#so much stuff about the way nick reacts to matt in pain and to kenny hurting matt

[mitchtheficus]

A Golden Lovers Timeline

PART 19: STRONG STYLE EVOLVED

okay two last things about the confrontation in the locker room (Feb 2018 - LINK) 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 open closet 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, 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 them or the 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.

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. Tanga Loa and Yujiro are doing the two sweet while Kota looks at them. They invite 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, a BC member puts up his hand for the Two Sweet gesture, Kota cheerfully high fives it. End ID. LINK]

We hear from 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.

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 too close?”

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 [Official LINK, 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]

he just holds Matt and cries. he just loves him.

and he doesn’t ask anything from him. after winning, Kenny leaves the ring without reaching out to the bucks again.

but the events of the night aren’t over yet.

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]

It’s a perfect, deliberate parallel of the events of the Golden Lovers’ reunion, except that Kenny was shocked and horrified to discover he had pushed Matt, and Cody is ready for more

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

[PART 20] [ALL PARTS]

#bte out here doing CLOSET SYMBOLISM i cant stand them #golden lovers #goldenloverstimeline #kota ibushi #kenny omega #the young bucks #nick jackson #matt jackson #there's so much in the strong style evolved match about the bucks' relationship with each other that i didn't get into #so much stuff about the way nick reacts to matt in pain and to kenny hurting matt #if you havent watched the match i definitely recommend it #it's so hard to describe the way matt is during the match his feelings are just so big and out of control #it really took me a long time to try to put it into words #and im still not 100% satisfied #but hey! this is the hardest part! its all up from here! this is the saddest this story gets #the thing about being upset that kenny loves them but not enough to give up kota is like the irrational part of jealousy you know? #like matt would never give up nick for kenny and that doesnt mean he doesnt love kenny #but kennys never had someone like that in his life during his friendship with the bucks #there's no good guys or bad guys in this story and especially not in this match #mestuff #myGLgifs #reunitedera #myomegagifs #mykotagifs #myyoungbucksgifs #always with you