A Crossing Of Paths

The Road to the Tokyo Dome is upon us, and it is truly paved in gold, with the final destination of Wrestle Kingdom 14 being the epicenter of a “first” and a “last”. Along with the historic final matches of Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s legendary career, we are also going to bear witness to the culmination of what’s been called the “Double Gold Dash”: for the first time ever, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion will face-off with the IWGP Intercontinental Champion with the winner walking away with both championships. So, how did we get here? What made this unprecedented event into a reality, and how did the four men discover this path to eternal glory? The first part of this series covered the fate that guided the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, while the second part followed the path of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to the Tokyo Dome. This segment will focus on the intersections, and how each man’s path crosses with the other, creating a web of intrigue that connects these four men to their ultimate fate on January 4th and 5th at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

Okada and Naito: Rain and Destino

Of the four men in the “Double Gold Dash”, perhaps the one with the most intricate ties to the whole story is the man with the most aloof and lackadaisical approach to the entire situation. Okada, standing at the top as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, views the “Double Gold Dash” as a “waste of time”, claiming that the “man who wins a gold medal” wouldn’t also seek the silver medal. Despite this approach, Okada’s history with the other three men is one that cannot be denied as it plays a very important role in the formation of the “Double Gold Dash” tournament on the road to Wrestle Kingdom 14, a role which began 6 years prior at Wrestle Kingdom 8. On the road to Wrestle Kingdom 8, the man then known as the “Stardust Genius”, Tetsuya Naito, would win the G1 Climax, earning an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Kazuchika Okada.

Naito, at the time holding the NEVER Openweight Championship and battling back and forth with Masato Tanaka, would confront Okada in a staredown that was met with a surprising fan response as silence came over the arena during the confrontation. As a result of the reception to Naito and Okada’s confrontation, it would be announced that a fan poll would determine the “true main event” of Wrestle Kingdom that year, and in a 2:1 count, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship would take the main-event spot from Naito and Okada, marking the only time in history that the IWGP Intercontinental Championship would main-event Wrestle Kingdom over the Heavyweight Title. In a valiant effort, Naito would taste defeat at the hands of the Rainmaker at the Tokyo Dome, but this would not be the final time these two men would clash for the richest prize in NJPW.

Time would pass, and while Naito would claim a win over Okada during the G1 Climax, he would find himself in a slump in many of his big match situations, including his challenge for Okada’s contract at King of Pro-Wrestling and a match against AJ Styles at Wrestle Kingdom 9, resulting in Naito eventually returning to Mexico on an excursion, partnering with his friend, La Sombra (The future Andrade “Cien” Almas) and his stable of rudos, “Los Ingobernables”…and thus, an eye-opening experience was had by the Stardust Genius. After the excursion, Naito would return to NJPW, bringing with him a new attitude, discarding the Stardust Genius for the persona of “El Ingobernable”, a chip on his shoulder growing as he felt he was overlooked and disrespected within NJPW and its higher-ups, but in particular as a result of the pushes men like Tanahashi and Okada would receive, and in 2016, Naito would win the New Japan Cup and challenge a familiar foe for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. At Invasion Attack 2016, with the help of his newfound allies of Los Ingobernables de Japon as well as the debuting SANADA, Naito would defeat Okada for the IWGP Championship…and yet it was still not enough, as displayed by his mistreatment of the Heavyweight Championship, tossing the belt into the air and dragging it with him as he walked to the ring. There was something missing, and it was the sting of the Wrestle Kingdom main-event being taken from him. His title reign would also be short-lived, as Okada would reclaim his championship after only over two months and one defense to his name. Eventually, however, Naito would rectify this mistake.

