WILW: Kenny Omega

Sometimes, quite by accident usually, things line up. This month Geekade has been having a sort of Mega Man theme. For this column, I decided to do a Bullet Club focus what with the recent departure of their leader AJ Styles and the phenomenal Wrestle Kingdom 10 show NJPW just put on. And the focus of this week’s piece just so happens to be not only a huge video game fan, but a huge Mega Man fan to boot. (hooray symmetry)

Kenny Omega is a rock star. There is no doubt that this guy just has “it.” As the new leader of the Bullet Club, Omega is poised to be one of the top stars of 2016 not just in New Japan, but around the world. Here is a guy who has been having stellar matches for years, both as a heel and as a face, singles and in tags, and with his move up to heavyweight, should continue to have classics with new opponents. He has a moveset few others can duplicate and a persona that makes him a massive hit with smarks and marks alike. It took him awhile though and that is part of what makes him great. Kenny Omega is a guy who knew what he needed to be but had to wait for the rest of us to catch up. He started wrestling in Canada for Premiere Championship Wrestling in 2001. He stayed with them until signing a developmental deal with WWE in 2005. He was only with WWE for less than a year though before he asked for his release. To hear him tell it, he is not a fan of former trainers Bill DeMott or Bob Holly. (to be fair, no one really is) After getting his release, Omega went back to PCW as well as hitting places like Pro Wrestling Syndicate, ROH, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. He really started to find his niche though in 2008 when he debuted for DDT in Japan. We’ve talked about DDT before in this column but as a brief refresher, they’re nuts. It’s an absolutely crazy promotion that throws away much of traditional wrestling storytelling in favor of being different. It was a perfect fit for Omega. In DDT it didn’t seem weird that one of his wrestling moves was a hadouken. (he would double palm strike a kneeling opponent after much theatricality) His tag team run with Kota Ibushi, click here for a past article, as the Golden Lovers churned out some amazing matches. (and a spectacularly named finisher, the golden showers…) But his most notable match during this time may have been his match with a nine year old girl named Haruka. It’s linked below and if you haven’t seen it, it was all over social media in 2011, it is well worth your time. In it you get to see a guy working the perfect heel role.

In addition to DDT, Omega made appearances for PWG during his time before NJPW winning not only the Battle of Los Angeles but their World Title as well. And while all of that stuff had been really good, it was his New Japan stuff that made him great. He had worked on and off for NJPW before 2014 competing in their tournaments and having matches with DDT partner Ibushi even going as far as to win their Junior Tag title. In October of 2014 though, Omega signed on with New Japan exclusively and has been doing incredible work since. Originally announced as a guy who would not join the Bullet Club because he didn’t need to, Omega of course did turn on the fans and debut his  “Cleaner” persona. He won his first IWGP Junior belt at Wrestle Kingdom 9 and had been feuding with Kushida for said title. After losing to Kushida at Wrestle Kingdom 10 however, and getting the Bullet Club to turn on former leader AJ Styles the next night, Omega has been booked at heavyweight. His matches in the junior division were strong and I am incredibly excited for what he will be able to do with the extra weight afforded by the move. I’m also excited to see what little nod to his real life fandom he will pull out next. His finisher and name both come from Final Fantasy, One Winged Angel and Omega Weapon, his entrance music used to be Dr. Wily stage one, and his current look is inspired by Resident Evil’s Albert Wesker and Marion Cobretti, Stallone’s character from Cobra. Hell, his enzuigiri kick was called Flash Man’s Time stopper. This guy is quite possibly the perfect “geek” wrestler and one you should love as much as I do. His youtube channel is filled with tons of online Street Fighter play and his twitter is well worth a follow. Check out some of his matches below and follow me on twitter and instagram, @geekadedan, to let me know what you think. Check back next week as we continue our look at the Bullet Club.


Kenny Omega (c) vs. Matt Sydal (King of Pro… by mbahbomaye


Kushida (c) vs. Kenny Omega – IWGP Jr… by theorangecrush

Dan Ryan

Dan Ryan was once the most feared and respected luchador in the world until the "Great DDT Disaster of '85" where Dan unfortunately DDT'd his opponent so hard into the ground that he opened a gate to the underworld that let unholy things into this world. After that, Dan refused to wrestle anymore but he's found new life writing and talking about his favorite hobbies here at Geekade. He pens the weekly Why I Love Wrestling series, co-hosts The Stone Age Gamer Podcast, expertly pairs video games with beer, and much, much more. Dan is a personality that Geekade simply would not be the same without.

One thought on “WILW: Kenny Omega

  • January 16, 2016 at 6:13 pm
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    Great article! I love Kenny Omega too! 🙂

    Reply

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