If i may don the trutherism cap for a moment! (Also #legalinoregon!) Kenneth wore a number 23 jersey in his match tonight. I thought 23 was maybe the age he started wrestling in Japan (like the fanboy he is) but according to my research he started in DDT in 2008, making him 25, not 23
HOWEVER, kenny said he saw a video of ibushi in 2006 and became fascinated with him. Making him 23. Again kenneth leaves us breadcrumbs! Just making sure we know he's definitely NOT thinking about ibushi
Oh hey Anon, I'm sorry it took me a couple of days to reanimate my corpse and push aside the granite veil of my tomb in order to answer this ask! That's some very impressive decoding on your part, and I'm sure most people watching thought the same thing. But let me tell you my crackpot theory.
Anon, I don't know if you've heard of the movie Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James and several of the Looney Tunes (in theaters now!). It's a movie about cartoons playing basketball with one actual man who is a basketball player in real life. Coincidentally, the Looney Tunes brand is owned by TNT, which also owns AEW. I'm told The Elite's entrance that day was a plug for this film. Brand synergy really gets my recently-revived heart pumping, I tell ya what.
But did you wonder what "A New Legacy" in the title refers to? Not many people know this, but all the way back in 1996, there was a film ("talkie") titled simply Space Jam. Yes, "A New Legacy" is subtitled as such because it is in fact a modern retelling of an ancient legend: the timeless hero's journey wherein a man whom plays basket-ball in real life also plays basketball in cartoon outer space with the Looney Tunes.
But wait, you say, LeBron James, considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, was only about 11 when Space Jam was first released into the world. He wasn't yet the greatest basketball player of all time. So who could possibly pre-fill King James's Air Jordans and hold court with the legendary (ageless!) Bugs Bunny?
The answer has been lost to antiquity, and we may never know for sure. But I have arisen this day, and used all the strength in these frail bones to set the record straight—I remember, for I was there.
The Elite's shirts the other day were a reference to the jerseys of the Space Jam heroes—not the ones in theaters now, but the Tune Squad of ur-Space Jam. A team led by one Michael Jordan. In those days, people said this Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time. They even named shoes after him, though the name of them escapes me as my spirit is pulled back to Oblivion.
No one remembers who he was or what he looked like, but one young boy was inspired by him all those years ago, and that boy vowed to one day become the Michael Jordan of basketball. He vowed he would make it to the NBA someday, and if he did, he would wear the same number jersey that his hero so famously wore for most of his career.
That boy was LeBron James, and that number was 23.
Yes, the charismatic frontmen of both Space Jam titles wore the number 23. (LeBron has since switched to 6, because he believes 23 is so iconic that it should only be associated with the shoe guy I mentioned before, whatshisname.) So that's my theory.
I know! It's a stretch! Your theory is the obvious Occam's Razor explanation, but you know how the failing twilight mind of the aged likes to spin its tales as it spirals into the void.
I must get back to my crypt before the reanimation runes deplete, but thank you for letting an old, old lady share a fanciful tale, Anon. 💗
