in his NJPW contract announcement press conference Kenny gets asked if he intends to join the bullet club [LINK]
he says no, he doesn’t think it would be a good fit
Nov 9th, 2014[LINK] Kenny debuts as a new member of Bullet Club. He has a new moniker “The Cleaner” and he’s now a sunglass-wearing leather-jacket-clad overdramatic villainous heel. He also has a toothpick (this fucking nerd)
[ID: Kenny as The Cleaner, standing in the ring holding a mic, wearing a long leather coat, sunglasses, black gloves, and he has a toothpick in his mouth. End ID]
(he comes out with his face hidden and when Karl Anderson gets out “i present to you the cleaner Kenny-” the crowd pops, even as a freelancer they remember him)
the BC might not have been a good fit for who Kenny was before, but he’s willing to change to fit them. i mean he’s already tried his luck in njpw as a goodie two-shoes junior. It didn’t work out. it’s time to evolve
and he knows first hand that bullet club can win matches [LINK]
[ID: a defeated Kenny in his green and orange 2012-2013 gear being held by the hair and stood over by Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Karl Anderson why they point finger guns at his head. End ID]
besides whats the point of being a good guy if he’s not with kota anyway
Even though Kota couldn’t speak English and Kenny had yet to learn Japanese, the Golden Lovers had no trouble communicating. Their friend Michael Nakazawa was able to serve as translator, but by August 22, 2008 he felt his services had already become unnecessary. A few people who knew them at that time describe them being able to communicate with just a look, or Kota speaking in Japanese and Kenny speaking in English and somehow the Golden Lovers were just able to understand each other. Kenny once joked that they communicated telepathically
Kenny comes back to Japan just a few months after their first meeting and in their very FIRST EVER 2-man tag match (January 24, 2009-LINK) the Golden Lovers win DDT’s tag team championships
[ID: GIF from the end of the match, the ref is trying to hand the GLs their titles but Kenny pulls Kota into his arms and hugs him tightly. End ID]
They seem a little awkward with each other at the beginning of the match (Kota keeps glancing at Kenny while they wait for the ref to stop futsing with the belts) but they’ve clearly been practicing together, preparing for this moment because they already have their team moves down pat
their tandem move set (especially Golden Shower) is athletically impressive sure, but it’s also kind of magical when you think about what it means
“Somehow our jump height was the same, our spin speed was the same, and we would have the exact same timing of impact. It was really like twins were flying through the air.” [Kenny speaking in The Golden Comeback documentary LINK]
not only did the GLs share one brain, their wrestling had naturally developed to be in perfect unison. more proof that this was destiny
okay so our story starts in 2006. Kenny’s been wrestling for a while now, most recently spending a soul-crushing year in WWE’s developmental promotion Deep South Wrestling, and he’s kind of lost hope of ever finding someone who shares his vision for what wrestling can be
because to Kenny, wrestling can be anything. it’s an artform with infinite possibility, as long as you have the imagination and skill to create it
one day a friend shows Kenny a video from the japanese wrestling promotion DDT (Dramatic Dream Team). in the video he sees Kota Ibushi for the first time
and he is thunderstruck
[ID: Kenny being interviewed for Begin Japanology in 2013: “And I thought: he MUST think the same way I do. He’s doing the same crazy things that I’m doing. He’s SUPER athletic. And, you know, he’s not afraid to make people laugh. A lot of people are too afraid to make themselves laugh. They’re too prideful about looking tough. And he didn’t seem to be that kind of guy. But he IS tough, so I felt like whoever this guy is, I feel like I need to meet him, I need to challenge him, and you know, let’s make some magic together in the ring. Whether it be together as partners or against each other. I felt like my destiny, if there is such a thing, was to come out here and fight Kota Ibushi.” End ID][LINK]
(isn’t that incredible? can you imagine seeing a stranger a world away and, despite barriers of distance and language, having the certainty and determination necessary to cross an ocean just to meet?)
