September 2009

Nakazawa and Kenny do nerdy things, like visiting Capcom. Michael wrote in his blog post for that day: “I spent a lot of time playing with Kenny the last few days. On the first day, we train, visit Capcom, drink, and stay at home. On the second day, we had training, had dinner at home, had a meeting with the supplier about the new costume, and stayed at our house. So, today I went to a store in Ikebukuro where I was indebted to, and just came back. Kenny was in a good mood singing karaoke. I used to sing Battle Noro because it was a commercial song for Strike II.”

September 5th Kenny has an appearance on Samurai TV. He brings Nakazawa with him as translator. Kenny said to Michael, “Since it was a live broadcast, it was hard to stop myself from saying dirty jokes!”

The Golden Lovers were walking outside and Kenny spots a spider he says he’s never seen in Canada. Ibushi takes a picture of him looking at it.

Omega was also in two wrestling events in Tokyo that day – a DDT one, as well as an Ice Ribbon show at their dojo. Ibushi was not at either.

September 6: This match took place in the mountains of Yamanashi, and drew a crowd of about 200 spectators, apparently double last year’s numbers. This was Kenny’s first campground show. Ibushi does them every year, because of course he does. He purchased the fireworks he set off throughout the show with his own money. Nakazawa was burned by some of them, upsetting his wife.

Before the show begins, Ibushi steals and eats some tomatoes

This is a very long but fun match, and has some very cute Lovers spots.

Kenny is handed flowers from the audience at the start of the show

Before the match moves to the rest of the campground, the Golden Lovers show off their impeccable synchrony

Omega uses nature to strangle his opponent

the lovers use elements of their environment

the match goes all through the camp grounds

Ibushi shoots fireworks at everyone in sight

Kota calls for Kenny, who runs immediately to his side 🙂

firing off the fireworks Ibushi had purchased for the day

The match ends in a small creek.

After the show everyone is wet and tired

DDT referee Matsui took this photo of Ibushi after the campsite match, and stated the following: “The image is Ibushi looking back on today’s match. It seems that he is still not satisfied even though he played with the fireworks as he pleases. After all, this guy is an idiot…“

Kenny had improved his chopstick skills, but didnt like some of his food

September 8th Ibushi, Kenny, Oya, Ihashi, and Ozaki-san went to the nearby Sakura Suisan for dinner. The next day Ibushi had a meat based meal with one of the concession stand workers.

Omega, Ibushi and Nakazawa spend a day hanging out at to Spotcha in Itabashi. They all roller blade. Ibushi and Nakazawa were a bit shaky on the skates, but Omega was really good at it because of his ice hockey background. They finish the day with a meal cooked by Michael’s wife.

September 10th was BOYZ, which was quite well attended by male fans. Omega and Makoto Oishi went to a time limit draw.

At the end of the show, the wrestlers gather in the ring and thank Kenny for coming. He promises the crowd he’ll be back. He next heads back to the U.S. on the 13th, for a couple of ROH east coast shows. He would not return to Japan until December.

While posing with a gift he received from a fan after the show, Kenny tells the blogger from Extreme Party that he is injured: “When I covered the injured part, other parts started to hurt more and more, and now it’s serious damage. It’s hard to leave Japan, but I’m a little happy to think that I can heal my injuries.”

Kenny says farewell to some of his acquaintances and coworkers

The day before Kenny leaves, he and Michael go to a Tex-Mex restaurant called Zest. Kota was not originally going to join them, but was able to stop running his errands to make an appearance and say goodbye to Kenny, which made Kenny very happy. Kenny said, “I want to say goodbye to everyone in DDT for the last time, and I’m going to see them off on the bus heading to Osaka!”

September 13th Ibushi participated in Dotobori Story 4 in a tag team match with Yasu Urano as his partner.

After the match, Ibushi pulls his written promo out of his shoe. He beings reading the wrong thing: “On the way home from the disco, muttering that this is the end of youth…” Matsui interrupts by smacking Ibushi in the head and handing him the correct promo. According to Extreme Party, “After regaining his composure, he said once again, ‘Thank you for coming today, everyone in Osaka. I will be back in Osaka as a champion. I would like to close the usual way: three, two, one, the end. The end. The end. The end. And do a backflip. Let’s go” He then does a number of backflips in the center of the ring before backflipping off the apron.

September 20: DDT Ginza Now 9.20. Ibushi has a 2 out of 3 falls match against KUDO, Yasu Urano, and Masa Takanashi vs. Sanshiro Takagi, MIKAMI, Poison Sawada JULIE, and Tanomsaku Toba. Ibushi enters last, wearing his own merch shirt and showing off his title.

Ibushi enters the match wielding the title

After Ibushi’s team wins, he obtains his concluding promo from the Ref. He states, “From now on, I will continue to wrestle in Ginza every month“

September 26, Kenny participates in ROH’s Glory by Honor VIII in singles competition against Claudio Castagnoli. A bunch of well known wrestlers were featured in this show: The Young Bucks, Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Austin Aries, and a lot of really great photos from the show are available for viewing HERE.