#this is from the third Okada match

[eldesperadont]

@ AEW GIRLIES (gn) who are interested in NJPW lore

with All In coming up, I need fans that only know Kota as Kennys insane boyfriend and Jay as the silly Bullet Club bastard to know about their history with each other (and Kenny/Hangman) which spans 5 years at this point, even more if you count in Jays time as a trainee in njpw (2015/16), so he like.. watched and learned from them all – anyways lets go with the rambling recap

Starting with Jays first title win and how it came to that: early 2018, Kenny was in the midst of a power struggle in Bullet Club, his relationship with Cody was getting more strenuous by the day and the non Elite BC members were getting tired of their BS.

Kenny, trying to legitimise his position as a leader, thought recruiting new promising talent to his side would help, so he offered a young Switchblade Jay White “the opportunity of a lifetime”.

Jay accepted, only to attack him right after, and with that nothing could stop the threads holding Kennys BC together from rapidly unravelling.

Kenny would lose his US Heavyweight Championship to White soon after, and in the aftermath of the match even more. Hangman, finally taking a step out of his friend's shadow, got all up in Jays space, snatched the belt and obviously implied a challenge, but Kenny wouldnt have any of that. He pushed Adam aside and gave Jay his price back. (to the surprise of the crowd who expected Kenny to be more bitter apparently lol)

Enter Cody. Opportunistic and sinister as he was at the time he immediately stoked the flames, snapping at Kenny why he wouldnt let Hangman have that moment.

They seem to talk it out but whoops, Cody attacks Kenny after all, Adam helping him.

They are about to lay him out as Ibushi runs to Kennys aid, finally giving us the reunion people have been waiting for years.

In the following months a lot happens, Adam gets his match with Jay (and is read to filth by him - it’s essential to watch that promo, here) but doesnt succeed, the Golden Lovers and Young Bucks have an emotional feud, Cody continues being a menace with Hangman at his side, Kenny finally wins the IWGP Heavyweight belt, the Golden Elite was formed, Cody is a sad lil bitch now, they were all kinda friends again, oh and Bullet Club split fr*.

[*On one side you had Kenny and his friends, on the other BC originals Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga plus his younger brothers and technically their dad? Things were kinda messy but thats technically the BC that stayed in Japan and made Jay White their leader. The last real appearance of the Elite as BC was at the inaugural All In, their indie PPV.]

Alright end of 2018/beginning of 2019 - Kenny loses his IWGP belt at Wrestle Kingdom (njpws wrestlemania) and quietly leaves NJPW with the Bucks, Cody and Hangman, starting AEW (things behind the scenes didnt work out as expected and nooj didn’t wanna cooperate with them at first)

So yeah. Ibushi. He was all alone again, but in the summer of 2019 finally manages what he was so close to in the previous year: winning the G1 tournament.

He faced Jay White in the finals, who at that point firmly held Kennys position as Bullet Club leader and is the top gaijin of the company.

Both him and Ibushi were together with Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito the top of NJPW. And all four would be involved in the main events of the following Wrestle Kingdom. Jay and Okada as titleholders, Naito and Ibushi as challengers.

Well neither Jay or Kota came out victorious on the first WK night, but the following day, in a match for third place, Jay defeated Ibushi, making the latter the biggest loser of the event,,

Covid caused quite a mess in the following months - their next singles meeting wouldn't be till late 2020, during that years G1, where Jay gets another win over the Golden Star

but is unable to reach the finals, in contrast to Ibushi, who wins the whole tournament for a second time.

Jay doesn't wait and immediately brings up Kotas loss to him, demanding a match for the WK contract he's just won.

Alright bada bing bada boom Ibushi-

LOSES??

Yeah to the shock of everyone Jay actually managed to put himself in the main event for the following WK, thinking he'll face double champ Naito to dethrone him .. but Naito still wanted to face the G1 winner so Kota got his title shot regardless lol

so yeah we got Ibushi vs Naito on night one, and whoever wins that on day two against Jay

In complete contrast to the previous WK Ibushi would not only be victorious on the first night, but also finally beat Jay for good, becoming the undisputed double champ, and God. (their words not mine)

Which absolutely broke White, giving us a glimpse at whats really going on in the "Switchblade". He's so obsessed with success, finally wanting HIS moment, his era, and despite everything he's sacrificed it doesn't seem to happen..

(pls watch the whole promo, its an insane performance)

He'd show up for one last "contractually obligated" match, battered and bruised, taking the pin in a multiman tag match between Bullet Club and Chaos, before leaving everyone in the dark for month about whats next for him.

He'd stick with NJPW for two more years, returning even more unhinged than he already was.

Kota would go on with his reign as double champ, till NJPW unified the titles to create the IWGP World Championship (a highly unpopular move with the fans), which he's the inaugural champion for.

Jay would try his best in the New Japan Cup in hopes of getting another shot at Ibushi, but fall short in the quarterfinals - new focus new goal, he goes for the NEVER Openweight title, and becomes the first ever NJPW "Quadruple Crown" champ, having already held the IWGP US, Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship at that point.

Ibushi, now with the IWGP World Championship, has his first proper defense with the new singles belt .. and loses to 2021 NJ Cup winner Will Ospreay, cutting his reign shorter than anyone expected.

His bad luck doesnt end there tho, despite making it to the G1 finals for the fourth time in a row, he breaks his arm in said match and is unable to continue. He'll not appear in a NJPW ring again. Mistreatment by staff which caused serious trouble in his private life has him decide against re-signing with the company.

Jay in the meantime would shake things up overseas, defending his NEVER title, debut in IMPACT, be on weird terms with the Elite, lose the NEVER title, debut in AEW, oh and not return to Japan. For a full year, missing out on key events, which had even his BC mates start asking questions.

After some rearranging within the club (kicking out old and recruiting new members) he’d finally return to Japan in the summer of 2022, swiftly dethroning IWGP World champ Okada, Jays last title reign in NJPW (youve might seen his first defence, at Forbidden door against Hangman, Cole and Okada).

He’d hold the title till early 2023 and in good old switchblade fashion be this 👌 close to realising his errors, only to blame everyone else and lose his mind over it, getting involved in a “loser leaves Japan” match against Hikuleo (who had turned his back on Jay) and afterwards, cause that somehow wasnt enough, a “loser leaves NJPW” match against Eddie Kingston. And thats how we got Jay White in AEW, mf is in exile and acts like nothing ever happened lmao

Ibushi, whos last match had been in October 2021, would finally return to the ring in March 2023, at Josh Barnetts 9th Bloodsport event, and make his AEW debut at Blood and Guts, reuniting with Kenny, the Bucks and Hangman as the Golden Elite :)

So yeah both Kota and Jay had quite different paths (that crossed a lot) towards AEW, and as someone who's been watching them for so long now I'm absolutely giddy to see them face one another again - if youd have told me a year ago that I'd get to see Kota and Jay in the same ring again, cause of KENNY of all things, I'd have imploded on the spot (positive)

📷 picture credit: NJPW World, one pic from Jays Instagram, one impact thumbnail and one aew thumbnail

‼️ feel free to ask about anything / correct me on info or spelling mistakes, english is not my mother tongue and im disabled so sometimes i mess things up

[lostinthesoulsociety]

Setsuko Okada – Bleach Oc.

Name: Setsuko Okada;

Height: 5’9”;

Occupation: formerly, third seat of the Fifth Division; later, she became the co-lieutenant of the Eleventh Division; currently, Captain of the Ninth Division;

Age: her appearence is that of a girl in her early twenties, albeit her soul age is something more than 125-years-old;

Affiliation: as a Captain, she is loyal to the Gotei 13; however, unbeknown to her fellow Captains, she was sent by the Captain Commander to spy on Sosuke Aizen and worked by his side to be able to pass on informations to the Soul Society: to prove her loyalty to him, she was forced to fight along his army during the fake Karakura battle;

Species: soul, born from two inhabitants of the Rukongai;

Sexuality: straight;

Partner(s): formerly, undefined relationship with Shuhei Hisagi (actually, still going on); currently, married to Sosuke Aizen (although she visits Muken every single day asking for a divorce). Nobody knows if they really had and have genuine feelings for each other. Considering he helped her escape Rukongai, they did;

Eye color: Setsuko has heterochromia, making her left eye pale blue and her right one forest green;

Hair color: chestnut brown, fading into purple when she unleashes her bankai;

Zanpakuto: Shitsuren (失恋), unrequited love;

Personality: short-tempered, but she is still working on it. Setsuko is actually a polite and, deep down, caring person, who barely judges people’s choices. Morally grey, she rarely takes a side. She is brilliant and cunning and, sometimes, she could give off the vibes of a standoffish and punctilious woman when it comes down to work. In battle, she is unforgiving and sadistic, thus making her Captain Zaraki’s favorite companion for sparring. She is definitely a party person, though, and she gets quite flirty when drunk.

𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑲𝑺 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑺.

BYAKUYA KUCHIKI: Too serious and uptight to strike up a conversation with. He’s too full of himself and would rather save his clan’s reputation than admit the laws are too retrograde to still exist. Ugh, stupid spoiled brat… Still, I like to prank him.

UNOHANA RETSU: Something’s off about her. No one is that terrifying and loving at the same time. I smell the blood of a pretty little liar. Overall, we get along, though… Mostly because Zaraki and I need her assistance after our training sessions.

JUSHIRO UKITAKE: He’s like the brother I never had. He doesn’t hesitate to scold me in front of the others, when I mess up. Yet, he can’t stay mad at me for too long. He’s such a sweetheart!

SHUNSUI KYORAKU: a partner in crime. He is pretty much my favorite person to share a drink with. We may have got in troubles together more than once and, maybe, our way of playfully flirting has gone too far once or twice. Nobody is going to know, right?

ZARAKI KENPACHI: My former Captain is a force of the nature. I admire that man so much! Sometimes I miss hanging around the Eleventh Division’s barracks. We still train together, though! We match scars on our eyes.

TOSHIRO HITSUGAYA: Arrogant kid. I don’t like him at all, but I guess he still needs time to mature. I pity Rangiku for keeping up with him every single day. Our relationship probably deteriorated because of his friendship with Hinamori Momo. To be honest, I don’t care.

GIN ICHIMARU: Too sneaky for my likings, but I am not easy to fool. He better watch his back around me. Not too bad to have a chit-chat with, but I can’t bring myself to trust him fully. Great shikai, though. When we were younger, he used to tug at my hair. I threw worms in his tub to get back at him.

SAJIN KOMAMURA: He’s a pure soul. Sometimes, we go to take strolls together in the Rukongai. He helps me to take care of orphan kids and never questions why my haori is stained in blood after I come back from ‘talking’ to the bastards causing problems in the districts.

SOIFON: Oh, right, Yoruichi’s dog. She’s a pain in the ass. If I catch her meddling into my business, I will tear her apart limb from limb. She’s not smarter than Omaeda, you know? Ugh, I hate her.

SOSUKE AIZEN: This man gives me migraines, but I owe him my life. He saved me from a life of misery. I love him, okay, I do. Yet, he is a bastard. Can you believe I married him? He’s a supportive partner to some extent and he’s great in be—. Uhm, he better rot in Muken.

MAYURI KUROTSUCHI: I heard a song in the World of the livings. It went like “Psycho killer. Qu'est-ce que c'est?”. Yep, that describes this freak. I mean, he’s a meanie and I don’t get along with him, but it can be interesting listening to him talking about his researches. Also, our zanpakutos are both based on poison.

YAMAMOTO GENRYUSAI: Respectable, but too keen to take matters in his own hands. All he does is giving orders and he doesn’t listen to anyone’s opinion. Still, he is the Captain Commander. I follows his orders, that’s all I have to do.