Kenny sets out to get ddt’s attention. He films this insane “audition” video, a falls count anywhere out-of-ring match (Kota’s specialty) at his cabin in canada [LINK]
(the match is ridiculous in the best way, at one point Mike Angel “drowns” in the lake and Kenny is like “he’s dead! count him out!” only for the supposed drown-ee to make a surprise recovery and attack before the 10 count is up)
luckily for the future of wrestling, ddt’s interest is peaked and they invite him to japan
Kenny films a short promo ahead of their match challenging Kota [LINK]
[ID: screenshot from the promo, Kenny is standing in some random alley looking kind of challengingly at the camera. end ID]
(he says “ibushi” every other sentence its v cute)
their first match was August 6th, 2008 - 2 out of 3 falls, falls count anywhere [LINK]
Even tho there’s no belt on the line for this match, Kenny is still fighting for something: if he loses he may never see Kota again. Only a win will secure him his place as Kota’s rival.
[ID: gif of Cody leaning forward and saying: “Is the world ready for the American Nightmare?” End ID LINK]
Cody Rhodes joins Bullet Club December 10th, 2016 under the ring name: “the American Nightmare”
Kenny introduces him to us as a monster and oh boy is he right
[ID: two gifs of Kenny doing a promo in the ring, talking to the camera. He says: “The next member of the Bullet Club is a monster. Rest assured, things round here will change.” End ID LINK]
Cody is wrestling royalty, recently escaped from under the thumb of Vince McMahon, striking out on his own for the first time, and the bucks have kind of adopted him and taken him under their wing. he starts showing up in BTE and their hotel Q&AsinFebruary 2017, part of the gang already
[ID: gif of Matt hugging Cody while Nick (who is holding the camera) gives them a Too Sweet gesture. End ID LINK]
in his first njpw interview he gets asked about tension within the bullet club and he assures us that the BC is like Camelot, a round table of equals
[ID: picture of Cody in a blue suit. he has brown hair and his left eye has an American flag contact that makes him look just slightly off. He’s saying: “Think of it this way: it’s Camelot, if that makes any sense. It’s a round table. Everybody’s an equal.” End ID LINK]
(the fact that camelot famously had a king seems to slip his mind)
Butthe cracks in Cody’s Team Player facade start to show pretty quickly
G1 Climax 26!!!! (for anyone who doesn’t know, the g1 is a tournament that determines who gets a main event title match at Wrestle Kingdom)
it’s his first time participating and Kenny does tremendously, winning most of his matches until finally only one thing stands between him and the finals:
Tetsuya Naito [Aug 13, 2016 - Official LINK, Unofficial LINK]
[ID: gif from the match, Naito is holding his shoulder and then begins to grin as he stands up, while Kenny looks distressed and in pain in the background. End ID]
kenny decides that this match is the right time to give us a little update on the condition of his heart and he debuts new gear!
these pants are a similar design to the old ones, but the wings have begun to change. the skeletal wing is now completely bare
and the other wing has become bleached white and is starting to lose its feathers. You can see them falling down his pant leg, like the loss is continual and steady
Welcome to the pining chapter(s) of this love story
New Years Dash is one of my favorite events in NJPW, it takes place the day after WK and it generally sets up new storylines for the year to come. you never really know what’s going to happen
this particular NYD (Jan 5th, 2016 - Official LINK,UnofficialLINK) is extremely good. Kenny and AJ have a tag match against Nakamura and YOSHI-HASHI, and Kenny (still a junior) pins Nakamura (the IC champion) winning the match. It’s the exact kind of Proving himself he set out to do by joining bullet club
and as they celebrate the victory Kenny looks over at AJ Styles
[ID: AJ stands on the second rope of the right turnbuckle, hands raised in victory. On the other side of the ring Kenny is prepared to do the same but he stops, puts his foot back on the mat and turns his head to look over at AJ. End ID]
and goes, i’ve had enough of this fuckin guy
[ID: Kenny gets AJ on his shoulders from where AJ was standing on the turnbuckle in the last gif. AJ flails and Kenny hits him with the one-winged angel. End ID]
The other members of bullet club rush out to intervene, but when it comes down to a question of Kenny vs anyone else (a question they are forced to face fairly often), the Young Bucks pick Kenny.
[ID: two gifs. in the first the young bucks crowd Kenny into the turnbuckle, speaking closely to him while the other bullet club members are huddled around AJ’s prone body. in the second the other members of the bullet club have AJ standing up with their help and Kenny and the Bucks superkick him. End ID]
Always.
