Stars of the Japanese music and entertainment industries making the jump to pro wrestling has been a frequent occurance in recent years. From SKE48’s Yuki Arai to THE RAMPAGE’s Takechi Kaisei, some of the most promising young talents on the scene honed their charisma and athletic endurance on the stage before ever entering the squared circle. That does not need to only apply to idols. Breakdancer Kumadori, a member of the so-called “dance terrorist” group O-MENZ will be making his debut for DDT Pro wrestling, a company that has been featuring several of the aforementioned idols, at December 28th’s Ultimate Party. The rest of his group will hold a live performance at the event.
In contrast to Arai or Kaisei, however, Kumadori is still largely unknown to western audiences. While O-MENZ have been making waves on the internet since their debut in 2020, amassing over a million followers on TikTok alone, the vast majority of those followers are Japanese. The group has mostly been focusing its efforts on national audiences so far. So, who are O-MENZ? Who is Kumadori? And what is up with the “terrorist” thing?
Disclaimers: Some of the information in this article stems from up to two year old sources and might be out of date. There was also originally a mix-up with some of the embedded videos. That mistake has been fixed.
A short history of O-MENZ
One thing about the group that immediately catches the eye is the date of their founding. Indeed, O-MENZ were founded on May 31st 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic. They made their debut online, through video streaming platforms like YouTube. The group immediately drew attention due to their unique look, with all the members wearing traditional Japanese theater masks and presenting themselves in a way reminiscent of “evil organisations” in film and anime. Rather than take over the world by force, however, O-MENZ want to conquer it metaphorically, through dance and entertainment – and revolutionise street dance as a whole while they are at it. Every fan of theirs would become an “accomplice” to this plan.
Following the global lockdown, O-MENZ began making unannounced street appearances, drawing in spectators in the double digits with their unique style. Unfortunately, the group’s building success could not keep it united. Within the first 2 years of its existence, O-MENZ lost half of their original members, leaving only leader Hannya, calm older brother figure Okame and youngest member Agyo. Before their rise to stardom could meet a premature end, however, Agyo was able to call up two old acquaintances from his high school days to replenish the group’s numbers. With the help of the new Kitsune and Kumadori, O-MENZ regained and surpassed their original momentum. The crowds attracted by their street performances grew so big that they eventually had to stop doing them due to the public disturbance they were causing. In addition, they would hold more regular stage performances and do crossovers – both announced and unannounced – with bands and other dance groups.
By leveraging the social media following they had built in this way, O-MENZ managed to get signed to a major record label contract with WARNER HYPE MUSIC on May 24th 2023, roughly three years after they were originally founded. As part of this deal, the group started making their own songs to accompany their dance performances, starting with the single “O-MEN” – a play on the Japanese word お面 (omen), which refers to masks, much like their own name.
Specifically designed to be spreadable on social media, the single found success online and the group was able to further ramp up the scale of their live performances. They have since released 4 other singles, most of them designed for dancing first and foremost.
Within this success story, O-MENZ’s first encounter with the world of pro wrestling seemed fairly insignificant at the time. During Tokyo Comicon 2023, the group performed in a half-dismanteled pro wrestling ring, set up for the appearances of pro wrestling theater group Actring, as well as famous women’s wrestling promotion Stardom. The members commented on the difficulty of dancing on a wrestling mat at the time, and there were jokes about Kumadori having potential as a wrestler going around, based on his immense athleticism and muscular build. Now, only a year later, those jokes have made it into reality. O-MENZ are always looking to expand their audience through new means, and it appears that pro wrestling will be the next tool in their repertoire.
So who are the members set to appear at Ultimate Party?
The members of O-MENZ
Hannya, the Mastermind of O-MENZ
Fan Nickname: King
Birthday: December 2nd
Color: Black
Preferred Style: Krump
Fantasy Weapon: Katana
Social Media: @hannya_omenz (X/Twitter), o_menz_king (TikTok)
Hannya leads the group with his natural confidence and charisma, both on and off the stage. As O-MENZ’s “producer and president”, he negotiates their appearances, directs intro videos, and writes lyrics for many of their songs, among other things. He also handles the rapping segments of O-MENZ’s music.
Hannya was the one who drew O-MENZ together. He is determined to make the group a success above anything else in life, leading him to be constantly busy with little time to rest.
He puts a lot of emphasis on catering to fans, having grown up a superfan of Korean boyband TOHOSHINKI himself. Hannya believes that, as someone who has been granted the kinds of talent that he has, it is his responsibility to make people all over the world happy.
He gets many of his ideas for the group from movies and enjoys employing wordplay in his lyrics. His dance style and way of speaking have an aggressive and slightly rough air to them that helps him stand out.
Among the other members, Hannya particularly respects Okame, who helped him get started as a dancer, and holds a special fondness for his “(sworn) younger brother” Agyo.
Okame, the Balance of O-MENZ
Birthday: May 31st
Color: Purple
Preferred Style: Pop
Fantasy Weapon: Gun
Social Media: @okame_omenz (X/Twitter), o_menz_okame (TikTok)
As the oldest member of the group and the person who taught Hannya how to dance, Okame holds the role of a secondary leader within O-MENZ. When Hannya ist not around, it is usually Okame who watches over rehearsals, his calm and somewhat comedic personality allowing him to get along fairly well with pretty much everyone. He is also in charge of the group’s YouTube dance covers.