KANAME TOSEN: Justice here, justice there. Come on, has anybody ever told him to shut up? The world doesn’t revolve around justice. The world is unfair, so wake up to reality. There’s not such a thing as suprume justice. It’s all in his head, for God’s sake. Boring.

𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀.

Setsuko Okada is a soul born in a disreputable district of the Rukongai. She has no memory of her parents, supposedly murdered by a local gang for some trivial dispute. Growing up in the streets, fed by an old woman who realized she had a great spiritual pressure, she played around the district with the local orphans. Shuhei Hisagi, albeit a little younger than her, was among her best friends and she always stood up for him during fights.

The hunger among the kids who possessed spiritual energy was too big to be satisfied by some rice and bread and some of her friends decided to blow a fetch at the head of a dangerous clan who controlled the food distribution in the district. When they did not come back, Setsuko sensed something was off and left the old woman’s house to search for them.

Finding out her friends were dead, she got blinded by rage and stabbed the man responsible of their deaths right in his eye. Too little and fragile to properly fight back and escape, she was captured and, as a payback for her aggression, the man scarred her face. Hungered and enslaved by the clan, she spent nearly two years alone in a cell, until someone pulled her out of her confinement to sell her out in the streets. It was in that occasion that she met Sosuke Aizen, a young Lieutenant of the Fifth Division.

Sensing her Spiritual pressure, he bought her and took her into the safe walls of the Seireitei. Stitched up, she spent a few nights in the barracks of the Fifth Division until she enrolled to the Academy and studied there until her graduation. During the night, Sosuke offered her the chance to train harder and learn some other fighting techniques not taught to the new recruits.

In her mind there was only the thirst for revenge that consumed her. As soon as the graduation party ended, she paid a visit to the Rukongai district where she came from and killed the members of the gang who had hurt her one by one.

𝑻𝑹𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑨 — 𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑺𝑯Ō 𝑺𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑺

• During a mission in the World of the livings with Shunsui, they ended up getting drunk and got arrested while in their gigai form. The shinigami sent to their rescue was Jushiro Ukitake, who signed a petition to ask Captain Yamamoto not to pair Captain Kyoraku and Captain Okada together in a mission ever again.

• During her time in Las Noches, she taught Ulquiorra some basics about human feelings and interactions. The Espada seemed to enjoy her company, however he never expressed his thoughts about their ‘friendship’, but gifted her a green hairpin, upon learning presents were a way to show gratitude among humans.

• She is kind with children and often visits the Rukongai to bring them food and gifts. If some kids have troubles with adults, she makes sure to keep them safe and handles the situation on her own. Most of the time, said people mysteriously disappear. Literally.

• When she left the Gotei temporary to follow Sosuke in Las Noches, Shuhei was the only one who did not believe that farce. To convince him she had made up her mind, she tossed him a necklace he had gifted her when they were kids and told him his own existance was a mistake. Those words hurt her more than they affected him.

• She is kind of a nerd and reads a lot of novels and manga from the World of the livings.

• The only two people who know she actually has feelings for Sosuke are Rangiku and Gin. Albeit they only married to establish a stronger hierarchy in Hueco Mundo, she actually did it for love. On the other hand, Sosuke cared for her and admired her a lot. He grew affectionate of her throughout the years, causing some feelings he despised to seep into his mind and heart. He denied them, but at the same time he refuses to set her free by agreeing on a divorce.

• When it comes down to food, she dislikes a few things, some of them being sushi, broccoli, savoy cabbage and strawberries. She has been addressed a picky eater by Shuhei more than once and he went to the extent to force feed her broccoli to shut her up during an argument. He was headbutted.

• Setsuko’s habit of picking scanty dresses irks Byakuya to no end and he constantly throws cloaks at her to cover up. Everyone knows about it and she got once dared to sneak into Byakuya’s chambers naked. His shouts could be heard in the entire Soul Society.

“You are shameless!”.

“Virgin boy”.

• She sold pictures of Ikkaku with the wig he had purchased in the World of the livings to earn money for the Shinigami Women’s Association. He never forgave her.

• Setsuko was and is the only one who doesn’t fear testing Sosuke’s patience with sassy and sarcastic comebacks.

“We haven’t discussed the chance to give the reign an heir”.

“That’s out of discussion. Fuck yourself and see if you get pregnant”.

• She loves going to concerts in the World of the livings and often asks Kisuke to buy her tickets for the events for when she visits Karakura. She makes sure not to tell Sosuke about it, or he would truly get free from Muken out of irritation.

• She is scared of millepedes and fainted in Jushiro’s arms, during a picnic.

• Ready to throw hands at any times, she loved wrestling with Grimmjow. Sosuke forbid them to indulge into such savages activities ever again, after spotting her straddling the Espada’s waist to tackle him down. Someone has jealousy problems. Naturally, he denied it all.

AUTHOR NOTE.

Our beloved Setsuko is ready and by that I mean ready to fight. Is there something more you wish to know about her? Ask right away through my inbox✨

Credits for the art: me;

Credits for the banners: @cafekitsune

[busaikuknee]

a quick look back at january 2024

This year, I've decided to start keeping record of what matches I watch/what my reactions to them are, something that I'd done previously but had dropped for 2023. I'm trying out using a spreadsheet instead of a purely text document for this one. Beyond being much more pleasant for me to scroll through, this has the added benefit of letting me crunch numbers. While I don't think a lot of the nitty-gritty statistics will be of interest to anyone but myself, I thought it might be fun to do some kind of end-of-the-month write-up. Maybe I'll do one for each month, who's to say.

Anyway!

BROAD NUMBERS I ended up watching 64 matches this month, 50 of which took place this month. A large portion of those were from ittenyon week. I was kind of worn out after that and had other things I wanted to focus on, so I haven't been keeping up with anything consistently other than DDT, which made up a third of what I viewed this month. This will probably continue into the future; I have some backwatching plans. Tied for second place are NOAH and Dragongate, which also tracks. I really need to catch up on NOAH, I've barely seen anything from it since The New Year. I've also been pretty hit-or-miss with Dragongate, but I've really been enjoying getting more into it. It's fun! There are plots going on that I'm kind of invested in! Shun Skywalker is there, being the most normal man who's ever lived! Good times.

MOST APPEARANCES THROUGHOUT THE MONTH In terms of "matches that I watched this month," Danshoku Dieno and HARASHIMA tied for first place with five appearances each; for "matches that took place this month," Dieno and Hideki Okatani tied with four. As he made it to first place in both categories, that makes Danshoku Dieno the inaugural Spreadsheet Champ!

I think this is going to be one of the more interesting things to keep track of throughout the year- based on the metrics for this month, I'm going to guess that it's going to bias heavily towards people who appear often in undercard multi-mans.

MATCHES THIS MONTH I don't consider myself much of a writer nor someone with taste, so this isn't a "best of the month" list or a collection of thought-out analysis. I'm just going back through the month's viewing and picking a few things to chat about.

ULKA SASAKI VS TAKASHI SUGIURA (NOAH, JAN 1st) Spent the entire match being wildly jealous of Ulka Sasaki's hair. I have actual thoughts about the match itself—I thought it was a pretty solid showing considering it was Sasaki's first singles match and I'm definitely interested in seeing how he grows from here—but my most substantial takeaway was "Maybe I should dip-dye my hair."

KENOH VS MANABU SOYA (NOAH, JAN 1st) I've tried typing something up about this multiple times, but I feel I can't articulate my feelings properly. I'm just going to leave it at "go watch Kenoh vs Soya." Amazing performance from them both.

KAZUCHIKA OKADA VS BRYAN DANIELSON (NJPW, JAN 4th) Worked for me in all of the ways their first singles encounter didn't.

SHINGO TAKAGI VS MASAAKI MOCHIZUKI (DRAGONGATE, JAN 10th)

LUIS MANTE VS JACKY"FUNKY"KAMEI (DRAGONGATE, JAN 11th) Mante apologizing to the audience for the violence he's inflicting on Kamei and not to Kamei himself…fascinating.

HARASHIMA VS TORU OWASHI VS KAZUKI HIRATA (DDT, JAN 14th)

MAO VS BRYAN KEITH (DDT, JAN 21st)

I'm sure that Okatani vs Sakaguchi will also make this list, but I missed seeing it live and have been saving it for when I can really sit down with it. Maybe I'll watch it tonight. Additionally, while I've limited the formal list to matches that took place this January, I'd also like to recommend Tanahashi's two appearances in DDT. Very fun, very interesting to see how strongly the audience reacts to asshole heel Tanahashi.

That's it from me for now. If there are any matches you particularly enjoyed this January, let me know! I love hearing about what stuck with people. See you next month!

[wrestlingisfake]

World Tag League final preview

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo - This is the final match to determine the winners of the World Tag League tournament. It's one fall to a finish, and there is no time limit; there must be a winner. Bishamon (Goto & Yoshi) are the IWGP heavyweight tag team champions, and Phantasmo and Hikuleo are the STRONG openweight tag team champions; neither title is on the line here.

Both of these teams competed in B Block; Phantasmo and Hikuleo finished on top with a 5-2 record, while Bishamon came in second place at 4-2-1. In the semifinals, Bishamon toppled the A Block winners (Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd) while ELP/Hiku defeated the A Block runners-up (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls). So we're left with a tournament final that is a rematch from B Block: Phantasmo and Hikuleo defeated Goto and Yoshi on November 21.

The winners of World Tag League are supposed to go on to challenge for the IWGP heavyweight tag title at January's Wrestle Kingdom show in the Tokyo Dome. Since Bishamon already holds the title, if they win here they earn the right to select their own challengers for January 4. They tell us that in every New Japan tournament where a title shot is at stake, but I've never seen it happen. I've been watching New Japan for nine years now, and I can't even remember a champion reaching the finals of a tournament for a shot at his belt. On top of that, Bishamon is seeking their third consecutive World Tag League win, so they're in rarefied air right now.

It feels inevitable that this match will be run back at Wrestle Kingdom. If ELP and Hiku win, they're entitled to a rematch for the IWGP gold. If Bishamon win, they'll want a shot at the STRONG title, and they'll be in a position to demand it. One way or another I think we'll see a double title match on January 4; the only question is whether some third team tries to weasel into the match and make it a three-way.

With all that in mind, I'm going with Bishamon to win here. That would make the two teams 1-1, and set up the perfect context for a rubber match for all the marbles.

SANADA & Taichi & Yuya Uemura & DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku vs. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji & Zandokan Jr. & BUSHI - Sanada vs. Naito is set to headline Wrestle Kingdom next month; Naito is making his in-ring return after undergoing eye surgery. Taichi/Uemura represented Just 5 Guys in World Tag League. Tsuji represented Los Ingobernables de Japon, albeit with a non-LIJ partner in the form of CMLL's Zandokan. It won't make much difference who wins this match, and I could see several guys on both sides eating the pinfall. I'll pick Naito's team to win, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun - Okada and Tana are two-thirds of the NEVER trios champions; the Gates of Agony are two-thirds of the Ring of Honor trios champions. I wouldn't count on this match leading to a title-for-title situation, since Okada and Tana each have big singles matches awaiting them in the Tokyo Dome, while Liona and Kaun need to hurry back for ROH's Final Battle show on December 15. Just getting this matchup is a big step for the Gates of Agony, but that's about all they can hope to get here, I think. Barring a shock upset, the Dream Team should win here.

Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa & Tomoaki Honma vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahahi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - Kiyomiya/Oiwa and Evil/Yujiro competed in World Tag League. Kiyomiya is a top guy in Pro Wrestling NOAH, while Oiwa is a New Japan trainee on excursion there. If it was me I'd present Kiyomiya as being more than capable of dealing with the House of Torture, but his teammates really aren't up to the task, and it'll probably cost him the win. Honma will probably get pinned, but I suppose there's a chance Kanemaru could lose instead.

