Getting started with the Golden☆Lovers — a Golden Lovers masterpost
So you want to see some Golden Lovers matches? A friendly internet Golden Lovers Scholar has you covered.
Tomorrow, March 27th, 2019, is the premiere of Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story on Canada’s TSN; part of their Engraved on A Nation series. The documentary profiles “the most famous wrestler you’ve never heard of,” Kenny Omega, and heavily features Kenny’s ten-year long story with his tag team partner and Golden Lover, Kota Ibushi.
While wrestling fans may know well the story of the Golden Lovers, the documentary is aimed at an audience who doesn’t know much about pro wrestling, and will be hearing about Kenny and Kota for the first time. To help set that stage for the viewers at home, ya girl — me — appears in this documentary. I’ll be the goof with the frizzy purple hair talking excitedly about my favorite love story.
You may know this, but how I got into this truly surreal position in the first place was by doing just that—talking excitedly about my favorite love story. Seriously, one day I was just so fucking excited about how much I love the Golden Lovers that I wrote this Twitter thread about them. Kenny happened to see it and retweet it, and the people wanted more, so I wrote a LONG follow up blog post.
Later, the documentary team found my writing and contacted me to participate in the film, and… now you’re gonna see my friggin’ face on your TV! Where once I joked about Noted Golden Lovers Scholar Rachel Breadclub, events have unfolded in my life such that I have fulfilled my destiny and actually become Noted Golden Lovers Scholar Rachel Breadclub. (Which is not to say I’m necessarily an expert, because, ya know. Kenny’s in the documentary. My only claim here is that I am now “noted.”) Wild.
In honor of Omega Man, I am adding to my body of scholarly work with this post, teaching you how to go from the story to the actual fighting by walking you through some of the Golden Lovers’ most important matches.
[Note: Although I have now been bestowed with the nation of Canada’s highest civilian honor (appearing in a television program about a sports hero who is — did you know?!!? — from Canada), here I speak only for myself and not in my distinguished capacity as a person who can be seen on Canadian television (tomorrow night at 7:30pm Eastern!) pronouncing “about” differently than everyone else.]
To make an apple pie, first you must invent the universe. Or, what even is wrestling?
Since there may be some newcomers reading this and wondering how in the world seemingly-intelligent people could get so invested in the sweaty man punching sport, I want to quickly tell you how to go about liking pro wrestling. Because I think people don’t always know how to approach pro wrestling: Isn’t it fake? they ask. Isn’t it very lowbrow? they say to themselves.
The answer to both questions is yes—and no. Pro wrestling is a performance art; much closer in spirit to ballet or figure skating than it is to the combat sports it mimics. Like both of those art forms, pro wrestling uses incredibly skillful athletic performance to tell stories. And like another of its cousins— soap operas—its storylines can span months and years, centered on relationships that grow, shift, evolve, expand, and are periodically revisited over the course of wrestlers’ careers.
But the heart of it is like… muscly folk in glittery underwear elbowing each other in the face, you say. How do you get from there to the epic gay love story? You’ll be glad to know (maybe?) that there’s a direct route. Follow me here. We all know that if The Undertaker actually forcefully spiked someone directly onto their head, that person would risk paralysis or death. But in wrestling narrative, you will survive a Tombstone Piledriver without permanent damage (although you might not get up right away). You can have your shoulder wrenched completely out of its socket by a guy whose thing is that he’s a sadistic vegan bendy straw, and you’ll be a little banged up, but still okay to fight the next night.
Wrestlers can survive brutal fights that would kill a less macho man, and all of the rest of wrestling’s fiction falls into place around that: in the fiction (called “kayfabe”), the fighting is real, the desire (or reluctance, or imperative) to hurt someone is real, and the characters in the story derive their motivation from that. Wrestling, like sci-fi or any other story that takes place in a constructed fictional universe, creates its own narrative logic.