[ID: two screenshots from twitter, in the first Matt Jackson posts a collage, with photos of the bucks being buddies with Devitt, AJ and Adam Cole on the left, and on the right pictures of them kicking them out of the bullet club with the twitter caption: “We’ve had to make a couple executive decisions over the years.” Someone replied “When’s Kenny” and Matt quote retweets saying “Wherever Kenny goes, We go.” Kenny has liked the tweet. End ID]
okay two last things about the confrontation in the locker room (Feb 2018) before we move on:
The lovers have a brief conversation in Japanese that ends with Kenny saying “shall we go home?” and Kota replying “let’s head home” (mithen translation LINK)
And THEN. (and i have absolutely nothing to say about this do not speak to me about it.) the scene ends with the camera zooming in on the opencloset behind the lovers
ANYWAY.
after the confrontation with the bucks, Kenny goes to the states for a bit (we’ll get to his misadventures there in a later part) leaving Kota all alone in Japan where he competes in the New Japan Cup (March 9-21, 2018)
when njpw does tournaments they divide the tournament matches up so that half of them happen every other night. during the wrestler’s “off” night they do a multi-man tag match against their next opponent, and then the next night they have their singles match
and what that means is that Kota’s in need of some tag team partners!!!
and so begins a time I like to call Kota and the In-Laws.
Before reuniting with Kenny, Kota had been tagging with the loosely aligned collection of babyfaces that sometimes call themselves Taguchi Japan, but now that he and Kenny have renewed their vows, NJPW has started booking him with Bullet Club
Kota finds this very confusing
[ID: Kota in post match comments. A reporter asks “What about your thoughts on tagging with Bullet Club?” and Kota says “I don’t even know, I may be one of them… Did I end up joining Bullet Club after partnering with Kenny? I’m still listed as neutral, right?” End ID. LINK]
it’s honestly the best, because the BC members who are in Japan for the Cup aren’t any of the BTE guys, they’re all the Tongan faction (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens, and Yujiro) who have stayed out of the Cody/Kenny feud up to this point. they don’t really know Cody bc he’s new to njpw, and their relationship with Kenny is uh.. complicated at best. they respect him for his skill as a wrestler, but they’re all too aware that Kenny doesn’t respect themorthe bullet club as a whole.
but njpw books them as Kota’s teammates for this tour, and even tho he’s literally no one to them, just the husband of the boss who just got coup-ed, and even tho they’re also pretty confused about this booking, they take the responsibility seriously.
Chase Owens in particular throws himself into being Kota’s tag partner
this is the guy who partnered with the GLs (only after losing a bet!!) at Honor Rising, and he’s also the guy who helped hold Kota down during Cody’s attack at New Years Dash (which he is probably trying to make amends for)
[ID: screenshot of a tweet from Chase Owens, it’s a picture of him and Kota with the caption “Dinner with our new friend” End ID. LINK]
he and Kota have such fun tagging together, they make up little duo moves and inside jokes for the audience, Kota supports Chase’s cheating (altho he abstains from the practice himself), and they’re just generally sweet and considerate towards each other
[ID: two gifs of Chase and Kota in a post match comment. Chase says “Ibushi-san, I’m sorry” in Japanese and Kota responds “No problem” in English while patting Chase’s back. End ID]
(Kenny clearly really appreciates how well Chase is taking care of Kota and thanks him for it multiple times during this tour LINKLINK)
And Chase facilitates Kota’s relationship with the other BC members too
[ID: gif of Chase looking at Kota and gesturing to Tanga Loa and Yujiro and saying “my friends” while Kota looks confused and Tanga Loa eyes Kota uncertainly. End ID LINK]
during this whole tour whenever they tag with Kota all of the bullet club comes out to Kota’s music instead of their own and they always invite him to join the two sweet even tho Kota always refuses
[ID: three gifs. Chase, Tanga Loa and Yujiro are doing the two sweet while Kota looks at them. Chase invites Kota to join but he kind of makes a ‘no you go ahead’ gesture and takes a step back. in the next gifs he shakes Yujiro and Tanga Loa’s hands. Yujiro is friendly and amused, Tanga Loa is uncertain but not unfriendly. End ID. LINK]
it becomes a running gag during the tour
[ID: gif of a match, Chase puts up his hand for the Two Sweet gesture, Kota cheerfully high fives it. End ID. LINK]
We hear from both Chase (on twt) and David Finlay that Kota is even spending time with BC outside of the ring, hanging out in their locker room and going out with them after shows
During one match when Finlay is on commentary we get this nice moment:
Kevin Kelly: “If you’d have told [Kota] three months ago, ‘hey you’re going to be teaming with bullet club’ he’d have looked at you like you had horns growing out of your head.”
