Jake De Leon's Shorts Wow Tokyo Dome Attendees at WrestleKingdom 20

If you were watching Wrestle Kingdom 20 closely—and let’s be honest, of course you were—you may have noticed that the most unexpected crossover of the night didn’t involve forbidden doors or surprise debuts. It involved a pair of basketball shorts.

Munetatsu Nakamura, DDT Wrestling’s resident agent of chaos and proud member of the Real Global Threats, accompanied Chris Brookes to the Tokyo Dome for Brookes’ NJPW World Television Championship challenge. That part made sense. What didn’t—at least at first glance—was Nakamura strolling to the ring wearing Jake De Leon’s unmistakable signature basketball shorts. Yes, those shorts. Southeast Asia’s own “Senyorito” getting an unannounced cameo on the biggest stage in Japanese wrestling.

For longtime fans, it was a moment that lived perfectly in the Venn diagram overlap of DDT absurdity, global indie culture, and wrestling’s ongoing fashion multiverse. Nakamura has never been shy about visual storytelling, and this felt less like a wardrobe choice and more like a quiet flex: a nod to how interconnected modern wrestling has become, and how Southeast Asia is very much part of that conversation now.

Chris Brookes, unfortunately, did not leave the Dome with the NJPW TV title. Despite a spirited performance, the fellow Real Global Threat member came up short on the night. Still, Brookes’ presence alone spoke volumes. A British wrestler forged through DDT’s eccentric ecosystem, standing on the Wrestle Kingdom stage, backed by a teammate repping gear associated with a Filipino wrestling icon—it’s the kind of layered visual that wrestling nerds will be unpacking for weeks.

Adding another layer to the story is the fact that both Brookes and his opponent, El Phantasmo, have wrestled in Southeast Asia this year. For fans in the region, this wasn’t just a Tokyo Dome spectacle beamed from afar; it was familiar faces on a massive platform, reinforcing that Southeast Asia is no longer a footnote in the global wrestling map. It’s a stop on the route, a proving ground, and increasingly, a shared point of reference.

So yes, Brookes lost. Titles were not won. But Nakamura’s choice of ring attire turned a standard seconding role into a quiet celebration of wrestling’s global sprawl. In a sport where symbolism often matters as much as results, a pair of basketball shorts managed to tell a whole story—one that stretched from Tokyo to Southeast Asia, with a knowing grin all the way.

To complete the picture, Southeast Asia’s fingerprints were all over the moment in more ways than one. Baliyan Akki—himself a regular presence across the region—was also at ringside seconding Brookes, reinforcing how international this “global threat” truly is. In the crowd, the Southeast Asian wrestling community was well represented, with familiar faces in attendance including SPW ring announcer Darren, the voice of Vietnam Pro Wrestling Xavier Patricks, and SETUP Thailand ace Jonathon Johnson. It was a quiet roll call, not announced on commentary, but unmistakable to those who know—another reminder that while Wrestle Kingdom may happen in Tokyo, its reach, influence, and audience now stretch deep into Southeast Asia’s growing wrestling scene.