Ibushi devoted a good portion of mid-June to the NJPW Best of Super Junior XVI shows, while Omega was out of Japan, keeping very busy wrestling shows for ACE, ROH, PCW, and PWG.
Ibushi does very well in the BOSJ. His first day of the tournament he defeats Taichi. However, he injures his left wrist during this match, and can be seen with it wrapped up for the rest of his matches that month, though even he doesn’t remember how he did it.
The next day he is defeated by Ryusuke Taguchi.
Kota quick pops back to DDT for a day to appear at Dramatic Next Door, a one-show tournament. His first round is against Dino, which of course means he gets molested:
Getting groped and kissed doesn’t affect his performance however, and at the match’s end leaves Dino crying in the ring alone, while he proceeds to the quarterfinals and onto his next opponent: Antonio Honda.
After defeating Honda, he proceeds to the semifinals round against Gentaro.
Ibushi wins this match as well, and is confronted by Takagi, the other semifinalist winner, who states he will never lose to Ibushi. Ibushi states the same to him. The two are scheduled to go head-to-head June 28th, however, Ibushi doesn’t end up participating in this show. He is replaced by Munenori Sawa in the main event. I assume his wrist wasn’t healed in time.
Meanwhile, in California, Chuck Taylor and Kenny bully El Generico in PWG’s 99 & 100….
Back in Japan, Ibushi continues the Super Juniors tournament, taking on Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, YAMATO, and participating in several tag team matches. His June 13 match he defeats Jushin Thunder Liger. This is exciting not only because it means he beats one of the most legendary junior heavyweights, but also because he performed well enough overall to proceed to the semi-finals.
BOSJ is a grueling schedule, and his semi finals match was scheduled for the very next day, against Prince Devitt. These two together are athletic poetry, one of my personal favorite pairings. I don’t know if its both of their MMA backgrounds coming into it, or they just happen to gel really well, but whatever it is, they’re a gem to behold.
Kota’s winning streak comes to an end, as he is defeated by Devitt and unable to proceed to the finals. With Ibushi being a visiting participant from DDT, and Devitt being a fan favorite and full time wrestler for New Japan, this outcome only makes sense. But with this being his first BOSJ tournament, he got pretty damn far.
After the matches are over for the day, there is an award ceremony during which Ibushi wins the Daily Sports Award, which includes an obnoxious trophy. So even though he does not win the tournament, he ends up leaving with some gold anyway.
June 16: If its a weird outdoor match, of course Ibushi has to be at it. Freshly done with his Super Juniors tournament, he joins Nakazawa, Poison Sawada Julie, Sanshiro Takagi for a four-way counts anywhere match at a show in Hanayashiki Amusement Park. The park was closed for maintenance and DDT used the opportunity to allow their wrestlers the run of the place.
You can see Ibushi’s left arm and wrist are still taped up. He would take a couple of weeks off from wrestling after this show.
June 20: Omega heads to New Jersey to face ACE Champion Dan Maff. That full match is here:
June 24th Ibushi is interviewed on Samurai TV. I have a really hard time reading much of what he said. Google translate is terrible sometimes, and reading the translated version hurts my brain. I know they discuss the Super Junior tournament, and Dino makes an appearance, though that’s about all I can decipher unfortunately.
Kenny-Omega.com 
Leave a comment