Finlay: “Well he might have been happy tho!”
Kevin:“Because that would mean that he’d have reunited with Kenny?”
Finlay:“Yeah, so I think a little piece of him would be like “yeah, i hope so."”
Then a little later we get Bad Luck Fale on commentary and he’s just super chill and understanding about Kota being kind of confused about this whole situation. He makes it clear that whether or not Kota is a BC member isn’t something that has to be figured out rn, and when Kevin points out that Kota doesn’t seem interested in taking part in BC-esq activities like cheating, Fale just replies "He’s still probably trying to figure out what’s going on himself."
It’s just this really lovely time where Kota is completely and utterly himself, not making any special effort to be accepted by BC at all, and yet this collection of heels who could have made the tour about their issues with Kenny, instead look at Kota and go “well i guess we just? Adopt him? idk?” and never look back.
[ID: screenshot of Chase Owens’ tweet from March 21st. It shows a picture of Kota and Chase caught in mid-air as they do one of their duo moves. The caption says “Thank you @ibushi_kota for this series.” End ID. LINK]
And this takes us all the way to the end of march.
The bucks have been building up to the GL vs YB match in the meantime, making it clear that Nick is worried and uncomfortable with fighting Kenny, not sure if he can even hurt his friend (Nick Jackson!!! Professional monster boy!!! Unsure!!! If he can cause harm!!! Because of how much he loves Kenny!!!!!), and Matt is just bleeding feelings everywhere
[ID: screenshots of BTE. Matt sits with his young daughter and son at their house. Matt: “Do you know who daddy’s wrestling this weekend?” Daughter: “Uh huh, who are you wrestling?” Matt: “Actually, I’m wrestling Kenny.” Daughter: “That’s not cool, isn’t he your friend?” Matt: “Yeah, actually. Actually, yeah… Kenny’s my good friend, but sometimes-” Son: “Uncle Kenny?” Matt: “Sometimes you have to wrestle your friends and sometimes you have to wrestle your family. Maybe at the end of the whole thing we’ll love each other even more.” End ID. LINK]
in the BTE episode for the SSE show [LINK] we see that Kenny watched NJPW’s interview with the bucks (where Matt admits to feeling jealous of Kota LINK), we see him looking at the two golden wings on his new gear just as the interviewer asks “Kenny and Kota Ibushi’s relationship right now, do you think they’re tooclose?”
Speaking of his new gear!!! Kenny has this gear made in his old DDT colors: green, orange, and gold. On the butt are two full golden wings, and between the wings are a golden omega symbol with a golden star inside it. “G” and “L” are written on his kneepads. A lone feather is attached to his right hip, and below that it says “best bout machine”
seeing Kenny with two wings again…yeah.
finally, just before the show Cody gives all the BTE guys these belts with their names on them. i guess they’re like weight-lifting belts? Matt makes a comment about crossfit idk, but for the purposes of this story they’re a symbol of alliance with Cody, and Nick hates them and does not wear his.