Shota Umino & Tiger Mask vs. Ren Narita & SHO - Umino and Narita were teammates during World Tag League, but on December 6 Ren turned on Shota and joined the House of Torture. It's a safe bet these two will have meet one-on-one at Wrestle Kingdom, and very little will be settled before then. Tiger Mask has to be here to lose the fall.

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan & HENARE & Callum Newman vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Yuto Nakashima & Oskar Leube - Khan/Henare and Ishii/Yano saw action in World Tag League. Nobody in this match seems to have any big plans on the horizon--they'll probably all be in the pre-show battle royale on January 4. It probably doesn't matter who wins this match, but I guess I'll go with Cobb's side.

Minoru Suzuki & Yuji Nagata & Lance Archer & Alex Zayne vs. Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd & Bad Luck Fale & Jack Bonza - Suzuki/Nagata, Archer/Zayne, Coughlin/Kidd, and Fale/Bonza appeared in World Tag League. From what I've heard Suzuki and Nagata haven't been on the same page, and that could spell disaster for them here. On the other hand, Bonza is kind of a weak link and easy pickings for the babyface side. I could see this going either way.

Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls & Kosei Fujita vs. Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. & Master Wato - Haste/Nichols and the CMLL team of Atlantis/Soberano competed in World Tag League. I'd favor Haste and Nicholls against the Mexicans if it was two-on-two, but Wato is a stronger partner than Fujita, and that'll probably make the difference. I'm thinking the CMLL guys finish the tour with a win.

Ryusuke Taguchi & Boltin Oleg vs. Asosan & Kodai Nozaki - This is billed as a "Frontier Zone" match, so it's a team of New Japan regulars against guys from the indies--in this case, Asosan and Nozaki represent Kyushu Pro. I don't know anything about these guys, but I read Asosan's gimmick is based on Japan's largest active volcano, and I'm a sucker for volcano-themed pro wrestlers. Regardless, the outsider guys never win these matches, so this should be an easy payday for Taguchi and Oleg.

[heartsoulrocknroll]

NJPW Dominion 2021

Naito, Sanada, and Bushi vs. Taichi, ZSJ, and Douki -- I really enjoyed this, as I enjoy essentially anything involving Naito and Zack. Glad to see LIJ get the win here, and stoked for a potential LIJ vs. Dangerous Tekkers tag title match. Something fresh and exciting in this tag division at long last. Winner: Naito, Sanada, and Bushi

El Desperado (c) vs. Yoh for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship -- This was a good match. Good work on Yoh’s injured leg by Desperado. Thought the leg work would have lead to a submission finish, but this was fine. Yoh looked really good here. I would like to see him get a run with that title at some point, but Desperado having his first successful defense here is fine with me. Winner: El Desperado 

Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb -- Grudge match following Cobb's attack on Ibushi after Ibushi lost his title. After Cobb's talk about wanting murder-Ibushi, this match didn't feel especially heated or angry. I think I like that though. Cobb isn't on Ibushi's level, and Ibushi doesn't need to go to that place to beat him. The match was good and, thankfully, only went 15 minutes. What a relief. This is proof that a match doesn't need to be 30+ minutes long to be good and serviceable. Winner: Kota Ibushi 

Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada for the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship -- LET'S GOOOOOO. Shingo works on Okada’s midsection throughout the match, targeting his endurance. Shingo gets Okada up for an Argentine backbreaker, which is followed by a single-leg gutbuster and then a second double-leg gutbuster. Shingo pummels Okada with fists, chest chops, and headbutts in the corner! Okada responds with a viscous shotgun dropkick and a barrage of elbows to Shingo’s head!! BEAUTIFUL counter of a sliding lariat attempt by Shingo into the Money Clip by Okada!!! NASTY Made in Japan from Shingo to Okada on the floor!!!! Holy shit!!!!!!! Okada barely rolls back into the ring at 19!! Shingo counters Okada’s Rainmaker attempt into a Rainmaker of his own!! Okada lands two Rainmakers, then attempts a third, which is once again countered into a Rainmaker from Shingo!!!!! Huge pumping bomber by Shingo!! Okada kicks out!! Last of the Dragon attempt by Shingo is countered into a Rainmaker attempt by Okada, but Shingo counters and avoids it!!!! Dragon suplex by Shingo!!! Sliding forearm by Shingo!!!! Shingo finally hits Last of the Dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1, 2, 3!!!!!!!!! Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!! He actually did it, I am freaking out!!!!!! This match was absolutely great. These two work so well together. I loved their NJ Cup match, and I loved this. Winner: Shingo Takagi 

Shingo calls out Ibushi after the match. They face off in the ring and I am going insane!!! I cannot wait for this match!!!!!!!!

Shingo is IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and I will never get over it!!!!!!!!!

[pwmusings]

The Best of January 2023

This monthly series of articles will chart The Best matches of 2023, ranking them via their Cagematch rating and correlating that with WON star ratings. Only matches with 9+ on Cagematch will qualify.

1. Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay - Wrestle Kingdom 16.

Cagematch - 9.78

WON - 6.25*

GRAPPL - 4.91 (Highest rated match on the app)

The greatest match of all time? Probably not, but it does sit at number one on GRAPPL; although only 395 people have voted on it compared to the 1652 that have voted on Omega/Okada 1 on GRAPPL. Additionally, it sits at number 7 in Cagematch with 879 votes. So it may drop over time, if GRAPPL can get it's users voting as much as they once did.

I've written about Omega vs Ospreay in a separate article here, where I discuss my confusion around why I didn't experience this as one of the greatest matches on all time in the manner which the vast vast majority of viewers did.

2. Kento Miyahara/Takuya Nomura vs Naoya Nomura/Yuma Aoyagi - AJPW Giant Series

Cagematch - 9.48

WON - 4.75*

GRAPPL - 4.47

This match rocks, and I say that as somebody whose most recent All Japan match that they have watched is from the late 90s. I'm not up to date with the wrestlers or the storylines but I found this match to be a very welcome breath of fresh air in my wrestling viewing.

It's an incredibly action packed; strike and strikedown heavy, match built around a furious exchange of reversals and tide changes. Neither team spends extended time selling for their opponents. Instead, both teams sell in short bursts before exploding back onto offence, creating an intense struggle for dominance that sees a dramatic face-off between Aoyagi and Miyahara.

3. Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kenoh - NOAH The New Year 2023.

Cagematch - 9.06

WON - 4.5*

GRAPPL - 4.35

The return of NOAH to critically acclaimed in-ring brilliance? I certainly how so but reports of a giant contract being offered to Hiroshi Hase, could be seen as a sign that the 61 year old may be the next nostalgia cash cow for NOAH. Hopefully the company realises that doing so so soon after the Mutoh retirement tour may be a bit much.

This was a match that built big moments such as big dives and that Top-rope Falcon Arrow onto the apron built around strong strike exchanges. This was a strongly contested match where both men had periods of advantage, Kenoh got more in overall but Kiyomiya took control at the end and very much put Kenoh away strongly.

In January 2023, there were 4 matches that received a rating of 9 or higher on Cagematch. The fourth, ranked in third, was of course the very well executed and hugely emotional match between Mark Briscoe and Jay Lethal. I have chosen not to give this match the in-ring statistics treatment or place it alongside the matches above. This is because that match was a tribute to Jay Briscoe, it wasn't a piece of entertainment in the same way as the three matches above, but instead it was a tribute and a piece of catharsis for the Mark Briscoe and the audience.

[pwrestlingxpress]

G1 Climax 33 Standings (as of July 24, 2023)

As we are 3 matches into each block, here are the official standings as for G1 Climax 33 as we heading into Korakuen Hall on Tuesday July 25th

On Top of A Block is the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA with 6 pts. at 3 wins. In second is Pro Wrestling NOAH's Kaito Kiyomya with 5 pts. at 2 wins and a time limit draw. In third place is Chase Owens with 4 pts. at 2 wins. In fourth is Gabriel Kidd also with 4 pts. at 2 wins. Chase owns the 1-on-1 tiebreaker over Gabriel Kidd. Tied for 5th place are Shota Umino and Ren Narita each with 2 points but those 2 points have come from time-limit draws. Each also have a loss heading into Korakuen. And at the bottom are Yota Tsuji with 1 pt. and Hikuleo at 0 pts.

Here are the current scenarios as to how the top 2 from A Block can advance to G1 Climax 33's Knockout Stage which takes place on August 10th in Funabashi.

SANADA can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and staying undefeated in the process

Kaito Kiyomiya can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have Shota Umino lose 2-3 of his last 4 block matches

Chase Owens can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have Kaito Kiyomiya lose 2-3 of his last 4 block matches

Gabriel Kidd can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have Chase Owens lose 2-3 of his last 4 block matches

Ren Narita can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have the following lose 2-3 of their last 4 block matches: Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji, and Gabriel KIdd

Shota Umino can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have the following lose 2-3 of their last 4 block matches: SANADA, Kaito Kiyomiya, and Ren Narita

Yota Tsuji can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches, have SANADA and/or Kaito Kiyomiya reach a draw, then have one or both of them lose their last 2-3 block matches, and have Ren Narita lose his last 2-3 block matches

Hikuleo can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and then have SANADA, Chase Owens, Gabriel Kidd and/or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches

Based on the scenarios of A Block, Hikuleo has the longest of odds to be in the top 2. He'll need a win over Ren Narita to do so and if he does, he also needs SANADA to lose to stay alive in A Block. Should SANADA win over Kiyomyia on the 25th; most of A Block will be eliminated from advancing with only SANADA, Kaito Kiyomiya, Chase Owens, and Gabriel Kidd each having a chance to be in the top 2. The match between SANADA and Kiyomiya will determine A Block's fate.

Now...let's take a look at the current standings for B Block:

On Top of B Block is Kazuchika Okada with 3 wins at 6 points. Tied for second are Taichi, Will Ospreay, and YOSHI-HASHI each with 2 wins at 4 points. As of July 24th, Taichi owns the tiebreaker over Ospreay while Ospreay holds the tiebreaker over YOSHI-HASHI. YOSHI-HASHI and Taichi are scheduled to meet on July 27th in Ota. Tied for 5th are Tanga Loa, KENTA, and Great O-Khan each with 1 win and 2 losses at 4 points. Tanga Loa owns the tiebreaker over KENTA while KENTA owns the tiebreaker over Great O-Khan. Both O-Khan and Loa are scheduled to meet on July 27th to determine the final tiebreaker.

Now...here are the scenarios as to how the top 2 can advance to the Knockout Stage on August 10th:

Kazuchika Okada can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches

Taichi can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches including his block match against YOSHI-HASHI on July 27th

Will Ospreay can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches and have Taichi lose 2-3 of his final 4 block matches.

YOSHI-HASHI can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches, have Will Ospreay lose 2-3 of his final 4 block matches, and defeat Taichi on July 27th.

Tanga Loa can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including one against Great O-Khan on July 27th and have Taichi and/or YOSHI-HASHI lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches.

KENTA can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches and have either Will Ospreay, Tanga Loa or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches.

Great O-Khan can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches which includes one against Tanga Loa on July 27th. He also needs KENTA, Kazuchika Okada, or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches

El Phantasmo can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches and have Okada/YOSHI-HASHI/Great O-Khan or a combination of the three each lose 2-3 of their final block matches.

B Block is tight and anything can happen especially if you're at the bottom which is where El Phantasmo is.