In 2017, Naito would win his second G1 Climax tournament, lastly defeating Kenny Omega in the Finals to set the stage for one more “main-event” with the Rainmaker, and this time, with the crowd solidly behind him and this confrontation, there would be no “undoing” of this “main event”…or so he thought until the arrival of the Alpha, Chris Jericho, upended the proceedings, laying down a challenge to Kenny Omega for his United States Championship. To Naito, this was an insult as Omega and Jericho would both go on to claim that their match was the true “main event” of Wrestle Kingdom 12, attracting a new, global audience to the event. Naito, showing the confidence in his position and a bit of his frustration all at once, would go on to dare NJPW’s higher-ups to make a poll on what would be the “actual main event” of Wrestle Kingdom 12 as Naito firmly believed that the IWGP Heavyweight Championship should always main event at Wrestle Kingdom. All of the posturing aside, Naito and Okada would go on to have their main event at Wrestle Kingdom 4 years after their first meeting at the Tokyo Dome, with Naito, once again, coming up short in his title hunt. This defeat would send Naito down another path, pursuing the Intercontinental Championship held by the Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi…

Kota Ibushi and a Golden Legacy

The Intercontinental Championship was founded in 2011 as NJPW began their expansion to the West, holding an “Invasion Tour” through the East Coast that would be headlined by a tournament to determine the first holder of the new championship. While this championship would go to MVP as the inaugural champion, the Intercontinental Championship would become synonymous with the man known as the “King of Strong Style”, Shinsuke Nakamura. In Nakamura’s possession, the championship would excel in its stature and standing. A former IWGP Heavyweight Champion in his own right, Nakamura’s reigns with the IC Championship would be legendary, currently holding every record of note with the title and establishing himself as one of NJPW’s greatest stars as the IC Champion. From Nakamura’s reign, we received an influx of top challengers for the white-and-gold. Men like Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Minoru Suzuki, and even the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi would challenge for Nakamura’s prized possession, but it wasn’t until Power Struggle in late 2014 did a Golden Star shoot through the sky to lay down a challenge to the King of Strong Style for Wrestle Kingdom 9.

Prior to this challenge, Kota Ibushi had, for the most part, been a participant in the Jr. Heavyweight Division, often finding himself teaming with his Golden Lover, Kenny Omega, while also combating the man who would go on to found the Bullet Club, Prince Devitt. On occasion, Ibushi would find himself testing the Heavyweight water in the G1 Climax tournament, leading to a confrontation against Shinsuke Nakamura during the 2013 rendition of the tournament, and it was at this battle that we saw the latent anger and potential within Kota Ibushi. During a pivotal portion of the match, it would be as if a switch flipped within Ibushi, laying into the King of Strong Style with an unseen aggression and force behind his strikes, throwing palm strikes, hard kicks, and stomps to the head of Nakamura, and despite coming up short, this match would put Ibushi on the map as a potential contender in the Heavyweight division. After going back to the Jr. Heavyweight Division, he would suffer a concussion, taking him out of the 2014 G1 Climax. Once he recovered, Ibushi laid his claim to Nakamura’s IC Championship, to which Nakamura would go on to claim that while Nakamura was the “King”, Ibushi was “his Joker”. As a result, the match was on, with Nakamura and Ibushi co-headlining Wrestle Kingdom 9 under Tanahashi and Okada. It was at this point that Ibushi would confess his admiration of Nakamura, reflecting on how much he looked up to him as a wrestler and as a “god”, and to him, this match would be about trying to defeat his “god” in the ring.

Nakamura would go on to defeat Ibushi in what was arguably the most important match in Ibushi’s career up to that point, establishing him as a potential Heavyweight contender as the transition in weight would be permanent. Ibushi would then go on to win the New Japan Cup, earning a Heavyweight Title opportunity against AJ Styles, who would be seconded by Ibushi’s former Golden Lover, Kenny Omega. This would prove to be Ibushi’s own undoing, as a timely distraction by Omega would result in AJ Styles picking up the win. Conflicted, betrayed, and suffering from the signs of wear-and-tear on his body as well as sheer burn-out due to working under two contracts, Ibushi would take a step away from NJPW and DDT both before taking his Research Institute on the road.

In the process of trying to find himself, Ibushi would take time away from NJPW to explore his options, taking the Ibushi Research Institute across Wrestle-1, the Inoki Genome Federation, and even WWE as a competitor in the Cruiserweight Classic and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Eventually, shedding the mask of the tiger, Ibushi would return to NJPW in 2017, and in his immediate return, he would find himself embroiled as a key piece of the Bullet Club’s Civil War. He would reunite with his Golden Lover through the conflict, finding happiness through the pain, and together, eventually, with the Young Bucks, the Golden Elite was formed…and yet something would still be missing.

