As Kenny Omega’s training has been centered around having love on his side, in the form of his lover and tag team partner Kota Ibushi in his corner, NJPWed felt it appropriate to run an editorial about The Golden Lover’s emotional reunion by regular contributor Jasmine Olan.
CHANGING THE WORLD
THE REUNION OF THE GOLDEN LOVERS
By Jasmine Olan
It’s one of the most ground breaking and important storylines in Pro Wrestling today. In many ways it’s a classic story of self discovery, redemption, and love lost then regained. What makes this particular tale unique is that it’s one of if not the first of its kind, a same sex love story involving two of the greatest professional wrestlers of their generation, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega. It was an emotional reunion three years in the making. A ten year bond once thought broken was now on the mend on that cold winter night at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s NEW BEGINNING in Sapporo. The Golden Lovers were together again at last.
It all began a decade ago when two best friends made a pact that they would change the world of professional wrestling together. One of them was a handsome, self professed otaku kid with curly blonde hair from Canada named Kenny Omega. The other was a beautiful mad genius from Japan named Kota Ibushi. Together they formed one of the greatest and most innovative tag teams on the international wrestling scene, the Golden Lovers. They were a decorated team, winning championship gold in their home promotion Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The intense life long bond they formed was almost irreparably damaged in 2015 when Kenny betrayed Ibushi by costing him what was the biggest match of his career at the time. After defeating Hirooki Goto in the finals of the New Japan Cup That year, the Golden Star, Kota Ibushi earned the right to challenge the champion of his choosing at INVASION ATTACK. He chose to challenge then IWGP Heavyweight champion and leader of the Bullet Club, The Phenomenal AJ Styles. It was also around this time that Kenny had just joined the Bullet Club thinking it would help him escape the shadow of his best friend who was beginning to find more and more success as a singles competitor. He wanted to prove to the world that he could make it without Ibushi.
For a little added insurance, AJ had members of the Bullet Club surround the ring for the match against Ibushi. Among them was Kenny Omega who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Toward the end of the match, Ibushi appeared to have it won having put Styles down just long enough to set up his finishing move, the Phoenix Splash. As he reached the top turnbuckle, Kenny jumped onto the apron and time froze for both of them. That momentary distraction allowed AJ just enough time to counter the Phoenix Splash with his own finisher, the Styles Clash. That betrayal shattered Ibushi’s heart and seemed to spell the end of the Golden Lovers. As Ibushi lay crying in the middle of the ring, Kenny half heartedly congratulated AJ and stood with the Bullet Club.
They found themselves on different paths after that. While Ibushi traveled the world in an attempt to heal and rebuild, Kenny went on to become the leader of the Bullet Club after overthrowing AJ Styles. By 2017 Kenny’s career was flourishing, but internally he was still at war with himself. He continued to struggle with guilt over betraying Ibushi and the unresolved feelings he still had for him. Then came the announcement of the participants for G1 Climax 27 that year. The surprise entrant was none other than Kota Ibushi. It was then that Kenny promised to meet Ibushi in the finals and challenged him to do the same.
Despite a strong showing in the tournament, Ibushi failed to make it to the finals where Kenny would end up being defeated by Tetsuya Naito. It was a tough loss for Kenny who had been looking to go for his second win in a row in G1. As his Bullet Club stable mates, the Young Bucks helped him to the back, Ibushi was there waiting, wanting nothing more than to make sure Kenny was all right. Kenny could barely meet his gaze, and he pushed Ibushi away out of self loathing and guilt then left. It was all just too much for him at the time.
Kenny was becoming increasingly on edge around this time and looking visibly haggard and tense. A rift was beginning to build within the Bullet Club as well, and newer member, Cody saw an opportunity to try to replace Kenny as the leader of the group. While Kenny was preoccupied with a newly begun feud with Chris Jericho, Cody took it upon himself to challenge Ibushi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 after Kenny had specifically told him not to. Cody would ultimately lose that match and sought revenge the next night at NEW YEAR DASH attacking Ibushi after a multi man tag match against his team. Just as Cody was about to smash Ibushi in the head with a chair, there was a huge surprise with Kenny ran in to make the save for Ibushi, and forced the Bullet Club to leave the ring.
Weeks later in Sapporo, Ibushi would return the favor just as Kenny himself was about to be on the receiving end of a chair attack from Cody. When it was just him and Kenny left in the ring, Ibushi refused to be pushed away again and forced Kenny to face him. Kenny had no choice but to finally deal with that part of his past and tearfully embraced the one person who truly understood him in a way that no one else ever could. Through various exchanges on social media among other things, they always left each other little signs to find their way back to each other. Now they were together again. They were back home and had each learned priceless lessons.
Kenny Omega’s part of this story was about learning to be true to himself and that you can’t be truly happy when you’re pretending to be something you’re not. For Kota Ibushi it was about learning that love sometimes defies logic. Both men had to listen to their hearts in order to realize that although battle tested, the bond they shared was never completely broken. In the end, when it felt like all hope was lost all they had left was each other. All they had left was love. In an industry that hasn’t always been the most open minded toward the LGBT community, this storyline is sending such a positive message that at the end of the day, people are people and regardless of race, gender, or orientation and we can all be free to be who we are and love on our own terms. New Japan Pro Wrestling is really excelling at telling human stories right now, and this is just one in a long line of many more to come. These two amazing men are not just changing the world. They’re changing perceptions and breaking barriers one step at a time.