Now...let's take a look at the standings for C Block in which many people are not liking the current standings. Again, folks, still early and still plenty of time before things are final.

At top of C Block is David Finlay at 3 wins and 6 points. Tied for second are Tama Tonga, Eddie Kingston, and EVIL each at 4 points and 2 wins. EVIL holds tiebreakers over both Kingston and Tonga which puts him above the other two. Both Tama Tonga and Eddie Kingston are scheduled for each other on August 2nd. Tied for 5th at 2 points are HENARE, Mikey Nicholls, and Shingo Takagi. As of typing, Mikey Nicholls holds a tiebreaker over HENARE while HENARE owns a tiebreaker over Shingo Takagi. Mikey Nicholls and Shingo Takagi are scheuled to face other on July 26th in Korakuen.

The scenarios for the top 2 in C Block as it follows:

David Finlay can be in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches

EVIL can be in the top 2 by winning his last 4 block matches and have David Finlay lose 2-3 of his final 4.

Tama Tonga can be in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches, beating Eddie Kingston on August 2nd, and have EVIL lose 2-3 of his final 4

Eddie Kingston can be in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches, beating Tama Tonga on August 2nd, and have EVIL lose 2-3 of his final 4.

Mikey Nicholls can be in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches which includes him beating Shingo Takagi on July 26th and have David Finlay/Tama Tonga and/or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4.

HENARE can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches and have Mikey Nicholls/Eddie Kingston and/or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4.

Shingo Takagi can finish in the top 2 by winning his last 4 which includes beating Mikey Nicholls on July 26th and have Eddie Kingston/HENARE or a combination of the two lose 2-3 of their final 4 matches.

Tomohiro Ishii can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches and have David Finlay, Tama Tonga, and Shingo Takagi each lose 2-3 of their final 4.

Out of these scenarios, Tomohiro Ishii being in the top 2 will be a long shot but we'll see what happens in these final 4 block matches for C Block which resumes on Wednesday.

And lastly, let's take a look at the D Block standings.

At top of D Block are Jeff Cobb and Zac Sabre Jr. each at 3 wins and 6 points. Both will facing each other on Wednesday to see who'll be 4-0 and at 8 points. In third place is Tetsuya Naito at 2 wins and 4 points. He owns the tiebreaker over Hirooki Goto who is also at 2 wins and 4 points. In fifth is Hiroshi Tanahashi who has 1 win and is at 2 points owning a tiebreaker over Shane Haste who is also at 2 points with 1 win. And at the bottom are Alex Coughlin and Toru Yano who are at 0 points after 3 matches. Their chances of making the top two are a long shot but let's take a look at the D Block scenarios to see if they'll be able to advance.

Jeff Cobb can finish in the top 2 with a win over Zac Sabre Jr. and winning his last 3 block matches after that

Zac Sabre Jr. can finish in the top 2 with a win over Jeff Cobb and winning his last 3 block matches after that

Tetsuya Naito can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including one against Zac Sabre Jr. on August 2nd. He also needs Jeff Cobb to lose 2-3 of his final 4.

Hirooki Goto can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including getting wins against both Jeff Cobb and Zac Sabre Jr. He also needs Tetsuya Naito to lose 2-3 of his final 4 including one to Zac Sabre Jr.

Hiroshi Tanahashi can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including getting wins over both Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto. He also needs both Jeff Cobb and Zac Sabre Jr. to lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches.

Shane Haste can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including getting wins over Jeff Cobb, Zack Sabre Jr., and Tetsuya Naito. He has already lost to Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi in which he needs both or either one of the two to lose 2-3 of their final 4 block matches to be in the top 2.

Toru Yano can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches including one against Jeff Cobb scheduled for July 30th. He also needs Zac to lose 2-3 of his final 4 block matches.

Alex Coughlin can finish in the top 2 by winning his final 4 block matches, having Jeff Cobb/Zac Sabre Jr. reach a time-limit draw and then each lose 2-3 of their final 3 block matches; and then have Shane Haste lose 2-3 of his final 4 block matches.

From these scenarios, it looks like the best Alex Coughlin can do is finish in second place because of his losses to both Jeff Cobb and Zac Sabre Jr. Toru Yano has already lost to Zac but should he win over Jeff Cobb July 30th, he could still have a shot at being in the top 2 for D Block.

Those are the current standings right now for D Block. G1 Climax 33 resumes on July 25th in Korakuen Hall.

[classicjdog]

forbidden door was pretty great

luckily time zones work out pretty well for me as far as aew stuff goes. i see ppl posting about getting tired near the end of basically every ppv, and i’m sure the ppl in the building get super drained, but out here i get to spend a nice chill afternoon watching some wrestling, so that’s nice

mjf v tanahashi was pretty much what i expected it to be. unfortunately tana can’t really, like, GO go anymore, but mjf’s a good opponent for a guy like that so it ended up being decent

i wasn’t really paying attention to kojima v punk. koji’s my guy but punk is kinda wack

the 4-way was a TON of fun! the whole 3-grappleboys-and-1-lazyboy dynamic was SUPER fun, especially since despite wrestling similar styles, garcia zsj and shibata each have distinct characters and vibes. shibata and zsj constantly going at each other was sick, all the different multiman spots were great & i loved the finish

sanada v jungle boy wasn’t quite the show stealer i was hoping it would be, but it was still enjoyable. obviously the jb heel turn has been super telegraphed but i’m glad it happened and i’m excited for it

the 10-man tag was PERFECT. claudio cowarding out of the faceoff with eddie at the beginning was great. hangman/shooter and ishii/takeshita were some super unique character matchups and i really enjoyed them. commentary at some point said takeshita was the mvp for his team and that was so true, he was all over the place and did so much shit it was crazy. EDDIE AND MOX FACING OFF AND GOING BACK AND FORTH WAS SOOOOOO!!!! AAAAAAA!!! I FELT THAT SHIT IN MY GUT!!!! and then the match devolved into chaos and it was absolutely amazing. all the different sequences and character interactions and just all of it was so perfect!! also i already didn’t expect elite/eddie/ishii to win, and out of everyone on that team ishii was the last guy i expected to get the pin, so them winning and him getting the pin was very cool

unfortunately after the 10-man i was on here and on twitter looking at gifs and discussion of it, so i pretty much missed all of toni v willow. i’ll have to watch it when i watch the show again

omega v ospreay was pretty much what i expected. super long drawn-out epic with lots of blood and big crazy moments, and i enjoyed it a lot! probably won’t watch it again for quite a while because, unlike something like hangman v danielson 1 which was super long but i felt just breezed by, this match felt very dense. apparently the official match time was somewhere around 40ish minutes? and it definitely felt that long

i missed most of the 6-man tag for pretty much the same reasons i missed toni/willow, so i guess i’ll have to watch that too

okada v danielson was a bit disappointing unfortunately. it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t live up to their standards. obviously the hype for the match was astronomical so i wanna clarify that even divorced from the ridiculous hype i still thought it wasn’t as good as i hoped it would be. first off, obviously the crowd was drained. they tried really hard to get up for the match but it didn’t quite work out. secondly, even if this had a hot crowd, i think i would rather watch this match happen in njpw with a japanese crowd. i think an okada/danielson match lends itself better to the way a japanese crowd reacts than an american (or in this case canadian) crowd does. but finally, even taking the crowd out of the equation, i think the ending of the match wasn’t nearly as exciting as i think these 2 are capable of. okada is known for having the super slow-paced buildup lead to a red-hot ending sequence, and this match didn’t really have that. though apparently danielson injured his arm in the match? so him hanging his arm limply at his side for the last third of the match or whatever apparently wasn’t just selling, and that’s probably why the match never shifted into that final gear. unfortunate, but that’s the nature of wrestling i guess

all in all, a couple disappointments but the good stuff made up for it because it was SOOOOOOO GOOD

[mitchtheficus]

A Golden Lovers Timeline

PART 23: THE POWER OF LOVE

the Okada trilogy takes place during a time of immense change in Kenny’s life, and you can see that in their matches

The Kenny who fought Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11 had decided that caring for other people made him weak

[ID: close up of Kenny in his post-G1 climax car interview. He’s saying: “I don't want to feel passion towards anything but my wrestling. When I start to care too much about people I find that my performance suffers. I think that was my problem when I wrestled in the juniors.” End ID. LINK]

that caring about Kota made him weak

“[Ibushi] was the bane of my existence. I had thought that he stood for everything that I hated and everything that I wanted to destroy. Both the man himself, and what he was inside of me. [...]”

- Kenny Omega, pre-Dominion Interview [LINK]

And so he tried to become an unstoppable machine without passion

[ID: kind of pixelated picture of Kenny grinning during his WK11 entrance, he’s wearing a mask that covers the left half of his face and looks like the terminator. End ID]

And he lost to Okada anyway.

But that failure set him on a new path 

“As hard as I trained, as hard as I prepared, I lost. Something’s missing and until I figure out what, I can’t wrestle.” - Kenny, Tokyo Sports [Chris Charlton translation]

when he emerges from the ashes of that defeat, he has already begun to evolve into something new.

he’s no longer interested in cheating to win, he wants to be the best. And more subtly, his relationship with the fans and his own heart has been shifted. He’s started to open up to the feelings he has denied himself for so long.

but these changes alone weren’t enough

When he faces Okada for the second time at Dominion 2017, it’s fair and square, but they fight to a tie, and the match is ended indecisively as they hit the 1 hour time limit.

“I thought it was my time tonight. I did everything I could. I said so many bad things about you, Okada. I really did. And even if they were all true, I couldn’t beat you. I couldn’t beat you.” LINK

something’s still missing.

even though Kenny’s putting his heart and soul into matches, those things remain broken and damaged by the choices he’s made over the last three years.

[ID: picture from Kenny’s rooftop interview with Kevin Kelly after the G1 Climax. Kenny says: “...that heart is black and that soul is mostly gone...” End ID. LINK]

the truth of that damage is written into his gear and spoken aloud every time he sets up his finishing move.

he has one wing and half a heart, and it’s just not enough to beat Okada.

When Kenny gets his third shot at the end of a grueling G1 block, Kota has returned to NJPW but they have yet to reconcile. Kenny is finally able to beat the champion, but not for the title, and Okada is badly injured and worn down by all his previous G1 matches. It’s not the victory Kenny has been striving for.

in the 10 months since Kenny and Okada last faced each other in the G1, the lovers have reunited and that reunion has changed Kenny in fundamental ways.

at Dominion 2018 Kenny and Okada face each other for the fourth time.

Okada has held the IWGP Heavyweight title for an incredible 1516 cumulative days, 720 of which come from his current reign. No one has been able to beat him for the title without cheating since Tanahashi did it in 2012.

Kenny wants to do the impossible.

But this time, he is entering the match with a restored and golden heart.

[ID: Kota stands in Kenny’s corner at Dominion, he’s wearing a GL shirt and looking at Kenny. Kenny is hopping a little and grinning at Kota and then looks up the entrance ramp. End ID]

in the lead up to this fourth and final match up, you can finally see that the Kenny/Okada series is ultimately a tale about the power of love and human connection

“[...] Both the man himself, and what he was inside of me. And then I realized that that really wasn’t the feeling at all and it was something I needed to embrace. My absolute best matches have all been ones that come from the heart. So why would I shut something away- why would I turn something down that’s still so near and dear to me? Ibushi was that. He is that. He always will be. And I’ve realized that moving forward, I’m much stronger as a person, as a human being, with him by my side.”