At 2018’s Dominion, Kenny Omega would go on to end the 720 day reign of Kazuchika Okada, celebrating as IWGP Heavyweight Champion with his friends and his lover at his side, and yet, there was a certain distance felt by Ibushi. As others within the company would suggest, Ibushi would remain in Kenny Omega’s shadow during this duration, eventually leading to Tanahashi remarking as such en-route to his match with Ibushi during the G1 Finals. Ibushi would remain uncharacteristically silent save for when an old teammate-turned-rival-turned-enemy in Tetsuya Naito would offer him a place at his side, to which Ibushi would stop himself short of uttering the words “I have to find my tranq-” and walk away from an interview when asked about this.

Ibushi’s Ascent Above God and Breaking the Limit

If there was any man that Ibushi held on the same platform as Shinsuke Nakamura, it was Hiroshi Tanahashi, as both men were revered by Ibushi for all that they’ve done: Nakamura for his in-ring style and abilities as well as his unmatched charisma, and Tanahashi for his ability to carry the company on his back as the Ace. It would then serve to strike Ibushi perhaps directly that Tanahashi would continuously remark on Ibushi’s untapped potential and the large shadow he voluntarily stood in during the Bullet Club’s strife. This would begin to slowly light a fire under the Golden Star, and in his first match back in the 2017 G1 Climax, Ibushi would strike Tanahashi with the Kamigoye: to go beyond God. This technique would serve as the basis to this rekindled Ibushi, with the goal of going beyond his Gods and his Idols of the past. To break free from being in the shadow of those he worshipped…but there was always one shadow he could never escape, and the opportunity only came two years later.

In 2019, Kenny Omega would leave NJPW after his loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13. A month later, Ibushi would announce that, for the first time, he had signed a full-time contract with NJPW. This was the perfect moment for him to achieve his goals. Ibushi would go on to claim the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Tetsuya Naito at the G1 Supercard, achieving his dream of holding the championship his Gods had made famous and, in his belief, saving it from Naito, the man who holds the belt and what it means in such low regard due to the fan-vote of Wrestle Kingdom 8, the physical title had to be repaired when Tanahashi had reclaimed it. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Naito would renew his focus on the Intercontinental Championship and reclaim it for his own ends, laying the groundwork for the “Double Gold Dash” and eying the Intercontinental Championship as his gateway to the top. In Naito’s eyes, if he were to claim the IC Championship, it would be possible for him to challenge Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, main-eventing one more Wrestle Kingdom with his rival, and perhaps right the “wrong” that was his defeat at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Okada, in the meantime, views the belt as a mere “second place” trophy, and perhaps this short-sightedness underlines Okada’s reign at the top, preventing him from seeing the forest for the trees. To Naito? It’s a gateway to the very top that he needed to hold to make up for a lackluster 2019. To Ibushi? Okada is directly insulting the two men who Ibushi hold in the highest regard. Indirectly, Okada is also insulting two men who laid the path for him, as Tanahashi’s bouts with Okada made the world a believer in the Rainmaker, and Nakamura directly oversaw the development of Okada within Chaos. Okada’s remarks on the Intercontinental Championship perhaps highlight the spoiled nature of the man who is constantly at the top, while Ibushi looked up to men higher on the totem pole than he was, and in order to break free from the ever-crippling shadow that was his Golden Lover…to finally establish himself as a “God” in his own right, Ibushi saw his golden opportunity: to do what no man, not Omega, not Nakamura, and not Tanahashi, had done before. Claim both championships. In other words? To Go Beyond God.