[ID: screenshot of BTE episode. Matt has his Cody belt over his shoulder, Nick looks down at his own belt with distaste. End ID. LINK]
and now it’s time for The Saddest Match Ever
Strong Style Evolved - March 25th, 2018[OfficialLINK, Unofficial LINK]
The GL vs YB match is the main event of Strong Style Evolved, NJPW’s show in Long Beach, CA, and the match that they put on is complex and unique
there’s no heel or face alignments here, and half of the participants (Kenny and Nick) desperately do not even want to be here doing this. Kenny and Nick’s horror at the prospect of hurting their friend
[ID: gif of Kota stamping on a prone Matt’s back and Kenny rushes into the ring and pushes Kota away from him. End ID]
[ID: gif of Nick super kicking Kenny out of mid-air. after Kenny falls to the ground Nick just sits for a minute, with a thousand yard stare. End ID]
combined with Matt’s desperation to both hurt and be hurt
[ID: gif of Kenny stamping on a prone Matt. Matt yells at him “that feel good, Kenny?” End ID]
is extremely painful to witness
(And meanwhile the whole time poor Kota Ibushi is just Trying To Have A Match, like he’s just trying to do some wrestling here and everyone else is being so weird about it)
Kenny and Nick have to be won over to participate in the violence of the match, both of them really only finding the stomach for it after seeing their partner being hurt, but there’s never a moment when hurting their friend becomes easy for them
[ID: Kenny drops Matt’s back over his knee, his face own face twisted with misery. He pushes Matt off him and just sort of sinks down and stares at the ground. End ID]
theoretically this match is about finding out which team is the best in the world, but even though the bucks lose, it’s so clear that it’s not because the GLs were “better.” it’s because Matt Jackson is emotionally and physically compromised
his back hampers him throughout, made worse by the GLs’ targeted attacks, and it gets to a point where he can’t even do most of the YBs’ moveset without help
but he’s never really focused on winning. matt’s focus is always on hurting Kenny and Kota (not beating them, inflicting pain and insult), and making Kenny hurt him back.
because the pain that Matt’s feeling would be so much easier to bear if he knew for sure that Kenny doesn’t love him. It’s the lingering hope, the fear and uncertainty, that make it so unbearable. so he wants Kenny to put an end to any doubt.
again and again in this match Matt lets the worst parts of his heart direct his actions, and through it all Kenny loves him.
Kenny has failed to be a good friend to Matt recently, he has taken the bucks for granted, he has failed to treat them as his equals, but in this match, when Matt is testing him, when Matt is demanding cruelty from him
[ID: three gifs. in the first matt uses the belt that Cody gives him to whip Kenny’s back, while kenny kneels on the mat. in the second Kenny is now standing and it’s matt who is on the ground. Kenny picks up Matt’s belt and looks at it. in the third Kenny stands before Matt with the belt and throws it away. End ID]
Kenny refuses.
he hurts Matt but he never crosses that line. and every time he refuses, every time he hesitates, you can see that it’s almost worse for Matt than if Kenny had just done it, because it proves over and over that Kenny does care about him.
the truth that Kenny loves the young bucks genuinely but imperfectly, loves them, but not enough to give up Kota for them, almost feels worse than if Kenny had never loved them at all. because at least if Kenny never loved them Matt would have the cold comfort of his own righteous anger. at least if Kenny never loved them, this pain could be over. this could be simple. he could cut Kenny off and try to move on. but because Kenny loves them, that means it’s possible to fix this, and that truth is so much harder to face
when Kenny finally pins Matt, he doesn’t let go after the three count.
[ID: gif of the GLs laying on top of Matt for the pin, after the count Kota slides off them but Kenny just clutches Matt closer, crying. End ID]
after the lovers leave, Cody comes to the ring and starts yelling at Matt for losing, and when Nick tries to intervene…
[ID: two gifs. In the first Cody turns towards Nick and shoves him to the ground, a perfect mirror of Kenny doing the same thing to Matt at New Beginning. In the second Cody aggressively removes his jacket. End ID]
But just like New Beginning, matt and nick are saved by a run-in from someone who loves them.
[ID: gif of Cody seeing Kenny coming and starting to back away, while Matt holds his brother and sinks down to sit on the mat beside him. End ID]
Kenny chases Cody off and then he offers the bucks his hand, just like Kota reached out to him. Nick accepts
and Matt doesn’t
[ID: two gifs, Kenny offering his hand to Nick who takes it and gets pulled up. in the second Kenny offers his hand to Matt while Nick looks on. Matt looks at the hand and then at Kenny and turns away. End ID]
Matt can’t let it go. Not yet. Not in the immediate aftermath of a match like that.
And you can see his refusal break Kenny and Nick’s hearts
[ID: gif of Kenny and Nick reacting to Matt turning away from Kenny. Both are crying and devastated. End ID]
but where Matt goes, Nick follows
[ID: gif of Nick leaving the ring following Matt while Matt and Kenny look on. End ID]
but even tho this night didn’t end with the Elite’s reunion, something has shifted. Matt’s not ready to forgive Kenny, but he’s seen the care and love that Kenny has for him
and he’s gotten his first glimpse of Cody’s true face