And the absolute beauty of a universe with its own narrative logic: anything can be meaningful. I did a podcast episode about this in more depth, but once you get the hang of kayfabe, you can unlock stories in which you might legitimately be brought to tears over an air guitar or the brutal death of a stuffed cat, where you might actually get kind of angry that a dude never gets to finish his Powerpoint presentation, or where the Tokyo Dome erupts in joyful applause because a man is wearing shorts. Sure, this shit is ridiculous—lowbrow, if you will—but because it exists within its own narrative framework, it’s allowed to be that and meaningful. And you’re allowed to like it for both reasons! Pretty cool, right?
For me, the way to approach pro wrestling is through those stories, by understanding that all the punching and glitz and surreal ridiculousness is actually in service of a narrative. So, yes, wrestling is ‘fake’, in that the outcomes of matches are predetermined, and moves are planned and choreographed (to varying extents). But to think of that as ‘fake’ is kind of like calling Star Trek ‘fake’ because the pacifist space navy isn’t actually a group of peace-seeking quasi-military folk in actual space: well… yeah. But you’re missing the point entirely.
So… the Golden Lovers?
Right. Of course, not all wrestling stories require you learn to care about air guitars. Some of them are just gorgeously complex human stories about friendship, or ambition, or love. I would say this, but the story of the Golden Lovers is one example of the storytelling medium of pro wrestling being used to its fullest. It’s a story that could only be told in pro wrestling, both because it’s been going on for over a decade now, and because part of the narrative is the murkiness between the real-life story and the kayfabe one.
My tweet thread and blog post are a great place to get an in-depth look at the epic history that is the Golden Lovers’ background — I think I mentioned? it’s my favorite love story. Another one is this great video by Super Eyepatch Wolf. The link there goes to the part about the Golden Lovers, but the whole video is about exactly what I just detailed above—why pro wrestling is a unique and fascinating way to tell human stories.
But! Now that you know how wrestling works, and you know the story, you can see it through another lens. Maybe now you want to know, so, what about… you know, the actual wrestling? Friend, I got you.
Please enjoy my handy guide to Canada’s new favorite tag team/power couple!
Important moments and matches in Golden☆Lovers history, in chronological order
Most of these links will require either a DDT Universe subscription or a NJPWWorld subscription, though a lot of them can be found on Russian video upload sites. I won’t link to those, not because I’m morally opposed to piracy, but because they get taken down once in a while, and directing attention to them is a good way to get them taken down. You know how to Google!
Both DDT Universe and NJPWWorld are well worth your 999¥ per month (about $10 US), IMO.
Also: some of these gifs and descriptions contain spoilers for the outcomes of the matches.
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
August 5th, 2008 (DDT) — Where it all began, the ‘destiny’ match, after which the lads were quite smitten with each other—and DDT fans were quite smitten with Kenny Omega.
Golden Lovers vs. HARASHIMA & Toru Iwashi
January 23rd, 2009 (DDT) — Their very first match as a team, where they win the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time. They’re already kinda startlingly in sync.
Kota Ibushi & Gota Ihashi vs. Kenny Omega & Yukihiro Abe
January 24th, 2010 (DDT) — The boys have to fight on OPPOSITE tag teams against EACH OTHER and they’re CONFLICTED and there’s HIJINX. The whole thing, of course, is an excuse for them to eventually fight a pretty awesome match against each other. (This one isn’t that important but it’s cute, and it’s technically a time they faced each other.)
Golden Lovers vs. Apollo 55 (Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt)
October 11th, 2010 (NJPW) — The Golden Lovers had a really great series against Apollo 55, so I just chose the match where they won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Championship. There’s also two more available online: one from November 2010 (DDT) and one from August 2011 (NJPW).
Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega
August 17th, 2012 (DDT) — Terrifying art. The best of their three singles matches against each other, this match is all about the stupid shit you can do with someone when you trust each other unflinchingly. In the gif above are what Kenny calls the worst bump he’s ever taken, and the infamous balcony dive that got Kota banned from Budokan. The latter is 2 hot 4 DDT’s archived version of this match (it’s edited out), so you’ll have to go to the Russian internets if you want to see a shitty recording of the balcony moonsault. If you have to watch only one match on this list, it’s hands down this one. A good one to start with if you’re just starting or showing people Golden Lovers matches!
Golden Lovers vs. Danshoku Dino & Konosuke Takeshita
October 26th, 2014 (Rutube) — This one’s only on the Russian internets. Don’t tell anyone I told you. This is Kenny’s farewell match, his last in DDT, and the last Golden Lovers 1.0 tag match. Kenny started in NJPW as a heel in the Bullet Club 12 days later. Keep in mind that Dino’s gimmick is pretty much sexual assault, just as a warning.
Kota Ibushi vs. AJ Styles
April 5th, 2015 (NJPW) — Kota’s first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Kenny interfered in the match on behalf of Bullet Club’s leader, just as Kota was about to deliver his finisher and end the match.
Ibushi and Omega meet backstage after G1 Climax 27 Finals
August 13th, 2017 (NJPW- free- starts at 37:00) — Kenny loses G1 Climax 27, and he and Kota meet backstage; they’re in the same place for the first time since Kota’s match against AJ Styles. Kota reaches out, and Kenny wants to accept his kindness, but ultimately pushes him away in self-loathing.
Kenny saves Kota at New Year Dash 2018
January 5th, 2018 (YouTube) — After months of Cody’s needling, Omega finally reaches his breaking point when Cody forces the rest of the Bullet Club to hold Ibushi down so Cody can hit him with a chair. Kenny defies the Bullet Club to save Kota. Listen to the crowd react! This would be the first time Ibushi and Omega were in a ring at the same time since Ibushi’s 2015 match against AJ Styles.
The Golden Lovers reunite
January 28th, 2018 (YouTube) — Ibushi returns the favor, and saves Omega from a chair-ing at the hands of Cody and the Bullet Club. This time he doesn’t let Omega push him away, and the confetti awkwardly falls as they hug and it’s beautiful; liek if u cri evrytiem. Seriously, you don’t have to know anything about pro wrestling to find this moving.
Golden Lovers & Chase Owens vs. Cody, Marty Scurll, & Hangman Page
February 23rd, 2018 (NJPW) — Their first official match as a tag team wasn’t until the following night, so, because they are extremely extra, they did all their tags through Chase for this match. That match is probably the better match in terms of wrestling, also, but I’m linking to this one so you can hear the incredible reaction from the crowd at Korakuen. (It was similar the following night, but this one was really special!) We hadn’t seen either of them this happy or energetic for literal years.
Golden Lovers vs. Young Bucks
March 24th, 2018 (NJPW) — IMO the buildup for this match was kind of dumb, but it the match was as amazing as you’d expect from these four men, both technically and emotionally. It was part of the larger Bullet Club infighting drama, and would have made a great blowoff match, if the Bullet Club infighting hadn’t then continued for many months after this. This was a very difficult and wrenching match in kayfabe, and outside of kayfabe it was also a dream match for both teams.
Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada
June 9th, 2018 (NJPW) — Kenny finally wins the big one, and the story — explicitly — is all about how he was only able to do so with Ibushi literally and symbolically in his corner again. The match is great, but the subplot where Omega wins because he’s finally whole again, reunited with his Golden Lover, comes through very strong. So many lovely small details in this match, like the one above where Red Shoes already knows to hand the belt to Ibushi to put on Kenny. Plus, the formation of the Golden Elite at the end and excellent backstage comments. Do not miss Kenny’s opening video package as it is extremely fucking gay and extra.
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
August 11th, 2018 (NJPW) — Kenny and Kota face each other again, after six years — at Budokan once again. A great match featuring much-matured Golden Lovers, who did not want to fight each other again (in kayfabe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were at least a little IRL truth to that). This is the third of their three singles matches against each other. Kota wins, sending him to the G1 finals the following night, for which Kenny was in his corner. The backstage comments here are also so wonderful; they do them together, and even though Kenny loses, he can’t stop talking about how awesome his “life partner” is. ❤️
Kenny Omega vs. Cody vs. Kota Ibushi
October 8th, 2018 (NJPW) — Honestly, story-wise, this match felt a little anti-climactic and shoehorned, such that I kinda didn’t want to include it in this list. It seems like maybe there were some IRL backstage politics affecting this, so a lot of stuff about the way it happened was puzzling, but overall it was a very good match, wrestling-wise. Kenny pins Kota for the first time ever, and this was a weird time to have that happen, given that it was such a Thing in the story of the Golden Lovers. However, he still has yet to beat Ibushi in a singles match. (The gif above happens just after Kenny pulled Red Shoes out of the ring, stopping a three-count, after Kota delivered Kamigoye to Cody. A triple threat is a no-DQ match.)
Golden Lovers vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay
December 15th, 2018 (NJPW)—The sweet forehead kiss in the gif above (um, other tag teams? Get on this pinning level?) is actually a bit bittersweet, in light of the fact that this was the Golden Lovers’ last match together (for now!) before Kenny left NJPW for All Elite Wrestling. Although it’s supposed to be a fun, lighthearted match (this took place on the last show before Wrestle Kingdom 13), this one made it onto several Best of 2018 lists; not surprising given the incredible talent represented by these four men. It ends with the traditional year-end snowfall inside Korakuen, as Kenny serenades the crowd and Kota looks on adoringly, both of them with championship belts on their shoulders. And don’t miss the backstage comments where Kota invites Kenny to sing to him in the shower! (I’m told it’s common for men to shower together in Japan, but you know what? 👀 even so.) If we had to put aside the Golden Lovers for the moment, this was a beautiful note to end on.
Very good Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi singles matches to watch
If I’m picking the lads’ best matches, some of the matches that I’ve already mentioned would be on this list, for instance their first Budokan match would probably be in the top 3–5 for both of them. But perhaps unsurprisingly, while the Golden Lovers might be soulmates, they’re not wrestling soulmates — they both have better opponents than one another.
Also, they both have singles matches against the legendary YOSHIHIKO, who was also a perennial foe of the DDT Golden Lovers. I’m not including them because they’re not as good as these, but the fact that these two can both pull off a legitimately good, well-fought, and hilarious match against a blow-up doll is very sincerely a credit to both of them, and a real display of their skill and understanding of the mechanics of wrestling. Jim Cornette may hate them, but they’re some of the most impressive matches I’ve seen from both of them.
Also also, I’m a new-ish wrestling fan, so these lists all feature more recent matches. But, of course, both Ibushi and Omega have consistently gotten better and better as performers, so in my opinion, their newer matches are just going to be better than ones from earlier in their careers.
Kenny Omega’s best matches
(according to me)
This was not on purpose, but as it turns out, the top three of my favorite Kenny Omega matches happen to have tributes to Ibushi in them.
Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada
January 4th, 2017 (NJPW) — The first (and IMO best) match of Omega and Okada’s historically awesome rivalry. This, the fabled ‘first six-star match’ (it’s not, really, but… details), is the match that made New Japan Pro Wrestling explode onto the western scene and brought a ton of attention to Kenny, as well. The match is on many, many ‘best of all time’ lists. Since this is a Golden Lovers post, the gif I chose features Kenny’s customary-for-big-matches shoutout to his (at the time) former Golden Lover — a Golden Triangle Moonsault.
Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto
August 14th, 2016 (NJPW) — Kenny became the first (and so far, only) gaijin to win the legendary G1 Climax tournament with this amazing match against Hirooki Goto. It’s a great match with a really well-told story. And again, because this is a Golden Lovers post, in the gif is one of his two Ibushi shout-outs: a sitout Last Ride (ie, Golden Star) powerbomb, which he immediately followed up with a Phoenix Splash (both were signature Ibushi moves, and Ibushi was using both as finishers at the time).
Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada
August 12th, 2017 (NJPW) — This match, the final night of B Block competition for G1 Climax 27, is the first time Omega is able to beat his rival Okada. Honestly, you should watch all four matches in their series; at this point the only one not in this post is the one from Dominion in 2017. I like this one better because it’s a more compact exploration of the Okada-Omega dynamic, but all four are incredible. And of course, just as he could only beat Okada for the title with Ibushi in his corner, he beat Okada at all for the first time wearing gear that was a head-to-toe tribute to the Golden Star.
Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
January 4th, 2019 (NJPW) — This turned out to be Kenny’s last match in NJPW, and what a note to end on. Following an incredibly compelling rivalry with Tana (which I detailed with great enthusiasm here), Kenny takes the Ace to limits he hasn’t reached in a long time. After a feud that brought out the worst in both of them, in the culminating match they quite poetically brought out the best in one another. Both Tana and Kenny have had rivalries with Kazuchika Okada that changed what wrestling even is, and this match is as emotional and towering as their best matches with Okada.
Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega
July 25th, 2017 (NJPW) — He may be the best in the world, but Kenny’s first love is being ridiculous and over the top (then, Kota). Kenny normally wears a t-shirt for matches he considers unserious or comedy matches, but he made a point to treat this match very seriously. He and Yano are perfect together, and although this is a silly match, it’s legitimately one of my favorite wrestling matches, period.
Kota Ibushi’s best matches
(according to me)
Ibushi is my favorite wrestler, so it’s a little harder for me to pick what I think are his best matches. I have here mostly matches from before his 2017 return to NJPW, and they tend slightly toward his flippier side. But I recommend watching his 2017/2018 G1 matches against Tetsuya Naito, Tomohiro Ishii, SANADA, and Zack Sabre Jr. They are all dazzling and show off how incredibly talented he is in literally every aspect of pro wrestling. I’m not even being biased because he’s my fave—really! He’s just… you guys, he’s just *sniffles* so good at professional wrestling. It really was hard for me to choose, because I love everything he does and chooses to be, the absolute madman. But number one is not even a question, and is my favorite wrestling match, period.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi
January 4th, 2015 (NJPW) — This match is also quite deservedly on lots of ‘best of all time’ lists. Ibushi challenges Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 9. To me, this match is flawless from start to finish. I’ve written essays about why it’s so great. Also, I feel good commentary can add a lot to a match—it’s absolutely a part of the performance—and if you go to the Russian internets, you can find a (poor video quality) version called by Matt Stryker and JR, who make an amazing team. (In the gif is Ibushi hitting Nakamura with his own finisher, Bomaye, now called Kinshasa in WWE.)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
August 1, 2017 (NJPW) — This (in Ibushi’s hometown!) is my favorite of Ibushi’s four (?) amazing singles matches against Tanahashi, none of which has fewer than 4.75 Meltzer stars. Ibushi is still Omega’s final boss (Omega still needs to beat the man he chased his entire career in a singles match), but Tanahashi is probably Ibushi’s. This is the match in which he debuted his current finisher, Kamigoye (“surpass god”) — named in part for Tanahashi, whom Ibushi calls a god (and also in part for Nakamura, due in great measure to the match I listed above).
Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi
January 4th, 2014 (NJPW) — Like I said, I honestly can’t pick best matches for Ibushi, so this is just one of my faves. NBD, just Ibushi fighting off the fucking Demon King and the entire fucking Bullet Club, by himself to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 8.
Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet
June 21st, 2014 (NJPW) — Some of the best high-flying! Plus, an extremely handsome battle for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Kota Ibushi vs. The Brian Kendrick
August 31, 2016 (WWE — starts at 28:04) — Ibushi’s time in WWE was kind of a weird fever dream, but this is an excellent match technically, and the buildup of storytelling, plus the execution, the commentary, the crowd (Full Sail LOVES Ibushi!), everything, just make it so compelling. As with one of the above matches, the commentary ascends this one — Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan (who’s a close friend of Kendrick’s) add so much heart to this match. This is the first wrestling match I ever saw, ever, and thus the reason you are reading this list at all. In the gif above is the exact moment I fell utterly in love with pro wrestling (and Kota Ibushi) forever. This, by the way is the closest Kota came to a Golden Lovers shoutout, not the move, but his gear: that one skeletal wing began appearing on his gear after he left NJPW/DDT.
That’s it!
Please feel free to send some feedback on this list! Enjoy your Golden Lovers education! If you like, you can send me some change on ko-fi.