- Kenny Omega, pre-Dominion Interview [LINK]

Kota of course helps him train and strategize and motivates Kenny to prepare, but his most important contribution is love and the way accepting him back into his life has transformed Kenny

“And for this match specifically, it’s the first time in a long time when I’ve had a training partner and someone who has helped me formulate a game plan for Okada. I’m not saying that I’m arriving to this arena with a bunch of new moves, but I am saying that this version of Kenny Omega might be the most prepared. And a big part of that [...]”

- Kenny Omega, pre-Dominion Interview [LINK]

[ID: three gifs of Kenny doing his pre-dominion interview. His hair is golden and he says: “And a big part of that is because I’ve let someone back into my life that I cared about, that I loved, and that together with that power we can’t lose.” End ID. LINK]

A year and a half ago Kenny sat in an airport after his G1 Climax win and told us that loneliness made him better and stronger.

He understands now that that isn’t true.

Dominion 2018 - June 9th, 2018 [Official LINK, Unofficial LINK]

Kenny starts us off with a dramatic little intro video. in it Kenny is flinching from painful flashbacks of all the terrible things that have happened in the past year, when a single white feather falls from the sky, and Kenny looks up and sees Kota standing before him, wearing all white and standing among fallen white feathers.

And we see that Kenny is standing surrounded by his own pool of fallen black feathers. Kenny remembers Kota’s rescue and their reunion and Kota telepathically asks Kenny if he’s ready and has prepared himself for what’s to come. Kota asks, “What did it cost?” We see the bullet club logo disappear into dust and Kenny says: “Everything.”

(Okada doesn’t need a dramatic little video for his entrance cause this is just defense #13 for him)

and then...it’s time

[ID: picture of the lovers standing in Kenny’s corner. Kota’s hand on Kenny’s shoulder. They look intense and focused. End ID]

there’s a lot of little moments, their hug before the match

[ID: gif of Kenny and Kota hugging over the ropes. Kota is saying something to Kenny and patting his back for emphasis. Kenny nods along. End ID.]

Kota and Kenny talking strategy during the 2 minute breaks after a fall

[ID: two pictures of Kenny and Kota in their corner during the post-fall stoppage. Kenny crouches and Kota is kneeling in front of him, his hands on Kenny’s arm and knee, their heads together in conference. End ID]

but the most important moments come at the end.

Kenny wins the IWGP Heavyweight title, both falls coming from one winged angels

and the first thing he does is reach for Kota

[ID: gif of Kenny laying on the mat, sweaty and exhausted. Kota is nearby and Kenny reaches up both his arms and calls Kota nearer. Kota crawls over and leans over him and Kenny asks Kota to pour water over his hair. End ID]

the young bucks come out, hesitating on the entrance ramp. They want to go to Kenny and be there with him so badly, but they’re not sure if they’re wanted

[ID: two pictures. The first from far away, showing how alone the bucks are and how far away as they look towards the ring. The second picture shows their faces, both bucks are holding their new heavyweight tag titles and they look sad and wistful. End ID]

Kenny kneels beside Okada and takes his wrist. In his interview before this match he said he wanted to tell Okada: “You've done a great job, and now, my friend, it's time to take a rest.” and now he can.

Red shoes comes forward with the belt and Kenny gently pushes it aside and takes Matt in his arms. 

[ID: two gifs. in the first Kenny gently pushes the belt aside and takes Matt into his arms and Matt immediately puts his arms around him and closes his eyes. in the second Matt is holding Kenny and trying not to cry and Nick comes in and hugs them both. End ID]

Kenny has learned a lot about what’s truly important in the last three years

Kota makes the first move to include himself in the hug, and the crowd, who were already cheering the Elite’s reunion, erupts into cheers again. This isn’t Kenny picking one family over another, this is the building of a new family.

[ID: Kenny and the bucks are hugging and Kota comes up on Kenny’s side and puts his arms around all three of them, pressing his head against theirs. End ID]

Kenny Omega, the boy who ate a star and lost his heart in pursuit of his own ambition - who once thought that he had to give up everything that he cared about to achieve his dreams - finally learns that allowing himself to love and be loved is what makes a moment like this possible

[ID: Kenny is looking tired and euphoric an sweaty. he has an arm around Kota’s neck and he pulls him close and presses his forehead against the side of Kota’s head and then gives him a little head pat. Nick and Matt are there two. Matt is smiling at the GLs and Nick has his hand on Kenny’s back. End ID]

It’s a beautiful story.

[ID: screenshot of a tweet from Matt Jackson saying: “Tonight, friendship, family & the power of love won. #GoldenElite” End ID.]

[ID: two gifs of Kenny is wearing the title and some stray golden streamers and sitting on Kota and Matt’s shoulders. Kota is looking at the camera and pointing a finger at Kenny. Kenny ruffles his hair and Kota looks up and smiles at him. Kenny is grinning. Matt is quietly beaming at Kota. End ID]

“With the power of love and friendship I did something I never thought possible.”

-Kenny Omega, [Chris Charlton translation]

we so rarely get stories of reconciliation in wrestling, especially stories that give reconciliation the same time and weight that betrayal stories get.

we rarely get to see wrestlers try to reconcile, we rarely see them make an effort to make things right.

and that’s part of what hits so hard about the golden reunion with the bucks. just how much they all wanted this happy ending. How much they fought for it. It wasn’t easy, they had to try over and over. They never gave up. They kept reaching out. They apologized and forgave each other, made themselves vulnerable, put aside their own anger and pride and jealousy. They earned this reunion, they built it with their own hands.

Kenny gives a victory speech, much of it is in Japanese [LINK to njpw’s translation]

He says that he and the young bucks are champions, and Ibushi-

[ID: picture of Kenny giving his speech. he’s gesturing to Kota and saying: And Ibushi is my strongest and most handsome partner.” Nick has his hand on Kota’s shoulder and Matt is beaming proudly with his title. End ID]

now that they’ve all come together, the bucks are just radiating love at Kota, like Nick has been waiting for ages to brother-in-law it up with this man and he is just all over him now, it’s so cute. and Matt is just beaming at Kota every time he looks at him. they love him so much already.

[ID: Kenny giving his speech saying: “My way is to make my own rules. My way is to live life the way that I want. And with all of you by my side, and what I realized is my friends, my best friends, my lovers by my side we can truly do anything.” End ID]

Before they can leave the ring, Cody appears on the entrance ramp.

[ID: picture of Cody in a white dress jacket standing midway down the entrance ramp. in the ring Matt is sitting on the second rope like he might be holding it open for Cody to come join them. End ID]

presumably he’s thinking about challenging for the title, but during the last few weeks of BTE episodes, Cody has begun to regret the consequences of his actions, if not the actions themselves.

instead of making a challenge he just stands there all alone, witnessing Kenny in this moment of triumph, surrounded by love

In some ways he’s the antithesis of the Golden Elite story. He doesn’t have the courage to reach out, to be vulnerable and ask for forgiveness. He's not willing to put his pride aside. Not yet.

After leaving the stage, Kenny reiterates the message of the story

[ID: picture of the post-match. Kenny sits behind his title, speaking to the reporters. Matt and Kota have their hands on his shoulders. Kenny says: “You know, up until this point, I’ve used all my hatred to fuel my matches. [...] Then I realized I’m focusing so much on the negative when so many people are giving me love and respect and treat me like a real human being. [...] What really fuels great performances are my friends and the people that I love, and using that as my energy, that is how I truly became champion.” End ID. LINK]

in the BTE episode from Dominion [LINK] we get to finally see what was in the box the bucks sent to Kenny

The bucks show their love in many ways, and shared merch is one of them. It’s a t-shirt and a proposal of a new group that includes Kota

[ID: picture of Kenny holding the opened box. inside the box is a folded Golden Elite T-shirt. It has “the ELITE” written on it in gold. End ID. LINK]

and the back says CHANGE THE WORLD

[PART 24] [ALL PARTS]

[eldesperadont]

funny but also interesting moment of Jay and Okadas match at Dominion 2022, thoughts under the cut

thinking about how in Jays first match back in Japan, in 2022, after his long absence and break from having Gedo glued to his site, he hesitated to cheat. “I dont need it”, but as soon as the old man applies some pressure Jay immediately folds again.

The first time i saw that exchange I genuinely thought Jay will hit Gedos head against the ring apron as he grabbed him. What a turn of events that would have been, especially if he'd have still went on to win the title..

Jay was so unfortunately dependant on the old man and I really wish they’d have explored their unhealthy relationship more on screen – i always hoped that we’d get to see one betray the other at some point, either Gedo casting Jay aside for someone more promising (in his eyes) or Jay finally realising that the old man needs him more than he needs Gedo.

(Or a secret third option, where Jamieson Hwite realises that its okay to have a support system and that theres healthier options than whatever the fuck Bullet Club was/is.)

[bastardpacs]

A Quick Theory on Malakai Black's Newest Promo

I guess this may be less a theory and more just some super quick thoughts!! Definitely subject to change 😂😓 I just absolutely lost my mind over Malakai's new promo, so I had to type this out super quick, so there is unquestionably probably a lot of grammar errors in this, so please forgive me in advance!

Tarot reading is, unfortunately, a bit of a weak spot for me... But I'm going to try and do my best! What I know comes mostly from an old friend who was super into tarot, and my own thoughts based on interpretation of the imagery. So just a tiny warning that there could be a bit of bias... 🤕

The things that immediately jumped out to me with this was not only the names of the tarots laid out, but also the groupings themselves. But this was just my super quick and initial thoughts...

Beneath the Empress, who we know to probably be Julia Hart, we see the Fool and the Knight of Swords. Although Griff was the first to challenge Black after he attacked Julia, between a couple of tweets and how the match played out, I'm going to tentatively place Brian Pillman Jr. as the Fool. Next to him we have the Knight of Sword. Being next to the Fool, and the groupings of the cards, makes me think the Knight could be a reference to Griff Garrison himself, with these three cards representing the Varsity Blondes.

The next row is the cards of Justice, the Hierophant, and the Hermit. We already know PAC to embody the face of Justice. And after Pentagon's promo on Wednesday - of digging up Pentagon Dark - Malakai tweeted a reference to a Dark Hermit, who I'm super inclined to think that this was/is linked to Pentagon Jr.

malakaiblxck: Bring the dark Hermit, I’ll take the broken Knight Of Swords and blind Justice as well. The house doesn’t fear your change, the house created it, wanted it. Judgement is by design.

Because of these two groupings of three, I'm going to make a massive assumption that each of these groups represent their respective stables. So by extension, the Hierophant may possibly represent Fenix. What also makes me think this card could represent Fenix is also what the Hierophant visually shows: a religious figure seated on a throne wearing a crown. 'Rey' having the meaning of 'king.'

Then we have the final spread of cards at the top. Those of the overturned card with a Cernunnos pendant resting on it, the Devil, and Death. The Devil and Death, I think, are meant to represent Malakai Black and Brody King respectively, with the final overturned card the coming third member of the House of Black.

When Malakai reaches for the overturned card, in the cacophony of voices we hear "Not yet. Trust the process. Patience. The day will come." It was difficult for me personally to make out the rest, but I do hear something about a 'gaze'. Throughout his past writings, Malakai has made reference to a coming 'Judgement'. Whether or not Judgement is this card, or Judgement leads to the overturning of the card remains to be seen.

And finally we have the Tower, placed askew on the Devil. The placement of the cards is super reminiscent of the tarot placement called the 'Celtic cross spread', where within this placement, the card laid atop another is seen as a forthcoming challenge.

The most interesting card to me was the King of Coins, the unknown card that rests between Death Triangle and the House of Black. The King of Coins, also known as the King of Pentacles, and its position between these two warring factions is really interesting. And if it may allude to maybe a coming match, a coming event. My brain went in a thousand different directions when I saw that card.

We have both Penta and Rey Fenix, who both can each represent an aspect of the King of Coins/Pentacles in their own respect ways - Rey, again the king, and Penta through wordplay, with pentacles. And even the likes of Matt Hardy, who thrives in his wealth. (and maybe... possible... a reference to a certain coin drop entrance OTL I would honestly commit atrocities to see Malakai v Okada, but I'm definitely getting way off track and into dream feuds with that lmao 😓 )

addendum: as pointed out by @allelitecowboy​, both the placement of the King of Coins and the name and imagery itself could allude to Andrade, who is the reason for war between the stables, and who flaunts both his wealth and kingpin status. I thought this absolutely brilliant, and full, full credit to them!!

Another thing that is interesting about the King of Coins in the visuals of the card itself. Of a king who is adorned with gold and grapes, not unlike the ancient Greek god Dionysus, who may actually have a festival revering him coming up in March if I'm remembering correctly... I'm probably absolutely getting off track here with that lol, but I couldn't shake the imagery, considering the respect we see Malakai paying to ancient Greek and Roman deities.

It's going to be incredibly interesting to see who the face of the King of Coins/Pentacles is. The Penta in pentacles again automatically made me thing of Penta El Zero M, but the pairing of cards - as well as Malakai referencing the Dark Hermit - makes me believe that again we're possibly seeing stables grouped together, with Penta falling as the Hermit. This isn't to say that one person can't represent two cards, or two people can't represent a single card (such as Fenix and Penta), both like two sides of the same coin, or that Penta is possibly not the Hermit, so I don't want to leave anything off the table.

It was Malakai - the Devil - that we saw the Tower fall upon. Speaking to massive upheaval and change, it is a terrifyingly violent card. Malakai has made reference to the tower before, when in a Instagram post he wrote: The Black Tower initiates. He brings it upon himself now, welcoming that change that will come with this heavy price of destruction. Burning the field to feed the earth.

Along with the prominent visuals of the tarot cards, we also had the images of Herne the Hunter again from one of his previous post, and now Kali. Herne, who in some beliefs was seen to lead the Wild Hunt, and Kali, the Hindu goddess of change through annihilation, another reference to this wild and massive change through violent means.

What ever, possibly even who ever, is Malakai's Tower is going to be insanely interesting to see.

[fallynleaf-gifs]

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 2 | Kota Ibushi vs Jay White

January 5, 2021

Kota came into this match freshly crowned the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion. Losing here would mean losing the titles after holding them for just a single day. Before this match, Jay promised him: “Every time that you are about to reach the heights that you so desperately aim for, I will always be there to pull you back down.”

Part of the way into the match, I realized that it was telling the story of Kota’s entire NJPW career. It started to feel like, at least to me, that if Kota didn’t win here, he was never going to win the IWGP Heavyweight title ever again. This was the culmination of the many years he spent pursuing both of these championship belts.

The match features reference after reference to some of Kota’s most notable opponents and inspirations. I collected the ones that stood out to me, but there are probably more that I didn’t catch! Each of these brief explanations could in itself be an entire essay.

The first gif is Jay imitating Tetsuya Naito’s pose to taunt Kota. Just the night before, Kota fought Naito to win these titles, and if he had failed to win, then Naito would be in this match opposite Jay instead. Kota and Naito have a lot of history together. Naito has often said that he hates Kota as a person, but loves him as a wrestler. He gave Kota a title shot on January 4 because he simply wanted to face Kota more than he wanted to face Jay.

The second gif is Kota hitting the Bastard Driver, which is a move that he originally debuted against Naito in the semi-finals of the New Japan Cup on March 15, 2015. Kota went on to win the tournament that year, and Naito says that in that match, he felt that a clear line had been drawn between himself and Kota, with Kota above and him below, though this would change in the years to follow. Kota brought this move out against Naito again in the match that finally won him the titles.

The third gif is Kota referencing Shinsuke Nakamura before using the Bomaye, which is Nakamura’s finisher. The first time Kota ever challenged for the Intercontinental title, he faced Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4, 2015. Kota lost that match, but it left a deep impression on him. He considers Nakamura to be one of his “gods,” and he frequently draws upon the Bomaye in his matches.

The fourth gif is referencing an infamous moment from Kota’s match against AJ Styles on April 5, 2015. This was Kota’s first time challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight title. Kota’s ex tag partner Kenny Omega seconded Styles in that match, but Kenny didn’t attempt to interfere until the very end, when Kota was up on the turnbuckle about to launch into a Phoenix Splash. Kenny got up onto the apron, but couldn’t bring himself to actually attack his former lover. But the distraction was still enough to cost Kota the match, and he lost immediately afterward when Styles countered his Phoenix Splash into the Styles Clash, launching a new angsty chapter of the Golden Lovers story in the process. In this match against Jay, Kota once again faces interference from Bullet Club at a similar moment. As the English commentary points out, hesitation here had cost him before.

The fifth gif is Jay referencing Hiroshi Tanahashi by attacking Kota with a few of Tana’s trademark Dragon Screw Leg Whips, then transitioning right into the same hold that he used to make Tana tap out. Kota’s history with Tana is complicated. Tana is another one of Kota’s “gods,” and Kota specifically created his finisher, the Kamigoye, to “surpass god,” referring to Tana. Kota was ultimately unable to beat Tana when it mattered most, in the 2018 G1 finals. But their relationship evolved from there, and Kota spent the first half of 2020 tagging with Tana and pursuing the tag titles. They lost the belts on their first defense, and Kota started to doubt his faith in Tana. In the end, Kota and Tana parted ways as tag partners because Kota wanted to focus on his singles career. Kota still respects Tana a great deal, but he has also grown past him in some ways. Kota’s goal of “becoming god,” which he claims to have achieved in this match with Jay, initially started when Tana told him, “From this point on, you have to become a god!” after Kota decided to stay with Tana on August 7, having overcome his doubt in the man he’d called “god.”

The sixth gif is Kota successfully hitting the Phoenix Splash at last, after Jay kicks out of the first Kamigoye. The Phoenix Splash is Kota’s old finisher, and he had largely abandoned it in his recent matches, but going into Wrestle Kingdom, he decided he wanted to bring back more of his junior heavyweight style. In the match with Naito, he went back to his younger self in order to regain the freedom he had once had. The year before, Kota tried to use the Phoenix Splash against Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 14, but he ultimately could not hit the move and lost his match. Even though he beat Naito this time, he was still unable to hit the Phoenix Splash. But here, it finally connected.

The seventh gif is Kota hitting one of Kenny’s signature moves, the V-Trigger. Kota started using a V-Trigger in the finishing sequence of almost all of his big matches, usually going for the move right before he hits the Kamigoye. In this match, drawing on his love for Kenny, he hits three V-Triggers right at the very end. The match itself beats the record previously held by Okada and Kenny (“a man Ibushi knows quite well,” as the English commentary describes him) for the longest Wrestle Kingdom main event.

And finally, the eighth gif is Kota finishing the match with the Kamigoye. Right before this final move, he brought out a horrific backwards version, where he lifted Jay’s arms and struck from behind to the back of the head instead of from the front. But the regular Kamigoye is the move he wins with, surpassing Jay and finally overcoming all of these ghosts from his past.

[wrestlingisfake]

Dominion preview

SANADA vs. Yota Tsuji - Sanada is making his second defence of the IWGP world title. This is Tsuji's first match in Japan since August 2021, when he graduated the NJPW dojo and went on excursion in the UK and Mexico. He returned last month to attack Sanada, putting himself in line for this title match.

To me the draw for this match is how unusual it is. Dominion is New Japan's #2 show of the year, so you'd expect two big names to headline. It's not unheard of for a returning young boy to challenge for a title in his first match back. But a match like that would generally only headline a lesser show, unless the defending champion has the clout to carry the show all on his own. Sanada, however, is still trying to establish his title run isn't a fluke, and that he actually belongs among New Japan's tippy-toppy guys. So this is quite an experiment they've got here.

I still don't have a good sense of Tsuji's post-excursion gimmick or personality, so it's hard to know what to expect. (For comparison, watching Tomoyuki Oka as a Young Lion could not possibly prepare you for his whole deal as Great-O-Khan.) I liked the vibe in his hype videos, about some kind of wolf kaiju arriving in Japan from space, and his outfit makes him look like a dinosaur man, which is cool. Hopefully he gets to showcase a lot of new shit to get us excited for what's next. But Tsuji is not Kazuchika Okada in 2012, and I don't think he's going to win the big one on his first try. Sanada has to retain the title.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato - Just days ago Wato won the Best of the Super Jr. tournament to earn a shot at Hiromu's IWGP junior heavyweight title. Notably, Wato completed his victory by beating two guys--Mike Bailey and Titan--who bested Hiromu during the tournament. Oh and this show is in Wato's hometown.

So it seems like Wato is a shoo-in, until you factor in that it's Wato. He returned from excursion in 2020 with an inscrutable grandmaster gimmick and immediately struggled against low-ranking juniors like DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. For three years he's been presented like a misfire who's squandering his potential. Even his junior tag title reign felt like Ryusuke Taguchi was doing charity work for him. In singles matches Wato is 0-2 against Hiromu; in fact, Hiromu is junior champion now because he pinned Wato in a four-way to capture the belt from Taiji Ishimori. During BOSJ this year English commentary buried him throughout the tournament.

In short, they've done a masterful job making it feel like Wato can't win the big one, even when the booking suggests that he has to. If he loses here, I don't think there's any coming back from that--he'll be the YOSHI-HASHI of the junior division, jobbing in tag matches for the next decade with a confused look on his face. If he wins, it'll be huge for him...but much like Sanada finally beating Okada, I'll keep wondering if they're really serious about not cutting him off at the knees again.

I'm in the tank for Hiromu, but under the circumstances I'd much rather see New Japan make a new junior star than leave everything as-is. The junior division was feeling pretty stagnant before BOSJ, and having some of the newer faces chasing Wato on top would be just what the doctor ordered. I gotta root for a title change.

Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Uminio & Claudio Castagnoli - Okada's team captured the NEVER trios title on May 3, and Umino quickly challenged them on behalf of Moxley. The third challenger, Castagnoli, is Moxley's teammate from the Blackpool Combat Club in AEW. The BCC is fresh off a major victory in an eight-man brawl against the Elite on May 28, and I guess they're still out for blood. Kenny Omega has been teasing getting help against the BCC from a friend in Japan; this match could give Okada a reason to be that friend.

Newcomers might be confused that Shota is buddies with the BCC. Basically in 2019 Moxley beat the breaks off of him and then "adopted" him as his personal young boy. I assumed the Shooter would come out of excursion with a Mox-inspired mean guy gimmick, but instead Shota returned to New Japan in 2022 wearing white, with happy uplifting music, and handing toys out to children. But he and Mox are still tight and they like to beat ass together, so it's all good. I'm not sure if Umino is officially a member of the BCC but he might as well be.

I can't clearly see where any of these guys go after this match, whether the champs retain or not. The only direction that even sort of makes sense is: Mox's team wins, beats down Okada, Omega runs in to make the save, so at Forbidden Door it's Okada & The Elite vs. BCC & Umino in a ten-man tag. So I guess that's my prediction, let's see if it happens.

David Finlay vs. El Phantasmo - This is for Finlay's NEVER championship. Finlay took over Bullet Club a few months ago and ELP was never happy with it, so Finlay finally turfed him out of the group back in April. Phantasmo returned for revenge last month, moments after Finlay won the NEVER belt. I've never seen ELP perform except as a douchebag heel covered in Bullet Club gear, so his reinvention as an anti-Bullet Club babyface should be something to see. But yeah, Finlay is going to murder this poor man.

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Great-O-Khan and Aaron Henare - This is a three-way match for two vacant titles, the IWGP heavyweight tag team championship and the STRONG tag team championship. Aussie Open--Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher--had held both titles until Davis was injured. Originally this match was Davis-Fletcher vs. Goto-Yoshi vs. Evil-Yuj, for only the IWGP title. Then it became two-on-two for both sets of belts. Then Khan and Henare demanded to represent the United Empire in place of Davis and Fletcher.

I hate to say it but it feels like the strongest move right now is to put the belts on Evil and Yujiro. Then you get 3-6 months of babyface teams trying to overcome House of Torture shenanigans, which is a quick fix for losing whatever story they had in mind for Aussie Open. Hell, maybe they can book Evil and Yujiro vs. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal at Forbidden Door. Man, I'm just full of terrible ideas in this paragraph.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb - This is a rematch from May 3, when Cobb challenged for the NJPW World television title but the match went to a 15-minute time limit draw. Neither man was happy with that outcome and immediately agreed to run it back. The first match was great, but the pitch here is "what if we did that great match again but shorter?" Yeah, I'm not a fan of the 15-minute time limit stuff. Sabre should retain.

KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight vs. TJP & Francesco Akira - The Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kushida and Knight) won the IWGP junior tag team title from Catch 2/2 back in April, and this is the rematch. A month ago I thought Catch 2/2 would fall out of contention, but during BOSJ, TJP beat Kushida and Akira beat Knight, which made this match inevitable. Kushida finished BOSJ with a miserable 2-7 record, so unless they're really breaking this guy down for a storyline his team desperately needs a win. I think they'll get it.

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Titan & BUSHI vs. Taichi & TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - Taichi's team are four of the guys in Just 5 Guys; the fifth guy, world champion Sanada, used to be in Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japon stable. The two groups have been fighting ever since. It's starting to seem like this will keep going until Naito challenges Sanada at the Tokyo Dome in January. For now, though, I don't expect anything important to come out of this match, so it probably doesn't matter who wins.

Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - This the final match in a four-man tournament to decide the next challenger for the IWGP United States title. Kenny Omega won that title from Ospreay back in January. I was at the last Ospreay-Archer match back in 2019, and it was an unexpected treat, so I'm looking forward to seeing them square off again. Personally I'd be cool with Archer winning and going on to face Omega, so either outcome here is fine with me. But it's pretty clear the plan is to book Omega-Ospreay II, probably at Forbidden Door.

[gdwessel]

NOAH, AJPW, STARDOM, Dragon Gate Supercard Results for Emperor’s Birthday Holiday 2/23/2022 With Title Matches & Changes Galore; DDT’s COVID-19 Woes Continue To Wreak Havoc On Ultimate Tag League, DDT/TJPW 2/23/2022 Results

Today is the 62nd birthday for the Reiwa Emperor Naruhito. It is a national holiday in Japan, so there is a bunch of wrestling happening, with a bunch of title defenses across a bunch of promotions.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH ran Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya today, live on ABEMA and Wrestle Universe. Two title defenses, and a match to fill a third title, took place on this show.

Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya - 2/23/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall (ABEMA, Wrestle Universe)

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] d. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue [Funky Express] (Yone > Inoue, Kinniku Buster, 11:58)

Nio [Kongo] d. Kinya Okada (Stuka Splash, 9:58)

NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano (Suzuki > Yano, Excalibur, 6:42)

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & ALEJA [Kongo] d. Hao, Junta Miyawaki & Kai Fujimura (Tadasuke > Fujimura, Fuyuki Special, 14:42)

Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] DCO Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] (11:01)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun] d. Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura (Sugiura > Inamura, Olympic Qualifying Slam, 20:22)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship Decision Match: Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY d. HAYATA & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (YO-HEY > Susumu, Super Face G, 26:58) - Kotoge/YO-HEY are the 49th champions

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada © d. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Hurricanrana, 18:57) - Harada succeeds his 2nd defense

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba d. Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Kiyomiya > Soya, Double Armlock, 21:21)

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] d. Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © (Powerbomb, 21:11) - Nakajima fails his 5th defense - Fujita is the 37th champion

Good golly, Miss Molly. Kazuyuki Fujita can now be one of the all-time worst IWGP *and* GHC Heavyweight Champions of all time. What can I say, besides, CyberFight love their 50+ year-old champions. I really don’t know what purpose this serves to NOAH. God I hate Kazuyuki Fujita.

So I guess Hajime Ohara is part of Kongo now. I can’t keep up with the changes in that stable anymore. YO-HEY comes good for Ohara’s old partner Kotoge, as they now fill the vacant junior tag belts. Hope this reign lasts more than a week, given the vacations of the belts the last month. One day BIG TANK Yoshiki Inamura will beat Takashi Sugiura. Super Crazy does not get to hold two promotions’ junior titles in the span of a couple of months. Masao Inoue returned to the ring in an inter-Funky-Express match.

NOAH’s next show is on Friday from Yokohama Radiant Hall.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

A Triple Crown match highlighted today’s Korakuen Hall rally for AJPW. Three other title matches took place on this one too. Hokuto Omori and Yusuke Kodama were pulled from this show as being close contacts to an undetermined positive COVID-19 case.

Excite Series 2022 Night 5 - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

Ryuki Honda [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Ryo Inoue (Lariat, 4:00)

Dan Tamura [Evolution] & Ryuji Hijikata d. Takuho Kato & Kazumasa Yoshida (Tamura > Yoshida, 6:49)

Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori & Black Menso-re d. Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Ishikawa > HAYATO, Fire Thunder Bomb, 9:02)

KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Takayuki Ueki & Seigo Tachibana d. Yoshitatsu, Izanagi & Devil Murasaki (KAZMA > Yoshitatsu, Schoolboy, 8:22)

GAORA TV Championship: Shigehiro Irie © d. Isami Kodaka (Flying Headbutt, 10:22) - Irie succeeds his 2nd defense

World Juniorheavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato [Evolution] d. SUGI © (Cross Armbreaker, 9:51) - SUGI fails his 3rd defense - Sato is the 61st champion

World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Shotaro Ashino [Evolution] © d. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (Ashino > Doi, T-Bone Suplex, 18:26) - Runaway SUPLEX succeed their 3rd defense

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM] © d. Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW] (German Suplex Hold, 16:06) - Miyahara succeeds his 1st defense

I don’t think there were any surprises here today, including the junior title change. AJPW will not put the Triple Crown on a wrestler contracted to Big Japan. Sato is far superior a wrestler to SUGI. But hey, Shigehiro Irie retained his title, and we like him a lot around these parts.

It would not surprise me to see Shuji Ishikawa challenge Kento coming up either.

The Excite Series wraps up Sunday in Chiba.

STARDOM

STARDOM held Cinderella Journey in Nagaoka today, live on PPV. I don’t think you can still get it; both links I tried, failed. Four title matches on this one.

Cinderella Journey 2022 in Nagaoka - 2/23/2022, Niigata Aore Nagaoka (PPV)

Future Of Stardom Next Challenger 3-Way Match: - Rina [Oedo Tai] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] (Rina > Tsukiyama, Gory Bomb, 6:09) - Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (8:06)

Future Of Stardom Championship: Hanan [STARS] © d. Momo Kohgo [Queen’s Quest] (Backdrop Hold, 5:20) - Hanan succeeds her 2nd defense

Ruaka & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] d. Utami Hayashishita & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Ruaka > C, Freezer Bomb, 7:34)

Mayu Iwatani [STARS] & Tam Nakano [Cosmic Angels] d. Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] (Iwatani > Kashima, Moonsault Press, 10:04)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mondo] TLD Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] (20:00)

Goddess Of Stardom Championship: Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] © d. Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] (Koguma > Shirakawa, Diving Body Press, 12:28) - Koguma/Hazuki succeed their 2nd defense

High Speed Championship: AZM [Queen’s Quest] d. Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai] © (Numero Uno, 17:03) - Starlight Kid fails her 6th defense - AZM is the 22nd champion

Wonder Of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] © d. Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] (Phoenix Splash, 21:55) - Kamitani succeeds her 2nd defense

Immediately after retaining her title, Saya Kamitani nominated both her table leader Utami Hayashishita, and Cosmic Angels’ leader Tam Nakano, as challengers to her title for both nights at Ryogoku on 3/26 & 3/27/2022. Momo Watanabe challenged Koguma & Hazuki for their titles, with a special mystery partner to team with her. The crux of the opener is to determine the challengers for Hanan on both nights of Ryogoku, which will now be Rina and Mai Sakurai, both. Seems like an awfully busy time for STARDOM.

STARDOM return this weekend with shows Saturday and Sunday.

Dragon Gate

DG held Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama today, which you can see now on Dragon Gate Network. Featured today was the first defense of the Open The Twin Gate titles for Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka.

Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama - 2/23/2022, Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium (Dragon Gate Network)

Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & U-T [Natural Vibes] TLD KAI, BxB Hulk & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] (15:00)

Takashi Yoshida & Ho Ho Lun d. Strong Machine J & Shachihoko Boy (Yoshida > Boy, Release Powerbomb, 3:49)

SB KENTo & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Yosuke Santa Maria & Punch Tominaga (KENTo > Yosuke, SB Shooter, 0:34)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda & Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Ultimo Dragon, Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, Yasushi Kanda & Shuji Kondo (Kagetora > Kanda, Kagenui, 12:24)

Open The Brave Gate #1 Contender 5-Way Match: Takuma Fujiwara d. Riki Iihashi, Ishin Iihashi, Takumi Hayakawa & Ryu Fuda (Fujiwara > Ishin, Schoolboy, 7:32)

Naruki Doi, Kota Minoura & Kaito Ishida d. Kzy, Genki Horiguchi & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Minoura > Horiguchi, Gang, 9:58)

HYO [Z-Brats] d. Eita (Schoolboy with ropes, 7:37)

Open The Twin Gate Championship: Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka © d. Jason Lee & La Estrella (Yoshioka > Estrella, Frog Splash, 17:58) - DiaYoshi succeed their 1st defense

Dragon Dia remains a double-crown champion after he & Yoshioka beat Dia’s former MASQUERADE mates in Lee & Estrella. I don’t know if DiaYoshi is the name, but it sounded good and DG-esque. Dia will now face Takuma Fujiwara to defend the Brave Gate title after Fujiwara beat his dojo class fellows. I was kinda rooting for Ryu Fuda actually. That match will be at Champion Gate in Osaka on 3/5/2022.

Naruki Doi’s Unit With No Name gets a good prelude win over Natural Vibes, as we head for that Open The Triangle Gate match, also on 3/5/2022.

HYO gets another one over on Eita, the man he deposed to turn R.E.D. into Z-Brats. In other Z-Brats goings on, after a week or so of Big Boss Shimizu beating HYO in prelude matches, and getting a direct win over KAI, now Z-Brats is starting to get one over on Shimizu, first with KAI interfering to cause Shimizu’s loss to Jason Lee on Sunday, and now a time limit draw in the opener to add some intrigue to the KAI v. Shimizu Open The Dream Gate title defense that is coming 3/6/2022 in Osaka.

The Truth Gate 2022 tour wraps up Saturday in Tsushima, and on Sunday with another streamed show from Kobe.