The Switchblade Cutting In

In the midst of Ibushi’s struggle to create his own destiny, Naito’s path back to the top and to main-event Wrestle Kingdom once more for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and Okada’s own drive to simply maintain the top spot, an upheaval had taken place within the NJPW hierarchy. The Switchblade, Jay White, had made the Bullet Club his new home, and in swift order, he’d defeat Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 13 before taking out Tanahashi and claiming the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Since then, Jay White had carried a chip on his shoulder to silence the doubters, and at every opportunity, he would push it in anyone’s face. All of his accomplishments would be laid out in front of an audience that, whether they wanted to or not, would hear him. His arrogance would only cause his downfall to be felt much more profoundly, however, being the first and only man to lose the IWGP Heavyweight Championship outside of Japan, being toppled by a rejuvented Rainmaker at Madison Square Garden. Jay White would then go through the G1, only to lose to Ibushi in the finals and setting Ibushi’s path to Wrestle Kingdom in motion. White, however, was lacking his own path…and so, he would cut his way through and take Naito’s own, defeating him for the IC Championship and staking his claim on the “Double Gold Dash” as the perfect way for him to reclaim his IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

For White, the Double Gold Dash is merely a means to an end. His goal is mostly self-serving, looking to claim the title to show the world that he is truly the best, and that, under his leadership, the Bullet Club is perhaps as strong as it’s ever been. However, there’s an underlying current of vendetta in the Switchblade. While Jay White would wish to set Naito back “in his place” so that he could “watch from the sidelines” as the Double Gold Dash moves on without him, White also has two debts to collect from Okada and Ibushi, looking to pay back the losses that sidetracked his run of dominance into a brief sprint of glory. Ibushi and White even have history that goes even further, as White was the man who would step into the role of Bullet Club’s leadership during the Bullet Club Civil War between the OGBCs and the Elite. White would use this fact to goad Ibushi into joining the Bullet Club, noting that the attack on Okada with the briefcase during the final “Road to Tokyo Dome” shows was something out of the BC and that while he was offered to join in the past by “his friend”, maybe “they sent the wrong guy”, echoing remarks made by Tama Tonga regarding Omega’s attempted recruitment of Jay White almost two years prior. Ibushi rejected this proposal, striking White with the latent ferocity we have seen boil to the surface more and more.

In Ibushi’s mind, the Bullet Club is a poison, having corrupted his friends and rivals alike. Through his tenure, Ibushi has seen the likes of Prince Devitt and Kenny Omega both before and after the Bullet Club, keenly aware of what the stable has done to people like them, and even seeing another firsthand glimpse with the arrival of KENTA to NJPW, facing him in the G1 Special in Dallas, and then seeing what he had become after the G1 Finals after he had joined the Bullet Club. KENTA was a reminder of what exactly the Bullet Club is to NJPW, and Ibushi, having seen struggle and heartache through the Bullet Club, needed no such reminder. Even when defeating Jay White, Ibushi would claim that he had “always been alone” in the ring, having lost his Golden Lover to the venomous influence of the Bullet Club long ago. The deep-seated hatred of the Bullet Club is the binding agent of all three men who stand opposite of Jay White on the path to Wrestle Kingdom 14.

Convergence of Fate: The Star’s Destino in the Slicing Rain

While the “Double Gold Dash” only coalesced in the final months en-route to the Tokyo Dome, destiny had conspired to bring these men together through the course of the year. In fact, fate’s hand had worked through these men as far back as even six years ago, when, on a whim, NJPW’s higher-ups held a fan poll for Wrestle Kingdom 8’s main event. As the Double Gold Dash was proposed, Okada would throw the idea in Naito’s face, suggesting a poll to determine if this would take place, and, to Okada’s surprise, the poll would go up, and the fan’s vote would lean toward “Yes”. This served to not only irritate Okada, finding the process a waste of time, but it would validate and vindicate Naito, the Double Gold Dash being his proposal for the two nights at the Tokyo Dome and blowing open a path for him to re-write history against one of his two bitter rivals. For White, it’s a chance to re-assert the Bullet Club as the dominant faction of the company and to, simply, tell the world “I told you so”. For Ibushi, this is an opportunity to create and carve his own legacy, stepping out of the shadows of the men he admired, idolized… men he loved and to reach for his own Golden Star, doing what no one had done before. Will we see a downpour at the Tokyo Dome? Will the Golden Star shine through and illuminate the path into the next decade? Will we breathe with the Switchblade in the New Era? Will Destino shine on those of us who are ingovernable? January 4th and 5th, history will be made, a legacy will be etched in stone, and we will witness the first glimpse of the future of NJPW. Onwards to the Tokyo Dome, and let the “Double Gold Dash” begin!

Fin~