One of the most influential people in wrestling today... and Stephanie McMahon

In the current landscape of inter-promotional collaboration, we shouldn’t be surprised by wild crossovers in the wrestling business any more. Still, I have to admit to being caught of guard - and delighted - by the pictures on Twitter of Japanese/indie comedy wrestling legend Kikutaro’s night backstage at Raw last night (April 9).

If you’re not familiar with Kikutaro (who’s wrestled out of costume under his real name Kikuzawa, and rose to fame as Ebessan, a gimmick based on the Japanese mythological god of laughter and good fortune) - he’s kind of like... well, I’m not sure there’s a straight forward analogy to make. Santino-meets-Mizdow with a dash of Curry Man, maybe? He’s very popular for his work on shows put on by DDT, NOAH, Wrestle-1 and others in his home country, and Chikara, Ring of Honor, PWG, Bar Wrestling and more in his adopted home of the U.S.

He’s awesome, but - even though folks who watched the super-fun Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2 on WrestleMania weekend knew he was in New Orleans - just not someone you’d expect to see backstage at a WWE event.

Except 2018.

All good things must come to an end though (and because, bless him, everything is a bit with Kikutaro):

What a time to be alive. Seriously.