes

I speak fluent English & French, so I can help explain everything in your native language

Flexibility over Zoom, Google Meet, etc. for classes and open availability for any time of day that works with you

I teach Palestinian/Levantine Arabic dialect only

Please send me an email at teacherahmedw12@gmail.com to get in touch!"

Ahmed is a really kind and patient teacher, and he's incredibly flexible and extremely generous, so if you've ever considered learning an Arabic dialect before, I recommend trying out his classes! He also teaches cultural stuff in addition to the language, so you'll learn a whole lot and gain some new perspective.

Even if you never achieve fluency, having learned just a bit of another language can be very rewarding!

[allgoldenelite]

ぽむペイラー結構しゅき(.› ₃ ‹.)

[allgoldenelite]

idk man there's just something special about going from choking a bloke with your mic stand during the first ever time you meet in a wrestling ring, to sitting on commentary years later in a different promotion and thinking, when the streamers come down, "if i don't hug this guy right now i will literally explode", and then after gathering up some streamers specifically so you can throw them at him when he does his victory pose, the first thing you say to him backstage is "congrats" and "i'll kiss that better later" and "let's get married" in that order, with the same amount of irony one says happy birthday to a crush, in the most "haha. unless" loser way possible. you're not just in love, you're very, positively, immensely infatuated. and perhaps that stings somewhere, deep down, bc the last time you did that to yourself you had to sit with that feeling alone for a long time while the other guy walked away, somehow always cooler and wiser than you, but you can't stop yourself now either.

just taichi things

when u hate noah and their dumb jrs but that one british guy is hella cute actually