And here’s Kenny right after that, according to twitter:

Sitting sadly in the rain :(

So that was the last shred of a soul The Cleaner had, and it died, he later said. Kenny kicks out AJ, and moves up to heavyweight. Now he’s the leader. And now the absolute obsession with winning begins.

“I don’t want to feel passion towards anything but my wrestling. Sometimes it’s easier to do a job when there’s a disconnect. When I start to care too much about people, I find that my performance suffers. I think that was the problem when I wrestled in the juniors… I was too worried about making the fans happy… When I joined Bullet Club, it was kind of a fresh start. I didn’t want to get into the hearts of the people, and more importantly I didn’t want them to get into mine.”

(NJPWWorld subscription required for the above link, obviously very very worth it at about $10 a month!)

And win he did. This is one of those things I glossed over in my thread, because I wanted to focus on the relationship, but I did say Omega and Ibushi are two of the best in the world, and they are. Omega is a critic and fan favorite the world over. His nickname “Best Bout Machine” is no joke—he’s left a trail of Best Bouts and Matches of the Year and other such accolades in his wake. The publication that everyone says is the most respected publication in wresting (Wrestling Observer Newsletter) loves Kenny: of the 5 matches that have gotten more than 5 stars in WON’s 5-star rating system, Kenny’s in four of them, and the fifth one happened 24 years ago. Not every match gets rated, but as of this writing, Kenny’s never had a singles match rated lower than 3.5 stars.

A common opinion in the wrestling universe holds that Kenny is probably the most important wrestler in the world right now. He even says he’s the “gateway drug” into non-WWE wrestling, and he’s probably right: a lot of western fans found their way to NJPW after Omega’s incredible match with Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in 2017. And Kenny’s either the best or second-best wrestler in the world right now, period, and number three is who even cares because Omega and Okada (the Ricky Steamboat to Omega’s Ric Flair) are that much better than everyone else.

But another common opinion in the wrestling universe is the Steamboat to Omega’s Flair could and should have been Ibushi. Fellow wrestlers, commentators, fans — pretty much no one disputes that Ibushi is one of the most athletic and naturally gifted wrestlers ever to step into a ring. I don’t even really have a thing to link in order to prove this, but the conventional wisdom is that he could have been the greatest in the world if he just like… wanted to. But he isn’t the greatest in the world (except to me and Kenny), because, simply, Ibushi hasn’t historically been super concerned with money, accolades, or titles. He loves making fans happy, and he wants to continue to love wrestling, not think of it as drudgery. That’s it.

Imagine being Kenny Omega, selling your soul to win, win, win, working yourself to the bone, turning your back on everything to prove that you’re better than someone who could be the best ever if he just felt like it? And to watch him not feel like it? To know that the thing you felt you had to abandon in order to be great (making fans happy) was his only goal, and he was still great? And the thing you want most in the world (to be the best), he simply chose not to do? Kenny later said that he thought if he won enough, if he was good enough, Ibushi would come back to challenge him. He had to keep winning, to keep pushing himself to his limits, so he could crawl out of Ibushi’s shadow, to surpass him, so that Ibushi would come back and challenge him.

But Kota does what he wants, which includes telling WWE to shove it.

“They offered a full time contract, which I declined, and then went in all sorts of different directions and contract suggestions, all of which I declined… I just said ‘look, I came here to say no’… At the end of the day, it’s a matter of ‘would this decision make me happy? Or make me satisfied?’… I thought ‘is wrestling in that kind of circumstance, that environment really best for me?’ And it isn’t. Maybe for other people, not me. I really don’t wrestle for the money, anyway.”

His vision quest also included cosplaying legendary Japanese warlord Nobunaga Oda.

This is the handsomest thing that has ever happened. Plus, he hit a Phoenix Splash in that armor. I love him.

And a bit later, an impressively talented but mysterious anime wrestler named Tiger Mask W showed up in the flesh in New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was part of a tie-in with an anime series called, unsurprisingly, Tiger Mask W, which featured many of the stars of New Japan. The real-life Tiger Mask W had a style and move set eerily similar to Ibushi’s.

Okada and Tiger are so fucking talented that this very-obviously-contractually-mandated match got 4.5 stars even with a mask that was tough to see out of. Ibushi later appeared as himself on the anime. I love him.

Hey, did you guys know that I am a fan of Japanese professional wrestler Kota Ibushi?

In Omega’s I’m-gonna-win sequence of moves prior to winning G1 Climax 26, he shouts out the giants on whose shoulders he stands. He pays homage to the leaders of the Bullet Club before him, hitting both a Bloody Sunday (Prince Devitt) and a Styles Clash (AJ Styles) before finishing Hirooki Goto with One Winged Angel. This graciousness is uncommon for The Cleaner, but feels consistent with the person we see Kenny become over the next year or so. And it all starts earlier in the match.

Kenny hits two of Ibushi’s signature moves—a Golden Star (sitout Last Ride) Power Bomb and a Phoenix Splash—back to back. Those don’t finish his opponent, but maybe those moves are the beginning of the end of The Cleaner. Kenny reaches back into history, to find something that once gave him strength — something positive and uplifting, unlike the veneer of macho strength the Bullet Club offers. Maybe that’s why Kenny thought Kota would definitely come back after he won the G1—see, I did your moves. I’m still here. Like almost every time he mentions Ibushi, it was half taunt, half love letter.

Then, at Wrestle Kingdom 11, he’s got Okada on the outside, so of course,

Golden Triangle Moonsault, once half of the Golden Lovers’ X-Slash, now one of Ibushi’s signature moves.

Both matches are incredibly significant to Omega’s career, so it’s important to him that these matches—ones that will go into the history books, into the Lore of wrestling’s great matches—have moments where he either pays tribute to or trolls (little of column a, little of column b) his former Golden Lover.

