#huge shoutout to cringekingsmashko's blog on kenny's first few visits to japan ive linked to it a few places in this

[mitchtheficus]

A Golden Lovers Timeline

PART 2: LOVE AND SUCCESS

Even though Kota couldn’t speak English and Kenny had yet to learn Japanese, the Golden Lovers had no trouble communicating. Their friend Michael Nakazawa was able to serve as translator, but by August 22, 2008 he felt his services had already become unnecessary. A few people who knew them at that time describe them being able to communicate with just a look, or Kota speaking in Japanese and Kenny speaking in English and somehow the Golden Lovers were just able to understand each other. Kenny once joked that they communicated telepathically

Kenny comes back to Japan just a few months after their first meeting and in their very FIRST EVER 2-man tag match (January 24, 2009 - LINK) the Golden Lovers win DDT’s tag team championships

[ID: GIF from the end of the match, the ref is trying to hand the GLs their titles but Kenny pulls Kota into his arms and hugs him tightly. End ID]

They seem a little awkward with each other at the beginning of the match (Kota keeps glancing at Kenny while they wait for the ref to stop futsing with the belts) but they’ve clearly been practicing together, preparing for this moment because they already have their team moves down pat

their tandem move set (especially Golden Shower) is athletically impressive sure, but it’s also kind of magical when you think about what it means

"Somehow our jump height was the same, our spin speed was the same, and we would have the exact same timing of impact. It was really like twins were flying through the air." [Kenny speaking in The Golden Comeback documentary LINK]

not only did the GLs share one brain, their wrestling had naturally developed to be in perfect unison. more proof that this was destiny

In this match they get their first ever hot tag with Kenny bleeding and the GLs desperately reaching for each other, Kota lets out this yell when he can finally, finally get Kenny to safety and do some damage of his own

[ID: gif from the match, Kenny is crawling towards Kota across the mat before making a final jump, hitting Kota’s hand and tagging him in. Kota lets out a yell while getting into the ring. End ID]

they end it with their very first Golden Shower (the complete silence of the audience while they set this up is so so cool)

[ID: gif from the match, the GLs perform their finisher Golden Shower, twin firebird splash from on top of the turn buckle onto their prone opponent. End ID]

At the end, holding their new titles they shout “Safety first!” along with the audience in japanese as kenny bleeds all over his face

A few months later (May 4, 2009 - LINK) they have their first encounter with the s/ex doll legend Yoshihiko. anything involving the GLs and Yoshihiko is worth watching imo because it’s always so creative and insanely athletic and funny

[ID: two gifs, in the first the puppeteer for the doll Yoshihiko twirls the doll like it’s doing cartwheels across the ring, then in the second gif he stops and just THROWS the doll at Kenny and Kota as hard as he can. They both sell it like they got hit with a real person. End ID]

(at this point it’s probably necessary to give you a general content warning for DDT matches. Lots of dick jokes, lots of butts just out, frequently literally not safe to watch at work. Additionally the GLs often fight a wrestler named Danshoku Dino, who plays a homophobic predatory gay caricature and frequently uses sexual harassment and assault as a funny haha wrestling gag. Viewer discretion etc).

Just the next day (May 5, 2009) Kota wrestles on a njpw show, a tag match against Tanahashi (for new fans: njpw is another wrestling company in japan, all you need to know rn is that njpw is bigger and more prestigious than ddt) and asks to be allowed to participate in NJPW’s super juniors tournament 

At this time both of the GLs were working for DDT, but DDT and NJPW sometimes collabed which meant letting ddt guys on njpw shows and vise versa. In spring of 2009 kota got his wish and competed in njpw’s super juniors tournament for the first time, losing to Prince Devitt (now Finn Balor in WWE) in the semi-finals. (LINK)

Almost a year to the day that the GLs had their first match (August 8, 2009 - I can’t find this match anywhere!) they return to the Beer Garden (the location of their first match) this time as a team

[ID: picture of Kenny and Kota standing on top of the vending machine that Kota phoenix splashed off of in their first ever match. End ID]

DDT lets wrestlers produce the shows for this several-day event and this day is produced by Kenny. This match is a little bit of a love letter to how they met. One of their opponents is Mike Angels, the guy from Kenny’s cabin video. It’s a falls count anywhere match. And one of the spots is a re-enactment of the move that won Kota’s first fall against Kenny, a phoenix splash from on top of the vending machine, but this time they do it together

[ID: a gif from the match, Kenny and Kota do their Golden Shower finisher from on top of the vending machine mentioned earlier onto their opponent who is laying on a table. End ID]

After this match Kenny tells the crowd that a year ago he had almost lost his love for wrestling and that he had felt really alone “not just in wrestling but as a person.” (machine translation) but he has since found Kota and the DDT fans, and he feels really lucky

Kenny does a Q&A (August 2009) where he’s asked if his love for Kota is “real” (he says yes). he also says that his dreams for tag team success can only be realized with Kota as his partner

(DDT does a Samurai photoshoot and the GLs are involved, this is unrelated to anything, i just think you should know that you can see them cosplaying as samurais if you want)

The GLs end their first year as a tag team with a fatal four way match with Dino and Nakazawa (Dec 30, 2009 - [can’t find the full match anywhere but here is the end: LINK]). Despite technically being opponents, they refuse to fight each other. At the end of the match Dino forces the lovers to kiss and they get soooo distracted kissing that they don’t notice when Dino pins Nakazawa, causing them both to lose the match

[ID: Dino piledrives Nakazawa while Kenny and Kota kiss in the background. Kenny has his arms around Kota and is holding his head in place, and the end Kota kind of sags to the floor. End ID]

they’re soooo smiley afterwards, it’s v cute

[ID: Kota smiles at Kenny and looks away and touches his mouth. End ID]

[ID: Kenny smiles at Kota and touches his mouth too. End ID]

After losing they kiss again.

[ID: Kenny leans forward and Kota meets him for a little peck and Kenny squeezes his eyes shut and nods after it. The expression on Kenny’s face is complicated. End ID]

it’s uh a little fraught

[ID: Kenny is looking at Kota after their second kiss and his face is so complicated idk how to describe it, Kota is smiling though. End ID]

(the second kiss is something Kenny is still proud of to this day)

In the new year they’re pitted against each other again (Jan 24, 2010 - [this is probably my favorite ddt non-singles match of theirs] LINK) this time in a tag match and they’re so completely smitten for each other it pisses their tag partners off

[ID: Kenny and Kota go to shake hands before their match but they end up just holding hands and smiling at each other until Kota’s tag partner shoves them apart. In the background Kenny’s tag partner complains about this show of affection to the ref. End ID]

Kenny and Kota are completely unable to hurt each other

[ID: Kenny holds Kota’s arm so his tag partner can jump on it, but right as he jumps Kenny let’s go of Kota, abruptly jumping back like he just couldn’t make himself hold Kota there. His partner hits the ground and holds his face. Kota seems completely unsurprised by Kenny’s action. End ID]

[ID: Kota goes to kick Kenny in the back, Kenny braced for the hit, but he can’t seem to do it so instead he awkwardly walks up to Kenny and kneels down, putting Kenny in the gentlest headlock ever. It just looks like a backhug. End ID]

(at least at first)

and they can’t even bear to let their tag partner hurt their lover either

[ID: Kota’s partner is kicked kenny in the back, suddenly Kota runs by the camera, bounces off the ropes and uses the momentum to kick his own partner in the chest. Kota follows it up with a hard slap to his face. End ID]

the GLs briefly team up against their own partners, then Kenny tries to pin Kota (istg kenny) and the match becomes more serious

After the match there are no hard feelings. Kota checks on Kenny first before  remembering his tag partner for this match still exists

[ID: Kota checking in with Kenny, their hands on each others shoulders. End ID]

Later in the year (July 25, 2010 - LINK) Kota gets injured and as a result Kenny has to wrestle a match against Naomichi Marufuji in his stead. even tho Kenny loses, Kota comforts him and takes care of him after the match

[ID: two gifs, the first is Kenny lying on his back after the match. Kota kneels next to him, his hand on the back of Kenny’s neck, looking down at him. In the second one, the GLs stand by the ropes about to leave the ring, Marufuji says something to Kota and then gently pushes him towards Kenny. Kota reaches for Kenny briefly putting a hand on his waist. End ID]

Kota competes in the super juniors again (Spring 2010), this time losing to Prince Devitt in the finals. This match doesn’t seem to be in njpw’s archives but based on the pre-match video for their later WK match, it looks like Kenny and Michael Nakazawa went with Kota to the ring

Even tho Kota loses, all is not lost bc you see in the semi-finals kota pinned Taguchi, Devitt’s tag team partner, and as Devitt and Taguchi hold the njpw junior tag belts, this earns Kota (and a partner of his choice) a title shot

In the lead up to their tag match Kenny has a title match against Devitt with Kota and Taguchi seconding (Sept, 2010 [LINK]) and loses.

Alright so njpw is about to become a big part of the GLs story. for those who may be unfamiliar with the company, their content is very different from DDT’s, focusing on pared down matches (not much in the way of stipulations) and uniquely long-form wrestling stories. We’re talking years and decades here, like a wrestler trying to literally physically destroy a title belt in 2018 because of something that happened in 2013 kind of shit.

Most importantly: Kota has big dreams that involve njpw

and NJPW has an interest in Kota Ibushi

The GLs get their NJPW title shot on Oct 11, 2010 [this match is great, won Tokyo Sports’ match of the year for 2010 - LINK]. they’re clearly v much the underdogs, and there’s a few whiffs on the GL’s part where one of their opponents moves at the last moment and Kota just fully fckin kicks Kenny in the face. But around midway through the match they hit their groove, start pulling out their tandem offense and suddenly, working perfectly together, they have a chance.

(their friend Michael Nakazawa is there ringside and he gets fckin NAILED by every one of their out-of-ring moves. irl he’s helping them land safely and not get injured but within kayfabe it just looks like this poor random young lion is having the worst luck of his entire fckin life)

And against all odds the Golden Lovers win the belts!!!! 

[ID: two gifs from right after the end of the match. in the first Kenny and Kota look at each other for the first time since the victory bell rang and Kenny throws his hands up, Kota points at him, they start to crawl towards each other. In the second they reach each other and hug while still kneeling. Kenny always hugs Kota so tightly. End ID]

crucially Kota is the one who gets the pin on Devitt to win the tag titles. This means that, bc Devitt is the iwgp junior champion

kota now has a shot at his first ever singles title in njpw

[PART 3] [ALL PARTS]