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

The COVID-19 issues for DDT continue, as Hideki Okatani has now tested positive as well. Eruption are now effectively out of the tournament – their match that was to take place today v. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya is a forfeit, and due to Kazuki Hirata being out, the Eruption v. Hirata & Shuji Kondo match for the Final on Saturday will be a double-forfeit. Neither team were in the running at this point as it was. So today’s Ultimate Tag League show had no actual Ultimate Tag League matches on it. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya end the League with 4 points, not in the running for the Final as that will come down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA on Sunday for A Block.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 In Fukushima!! - 2/23/2022, Will Fukushima (Wrestle Universe)

Kazusada Higuchi d. Yuki Ishida (Brain Claw, 10:00)

Danshoku Dino & Yuki iino [Pheromones] NC Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] (13:08)

Chris Brookes d. Yukio Naya (Death By Roll-Up, 12:41)

HARASHIMA [DISASTER BOX] & Antonio Honda d. Yukio Sakaguchi [Eruption] & Gorgeous Matsuno (Honda > Matsuno, Crushed La Magistral Cradle, 13:07)

Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] d. Yuji Hino & Akito (Sasaki > Akito, Crossface, 12:43)

Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada [Burning] d. Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA] (Endo > Katsumata, Best Burning Star Press In The Universe, 19:27)

Burning get the win in a prelude match to the Final on Sunday against The 37KAMIINA. Post-main, Endo and Akiyama basically said The 37KAMIINA ain’t shit without Konosuke Takeshita. Endo says he will beat Takeshita at Korakuen Hall Sunday, and for the KO-D Openweight title at Ryogoku. Endo also ripped MAO’s favorite Gorgeous Matsuno shirt, for which MAO swore revenge. Speaking of Gorgeous Matsuno, at age 60, given CyberFight’s proclivities towards titling up older wrestlers, he may like his chances here soon.

Current Ultimate Tag League 2022 Standings:

A Block Akiyama/Endo – 6pts (3W 0D 0L) Takeshita/Ueno – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Hino/Naya – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Higuchi/Okatani – 2pts (1W 0D 3L) Kondo/Hirata – 0pts (0W 0D 4L)

B Block HARASHIMA/Yoshimura – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Sasaki/Paul – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Iino/Imanari – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Brookes/Takanashi – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) MAO/Katsumata – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) The Final show is Sunday from Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Block A comes down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA. Block B is still up for grabs between DISASTER BOX & Pheromones; DAMNATION TA are out, having had 4 matches (One of them was a forfeit win however). The Final will be the Block winners in the main event. Hopefully this card stands.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 The Final!! - 2/27/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Soma Takao, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku v. Toru Owashi, Toi Kojima & Yuki Ishida

3-Way Match: Danshoku Dino [Pheromones] v. Antonio Honda v. Hiroshi Yamato

Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] v. Yuji Hino, Akito & Yukio Naya

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi v. Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] v. Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari [Pheromones]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 A Block: Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama [Burning] v. Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA]

Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai [Eruption] v. Sanshiro Takagi & Maya Yukihi

Ultimate Tag League 2022 Final: WINNER A Block v. WINNER B Block

Tokyo Joshi also ran today, a second show this week from Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall. Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh are still out due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Tokyo Joshi 2022 Winter - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu d. Hikari Noa & Kaya Toribami (Kamifuku > Toribami, Famouser, 9:10)

3-Way Match: Suzume d. Haruna Neko & Moka Miyamoto (Suzume > Neko, Jackknife Hold, 9:52)

Hyper Misao d. Marika Kobashi (Hypami Returns, 10:51)

Shoko Nakajima, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino d. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Yuki Arai (Aino > Harajuku, Bakuretsu Bulldog, 14:40)

Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Nao Kakuta d. Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Arisu Endo (Tatsumi > Endo, Twist Of Fate, 16:28)

Tatsumi cut a post-match promo about how great it was that she and Yuka Sakazaki joined TJPW as classmates, and how Daydream will beat the Magical Sugar Rabbits at Ryogoku. Nodoka Tenma will have a singles match at Ryogoku as well against her Bakuretsu Sister, Yuki Aino, as we head towards her retirement. Hyper Misao will also face Sanshiro Takagi at Sumo Hall. Misao also protested Marika Kobashi’s “graduation from TJPW” before their match.

BJW, Ice Ribbon and Gatoh Move also held shows today. There may have been even more I don’t know about.

No post tomorrow. I am going to try to do an Upcoming Events post on Saturday, then back to the regularly scheduled posts on Sunday.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Thank you for your analysis of Ch 274. You keep calling your theory crazy, but the more I think about it, the more plausible it sounds. We know that Ogata was “liberated” after he left the hospital. Could it be he found out the truth about Yuusaku? To my recollection, we have never been shown his complete face so that would make sense. If true, the big question would be whether or not Hanazawa was a part of the lie. Did he “replace” his son with a fake rather than accept Ogata his other son? Or is this all Tsurami’s doing? Also, I know that the theory of how Ogata survived his fall was that Kiro helped him. But I have wondered if maybe its Kikuta? Since they appear to be working together, perhaps it was Kikuta that he was meeting. I find it plausible that Kikuta infiltrated Tsurami’s group while Ogata infiltrated Hijikata’s and Kiro’s. Maybe that was the plan all along. Sorry for the ramble....🥴 Thank you for all your hard work with your analysis and theories. Always love reading them 🌟

I’m glad you like my analysis of chap 274!

Well, it’s a crazy theory.

There’s little I can use to support it, just small hints and the general theme of fakes being better than originals, yet easy to destroy/damage.

I’ve been wondering a lot about Yuusaku with other friends at Discord, we’ve been trying to understand him but his image is always filtered by Ogata’s vision, by his confused feelings for his brother, who somehow seems so perfect yet hollow.

Ogata believes Yuusaku’s nobility comes from coming out of a family who loved him, but it seems hard to imagine Hanazawa, who spoke in such a way to Ogata, encouraging Yuusaku to connect with his brother, Hanazawa who sacrificed so many soldiers without a blink wish for his son to live in such a way he wouldn’t make soldiers feel guilty as if he cared about their psychological state.

Of course we know little about Hanazawa as well so maybe he was a better person than he looked like but Noda had no problems showing us his face, which usually means whose were Hanazawa’s true colours.

Yuusaku’s face instead was always shadowed, to hint that either we didn’t know him or Ogata couldn’t face him.

So well, when Sugimoto jumps in and Kikuta tells him he has to ‘forget everything about Hanazawa Yuusaku’, as if what had happened was something bad... well, it makes me wonder how’s possible that something bad is tied to Good Boy Yuusaku.

We’ll have to wait and see though.

As I said I might be completely off track.

We know that Ogata was “liberated” after he left the hospital. Could it be he found out the truth about Yuusaku?

That’s the text in question according to @piduai‘s translation

Q18: What made Ogata grow out his hair after hospitalization, thus becoming the one and only sexy Superior Private he’s known as?

Noda: He felt liberated.

After the scene in chap 243 that shows how Ogata escaped from the hospital my interpretation is just that Ogata’s hair grew while he was in the hospital (in fact as he talks with Tsurumi we can see his hair is longer under the bandages) and since Usami revealed Tsurumi knew of his betrayal and he escaped, he didn’t have to cut them anymore to play the role of good soldier. His feeling ‘liberated’ means just he wasn’t anymore forced to obey to Tsurumi, to play the part of the good soldier (good soldiers were supposed to keep their hair cut short, as Tsukishima, the Nikaidou brother, Tanigaki prior to his desertion, Noma, Okada, Tamai, Sugimoto when he was in the army, Toraji, Komiya, Mishima, Maeyama and even Yuusaku himself).

Ogata is no more in the army, he doesn’t have to obey orders anymore, he’s free to do what he prefers, so I think in this sense he felt liberated and as a proof of his rebellion, let his hair long instead than cutting them short again.

To my recollection, we have never been shown his complete face so that would make sense. If true, the big question would be whether or not Hanazawa was a part of the lie. Did he “replace” his son with a fake rather than accept Ogata his other son?

I’m not the best person to ask about Hanazawa as I really don’t like him, but on a general note, I think the chances of Hanazawa’s involvement are possible only in few circumstances and actually extremely low.

I mean, if Yuusaku died prior to the war, I can’t see Hanazawa hiding his son’s death and replacing him with a fake. Losing a son happened, it was nothing to be ashamed of, hiding his death and replacing him with a fake, if discovered, would have pushed on him such a huge amount of dishonour it wasn’t worth it, especially considering he could easily replace it with Ogata with no dishonour whatsoever or adopting someone he could deem worthy openly.

Japan had absolutely no problem whatsoever with adoptions, even when those adoptions involved adults... but had a lot of problems with deception.

Now, let’s say, Yuusaku escaped instead than taking part to the war.

This is dishonourable for the whole Hanazawa family, even if Hanazawa can disown and strike him out of the family. Still, placing a fake in his position and giving him the role of the flagbearer so that it will be quickly killed off with honour and he could bury it claiming his son died with honour seems a bit over the top... and such a deception would have probably brought dihonour to Hanazawa’s ancestors and such. In short, no, unless there’s a reason I can’t think of, I don’t think Hanazawa would have done it.

Besides, Tsurumi would have surely discovered it quickly and would have used it to blackmail Hanazawa. He was keeping his eyes on Koito senior from prior the war started, surely he was doing the same with Hanazawa.

In this case there would have NEVER been a plan to kill Yuusaku, keeping him alive would have been much more valuable right from the start.

Or is this all Tsurami’s doing?

I would say, if Yuusaku is a fake, it’s Tsurumi doing. That or it’s a third party doing, like the real Yuusaku died and the new Yuusaku was a Central spy... but it feels a bit hard to assume this because they placed him in a too risky position. I mean which use a spy has if it gets killed easily?

Also, I know that the theory of how Ogata survived his fall was that Kiro helped him. But I have wondered if maybe its Kikuta? Since they appear to be working together, perhaps it was Kikuta that he was meeting. I find it plausible that Kikuta infiltrated Tsurami’s group while Ogata infiltrated Hijikata’s and Kiro’s. Maybe that was the plan all along.

We actually don’t know how Ogata survived that fall and the more the thing remains unexplained the more I wonder if it’s just that Ogata, like his name implies, is as ‘immortal’ as Sugimoto and so he simply survived such fall same as Sugimoto would have done (it’s something I discuss more in deep in my reply to this post if you’re curious).

The problem with Kikuta being there to save Ogata is, first of all, that Kikuta was recovering at Noboribetsu at the time, so quite distant, along with Ariko.

I’m pretty sure Tsurumi was keeping an eye on his so if he had moved Tsurumi would have noticed.

Then we’ve all the sort of technical problems involved in the rescuing.

For start if Ogata and Kikuta were working together they both would have been lead there by the smoke of the fire Asirpa and Sugimoto had when Asirpa was drawing the tattoo of their prisoner, not just Ogata, and would have cooperated in dealing with Sugimoto.

I mean, Ogata faces Sugimoto alone and is almost killed by him, hadn’t it been for Asirpa. Kikuta is good with his guns, I would have expected him to shoot Sugi to save Ogata if the two were partners.

Even if Kikuta hadn’t noticed the fire, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be too distand from Ogata and when Ogata and Sugimoto started shooting he would have rushed there.

Plus, in order for Kikuta to notice Ogata has fallen and rescue him he should have been close... but Sugimoto and Asirpa stood over the cliff looking down. They would have noticed him.

Also when Ogata escapes he doesn’t think he has to reach his partner, just that he has to escape because he’s no match for Sugimoto.

If it was weird for Kiro to rescue Ogata and then leave him there to freeze to death while the 7th search for him, it’s even weirder for Kikuta, who either would have to alert the 7th he was there or just abandon him there to his fate and hope someone were to find him before it’s too late.

So, although how Ogata survived his fall is still a mystery beyond his ‘immortality’... or if you prefer his many lives as a cat I don’t think Kikuta could be involved. Said so as there’s no a canon answer I might very well wrong so take my answer with a grain of salt.

Thank you for enjoying my analysis and theories and for your ask!