Ibushi’s a man of few words and cryptic tweets, but as I said, all his ring gear after he left DDT and NJPW had this oddly skeletal looking wing on it.

After Kenny wins the G1, he says of Ibushi:

“There are precious few people that can change the face of pro wrestling. It may even be just the two of us. So I’m going to stay here in New Japan, doing my best and waiting for him.”

… before shading Ibushi and saying it’s “embarrassing” that he’d go to WWE and be a junior heavyweight. But then he says, “I wanted to know why he left,” before wondering why Ibushi fought a (very tender and pretty gay) match with another wrestler, whom Omega names specifically (jealous?). From sentence to sentence, he switches quickly between wistful and lashing out. In the video I linked to way up above, right after he compares Ibushi to an ex-girlfriend, he says “maybe he’s not on my level anymore.” There’s always that theme of alternately pining and dissing. Everywhere he can, Kenny leaves secret messages in case Kota’s watching, giving little glimmering hints that somewhere inside, he is still and will always be a Golden Lover. And then he quickly covers it up with insults to keep up The Cleaner’s aloof, empty-souled badassery.

So Kenny finally (in his mind) surpassed Ibushi, and it didn’t bring Kota back. Kenny thought for sure if he could prove beyond doubt that he was better than Ibushi, even better at doing his moves (btw around this time Kenny mostly stopped being able to even refer to Kota by name), Kota would come back to him.

But that’s Kenny Omega logic, not Kota Ibushi logic. Remember, Ibushi look-I-just-came-here-to-say-no’d WWE because he likes liking his job. He didn’t come back, in fact, he taunted Kenny at least twice (through interviews, of course; civilized wrestlemen do not pick up the damn phone and speak directly to each other), telling Kenny to come to him.

“I kind of get you. You’re… lonely aren’t you? Well, I’m right here, waiting.”

Kota is a little annoyed seeing his old rivals (Omega, Naito) surpass him, but he was never going to care about that enough to come back. So what does Ibushi want?

“I want to study wrestling, and I want to make it evolve. Create something completely new. I can’t even imagine what that would be myself… I want to expand what pro wrestling really is.” (x)

And right around this time, Kenny, having unsuccessfully tried to bring Ibushi back with competitiveness, instead starts trying to innovate, trying to be dazzling, trying to “change the world.” He even mystifyingly shoehorns “change the world” into the mission statement of the Bullet Club. If being dominant didn’t bring Ibushi back, maybe being awesome would.

Kenny mostly sticks to throwing shade, but sometimes he gets in his feelings. After Wrestle Kingdom 11, Kenny’s on a “wrestling election” TV show, and he’s voted the #15 all-time wrestler. He comes out doing his standard Cleaner schtick, says in English “I don’t even know why I’m here,” and looks cocky as a reel of his WK 11 awesomeness starts to play. But then, someone he seems to have not expected to be there is on the obligatory Japanese television show commentary panel:

You should really watch this video.

Every bit of bluster falls away from Kenny’s demeanor as he looks like he’s trying not to cry. A highlight reel of Golden Lovers moments plays, and then it’s back to Omega’s former Golden Lover, who has the mic. Ibushi says Kenny is cool and tough and great, then says he would like to face Kenny again, as Kenny’s “kind of a bad guy right now.” Kenny almost smiles, but his face settles on heartbreak.

And then:

It’s almost the one year anniversary of this gay tweet.

Ibushi replies “we will continue,” then tweets “I haven’t forgotten one single thing. I’ve changed what I’m chasing.” (Translation by mithen.)

They don’t really know it, but they’re now chasing the same thing: changing what wrestling looks like, making it new. Because as Kenny said (NJPWWorld subscription required), in the 2016 G1, he caught little tastes of that exhilarating feeling that wrestling was “magical” and didn’t hurt, and was just fun and exciting. He remembers he used to feel that way a lot, “when I was a tag team. With… an old partner of mine.” With Kota having recently been utterly disenchanted by WWE, the magic is missing for both of them when G1 Climax 27 starts in July 2017.

And also, Kenny is starting to look noticeably haggard, tired, worn out. He’s starting to get more desperate and vicious, more mean-spirited. He hardly even seems happy when he wins the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship in early July; all he talks about is what’s next. (And of course, he now says (NJPWWorld) his “destiny” is still Ibushi, except now it’s to “crush” him.) He’s unraveling, and that kicks into high gear once he has to share space with Ibushi again.

Kenny’s goading came in the form of subtweets and references in every goddamn interview he did. When that doesn’t get Ibushi’s attention, Kenny resorts to whiny insults. Here he is being asked (delicately) about Ibushi (“yeah okay, I’ll say his name…”) and proceeding to address him directly for like two minutes in the middle of an interview, as usual alternately pining and insulting. (Starts at about 22:30)

“After I won the G1, I thought for sure you’d come back to me. After I had the greatest match of all time at the Tokyo dome — something you could never do — I thought you’d come back. What makes you come back now? What makes you want to challenge at the G1, after everything we’ve been through?”

Because winning didn’t bring Kota back. And killing himself to be extraordinary also did not bring him back. So Kenny’s struggling to imagine a non-Kenny-related reason that Kota would be there. He’s worried that if Ibushi didn’t come back for Kenny-related reasons, maybe there’s nothing left between them.

Meanwhile, Kota’s almost pointedly not mentioning Kenny. He says he wants to face someone who’s been a rival for a long time — Naito. He says there’s someone who he’s really excited to face again after so long since they’ve seen each other — Tanahashi. Finally, when directly asked about Kenny, Kota says he doesn’t wanna die, and that Kenny “frightens” him.

There was this amazing G1 press conference pettiness: