AEW's Kenny Omega Reflects On DDT Match That Led To Kota Ibushi Friendship, Tag Team

Some tag teams become best friends, some become closer than a lot of family members, but not all of them become lovers. That's what happened with Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi following their Hardcore two-out-of-three falls match in August 2008 at a DDT event in Tokyo, Japan, as the two men were meant to be rivals, but ended up forming The Golden Lovers as a result. The team has gone on to be one of the most beloved duos in modern wrestling, and during a recent appearance on "Wrestling Observer Radio," Omega recalled his initial match with Ibushi originally being a one-time deal.

"It was supposed to be a one and done. It was 'Hey we've heard of this guy, we've seen him on the indies.' At the time, it was Jersey All Pro Wrestling. 'Apparently he is a fan of what we do, Ibushi is this hot young up-and-comer, they might be able to have a heck of a match together, and it would be a great chance for Ibushi to prove himself to the DDT faithful as a guy we can rely on, and a guy that can carry this company to the next stage.' The match went better than we expected, and it ended up winning the Samurai TV match of the year, and that allowed for me to come back."

Following the match, Omega and Ibushi would become good friends outside of the ring, leading to Omega returning to Japan with an idea; form a tag team with Ibushi and become a part of DDT, rather than lose the rematch and disappear from the company. However, DDT management weren't high on the idea as Ibushi was their main draw at the time, so putting him a duo with a relative newcomer made no sense to them.

Despite management not being thrilled about the idea, Ibushi himself stuck his neck out for what would become The Golden Lovers. "He said 'I believe in this too,'" Omega said. '"If we screw this up, if this is a complete–if fans don't get with it, if they said hey we'd rather have seen these guys mix it up in a singles instead,' then Kenny's gone anyway, and we'll just go back to plan A.' But we did the Golden Lovers thing, and it worked out." 

From 2009 onwards, Omega and Ibushi would go on to become two of DDT's greatest competitors, both as a team and singles wrestlers, and despite their careers drifting apart during the 2010s, with Ibushi becoming a heavyweight star while Omega was still a junior heavyweight, they are still best friends to this day. Both men had to deal with major health problems throughout 2024 as Omega was battling diverticulitis at the same time as Ibushi breaking both of his ankles in NOAH, but they not only motivated each other to get back to full fitness, they also tried to figure out how to work around the limitations their own bodies have put on them.

"People have this expectation, we always kept using that word, expectation...We said 'is it that the fans have it, or is this the expectation we're placing on ourselves to be a certain way? I think when we really changed our perspective as to what we could give to the wrestling world to be just a little bit different, but could make everyone happy all the same, we have other talents." Omega rounded out by saying Ibushi's experience in kickboxing makes him able to focus his arsenal on striking, while Omega's previous ventures into MMA and Jiu-Jitsu allow him to create a much more ground based style.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.