DDT Beer Garden: Hardcore rules-best two out of three falls. This match is heavily referenced elsewhere on the internet, so at the risk of being redundant, I’ll still post about it here as it is important to the careers of both these men.

The entire show was produced by Ibushi, and he and Kenny were the main event.

Producer Ibushi before the show

This is The Match where Ibushi and Omega first wrestle each other, the match that cemented their relationship moving forward, inspiring them to form the Golden Lovers. In other words, it was love at first punch for these wrestling soulmates.

True to their mutual claims of each being king of street wrestling, they take it outside the venue, with one fall taking place outside and one inside. Ibushi won the match, starting a trend that would continue in both their 2012 and 2018 emotionally grueling matchups against each other.

A thorough writeup of this iconic match, and more photos, can be found here.

Someone uploaded the full match to youtube:

Now defunct wrestling blog Manhattan Drop was able to get post-match comments from those involved:

Okay, we got comments from Sanshiro Takagi (president of DDT), Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega and Kenny Ohka after the legendary match.

Sanshiro Takagi: “It was the most craziest match I’ve ever seen. Every move in and out of the ring was totally amazing. Although Kenny lost the match, I believe he gets lots of applause and attention from Japanese fans in just one night. I was so thrilled to watch the match. I will wrestle against Kenny on Sunday with “Street fight-anywhere fall” match for my Extreme Championship as King of out-of-the-ring match. I promise to retain the belt. Everybody, get ready!”

Kota Ibushi: “Kenny Omega is an AWESOME wrestler! Power, speed, craziness, intelligence – everything is perfect. He is really a nice guy! He is the real Pro-wrestler. I couldn’t keep up with him during the match actually. Also I felt something common between us. It’s like “Yes! That’s it!!” He was great not only out of the ring but in the ring. I lost my memory after Michinoku Driver and then I noticed I was in the ring – now I’m pretty sure Michinoku Driver on the road is very dangerous! Also I noticed fans were crazy as well. I’m so glad Pres. Takagi told me it was legendary match. I love Kenny Omega! He’s great!”

Kenny Omega: “To be honest with you, I was a little bit nervous before the match as this is the one against Kota Ibushi. But I am so glad that we had a great match tonight. Ibushi is an awesome wrestler as I thought. And I feel we understood each other from the bottom of our heart after this great match and we are now best friends. I want to team up with him and wrestle together!”

Kenny is so emotional after this match, he leaves the ring holding his face.

photo credit

This Tumblr post summarizes the first meeting and match between the Golden Lovers better than I ever could:

Ibushi also boxed Gota Ihashi that same show(!) Like, imagine having that kind of stamina….

Ibushi post-show

Leave a comment

Trending