Compared to some of the other members, Okame prefers to keep an air of mystery around him, but he seems to have a fondness for anime (shounen anime in particular), alcohol trivia, and the Japanese pop duo YOASOBI. He also likes to draw strange pictures of the other O-MENZ members on occasion. His movements during performances are just as mysterious and often resemble that of a puppeteer, steering everyone around him.
Agyo, the Innocence of O-MENZ
Fan Nickname: Agyo-tan (-tan being a diminutive suffix)
Birthday: December 20th
Color: Red
Preferred Style: R&B, Rock
Fantasy Weapon: Bow
Social Media: @agyou_omenz (X/Twitter)
Agyo considers himself O-MENZ’s energy source. He is lively, talkative, and always throwing new ideas around, which results in him being a major presence in the speaking segments of live performances, as well as the group’s planning sessions. Backstage he has also handled songs and stage direction.
Agyo lives by the motto “always stay positive” and enjoys giving people life advice based on his own struggles chasing his dreams as a full-time performer. He had initially hoped to become a singer, so he is in charge of that aspect of O-MENZ’s original music, but his greatest talent still lies in his dancing, with a fast and frenetic style that conveys his energetic personality. Agyo claims that he can “see sounds” and matches his body to what he sees, which is why he can adapt to new songs very quickly.
While he is in his late 20s and has his fair share of life experience, Agyo generally takes on a younger brother role within the group, especially to Hannya and Okame, who he outright refers to as older siblings.
Kitsune, the Silence of O-MENZ
Fan Nickname: Kittsun
Birthday: July 7th
Color: Blue
Preferred Style: Pop
Fantasy Weapon: Lance
Social Media: @kitsune_omenz (X/Twitter)
The diligent and respectful Kitsune is sometimes jokingly referred to as O-MENZ’s “Dropbox” by his fellow members, due to his ability to completely remember anything he has done once. He also knows a lot about muscle training and related health topics, even customising his training for specific performances. As his title suggests, Kitsune is usually rather quiet, but he can get talkative if he is excited about something. He is somewhat of a perfectionist and values thinking before acting, but otherwise generally agrees with O-MENZ’s “live fast” approach.
Having helped Agyo with his dance training back in high school, he was invited to don the Kitsune mask and join O-MENZ around August of 2022, becoming a part of the group’s “Chapter 2” version.
In addition to Agyo, Kitsune is also close with Kumadori, having known both of them for over a decade and considering them his family.
Kumadori, the Brave of O-MENZ
Fan Nickname: Kuma-chan, Danchou (delegation leader)
Birthday: June 19th
Color: Orange
Preferred Style: Breakdance
Fantasy Weapon: Axe
Social Media: @kumadori_omenz (X/Twitter)
Described by his fellow members as a true man among men, Kumadori is a gruff, confident, and competitive person with a caring side. In choreographies, he is frequently given solo sections that show off his immense athleticism. To make up for his face being covered, he puts a lot of effort into expressing himself through his movements.
Like Kitsune, he is a “Chapter 2” member of the group and joined in 2022.
While Kumadori is generally straightforward and honest, he also believes in kotodama, the inherent power of words. That leads him to never make any kind of negative statement without immediately following it up with something positive. He hopes to attract positive things into his life by doing this. His motto is “No pain, no gain!” and he has been pushing himself to and beyond his limits since childhood, deliberately setting unrealistic goals for himself. To him, putting himself down means putting his friends down.
Kumadori gets especially fired up when performing in front of audiences unfamiliar with him, because he sees it as an opportunity to win them over. He also easily gets jealous of entertainers with greater popularity than him and wants to overtake anyone like that as quickly as possible. At the same time, he has a great respect and appreciation for his fans, who he wants to “walk beside him” rather than merely cheer for him.
O-MENZ and DDT – A match made in heaven?
Making his way as a pro wrestler is the next challenge that Kumadori has set for himself. His first appearance in DDT, which bills itself as “the variety show of pro wrestling”, had him challenge the promotion’s resident dance afficionado, Kazuki Hirata. After witnessing Kumadori’s skills firsthand, Hirata instead asked to team with him for his debut match. The duo will be facing DDT veterans Makoto Oishi and Akito, both of whom also have dance experience through DDT’s parody idol group Homoiro Clover Z (and their actual idol group New Wrestling Aidol, in Oishi’s case).
DDT’s past forays into dance and music culture offer an easy in for someone like Kumadori, and the promotion’s success in facilitating Takechi Kaisei’s pro wrestling debut speaks to their ability to help entertainers make the jump. But beyond that, it could be argued that the promotion is a uniquely good fit for a group like O-MENZ, and vice versa.
O-MENZ are not exactly a typical boyband, after all. Much about the group is deliberately over the top, presented with tongue firmly planted in cheek. In addition to their “terrorism” theme, O-MENZ’s live shows often position the members as characters in a fantasy RPG, each with his own weapon type and elemental magic. They also feature somewhat absurd comedic sections, such as imaginings of the members as love interests in a dating sim parody. Agyo is shown outright travelling through time via a magical pocket watch in the opening video of a recent performance. All of that would be right at home at in DDT, a promotion where wrestlers can give birth to rubber ducks and a doll can be a successful roster member.
In addition, DDT and O-MENZ have strong overlap in their target demographics. Both groups primarily feature men and currently primarily cater to women, which could lead to a higher rate of audience conversion between them.
All in all, Kumadori’s debut as a pro wrestler has everything set up to become a great success for both the promotion and the dance group. It just remains to be seen whether he can deliver on that potential.