WrestleWeeb
January 5, 2023 5:45 PM Subscribe
Professional wrestler, AEW executive, and unabashed geek Kenny Omega made a splash at Wrestle Kingdom by entering the ring dressed as the One Winged Angel, Sephiroth.
This should come as no surprise, as the "Omega" part of his stage name comes from one of Final Fantasy's reoccurring villains, Omega Weapon, and one of his finishers is named the One Winged Angel. Nor is this the first time that he has dressed up as a video game character - he has also dressed as Sans from Undertale in an AEW opening and worked with game creator Toby Fox to create an Undertale styled promo for Wrestle Kingdom 13.
This should come as no surprise, as the "Omega" part of his stage name comes from one of Final Fantasy's reoccurring villains, Omega Weapon, and one of his finishers is named the One Winged Angel. Nor is this the first time that he has dressed up as a video game character - he has also dressed as Sans from Undertale in an AEW opening and worked with game creator Toby Fox to create an Undertale styled promo for Wrestle Kingdom 13.
Kenny Omega is a delight and he's not my type (not that I have one) but you know ... I also have eyeballs.
posted by edencosmic at 6:26 PM on January 5, 2023
posted by edencosmic at 6:26 PM on January 5, 2023
Kenny Omega is a delight and he's not my type (not that I have one) but you know ... I also have eyeballs.
As someone who came to NJPW right 'round the start of the pandemic I was unprepared for the experience of seeing Naito, Tanahashi, and Omega in a single program and oh my stars and garters.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:41 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
As someone who came to NJPW right 'round the start of the pandemic I was unprepared for the experience of seeing Naito, Tanahashi, and Omega in a single program and oh my stars and garters.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:41 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I was in jr. high so long ago now, I followed professional wrestling for a year or so.
Though it was there from the start, the Occult Weirdness Quotient of professional wresting has grown so much since that I can imagine a post climate apocalypse scholar concluding, from the few surviving splinters of documentary evidence available, that WWE/AEW must have been founded by Aleister Crowley after he came back down from his vision quest on Mount Everest, and that the most notorious, despised, and ultimately fateful American President — Donald, Trump of Doom — began his political career as wrestler Gorgeous George.
Quite apart from a degree of coextension with MAGA, which I recognize that present company and many other wrestling fans utterly abhor, pro wrestling is actually one of the scarier extant cults to me. If Cindy Lauper can get sucked in, who is safe?
posted by jamjam at 6:46 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Though it was there from the start, the Occult Weirdness Quotient of professional wresting has grown so much since that I can imagine a post climate apocalypse scholar concluding, from the few surviving splinters of documentary evidence available, that WWE/AEW must have been founded by Aleister Crowley after he came back down from his vision quest on Mount Everest, and that the most notorious, despised, and ultimately fateful American President — Donald, Trump of Doom — began his political career as wrestler Gorgeous George.
Quite apart from a degree of coextension with MAGA, which I recognize that present company and many other wrestling fans utterly abhor, pro wrestling is actually one of the scarier extant cults to me. If Cindy Lauper can get sucked in, who is safe?
posted by jamjam at 6:46 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Many people have speculated on the specifics of Kenny Omega's sexuality (and who cares????) but there's a lot of good evidence lately of him showing support for trans kids.
Kenny seems like one of the good ones and I have yet to see any evidence to the contrary. I've followed him for a few years now.
posted by edencosmic at 7:32 PM on January 5, 2023
Kenny seems like one of the good ones and I have yet to see any evidence to the contrary. I've followed him for a few years now.
posted by edencosmic at 7:32 PM on January 5, 2023
Nick Gage (of the Murder.Death.Kill Gang, naturally) has also been pretty clear about his support of trans rights.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:38 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:38 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm out of date: Is Kenny Omega wrestling with AEW again, or is he still suspended after that backstage fight? (As in, he and some other famous wrestlers got into an actual, not-for-TV brawl and got suspended from TV). The Wikipedia page doesn't say if he is back to wrestling for AEW or not, and the news articles are all about the initial incident, not what happened after the investigation.
posted by Canageek at 7:40 PM on January 5, 2023
posted by Canageek at 7:40 PM on January 5, 2023
Kenny and the Young Bucks (and by extension, Nakazawa and Brandon Cutler) have been back since mid November.
CM Punk, on the other hand, is currently being paid a lot of money to stay home and say nothing.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:48 PM on January 5, 2023
CM Punk, on the other hand, is currently being paid a lot of money to stay home and say nothing.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:48 PM on January 5, 2023
Thanks The Pluto Gangsta. I got into watching pro-wrestling in 2019 after listening Looks Like Some kinda Sidewalk Slam by LoadingReadyRun since it started, but various pandemic-era statements from certain wrestlers (Undertaker, Jericho) turned me away from it, and I'm just starting to think about watching AEW again, at least the big events.
posted by Canageek at 7:50 PM on January 5, 2023
posted by Canageek at 7:50 PM on January 5, 2023
Ok the wing move was very good and made me feel human emotions.
posted by Reyturner at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Reyturner at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
The blood made this match better for me. Not that I'm a death match vampire or anything but because it made Will's normally borderline goofy selling more believable and made Kenny's offense seem more brutal than usual. Omega is not the hardest hitting of wrestlers - Ibushi's V-Trigger seems way way more world destroying - so him being in control is not quite as compelling to me as it could be. Still, it was a heck of match.
Also Sephiroth was the bad guy in FF VII. I don't understand fandoms.
There are way more right-leaning wrestlers in the WWE (hey there AJ and Ronda) than in AEW and most of the AEW ones are older (Jericho).
posted by LostInUbe at 9:52 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also Sephiroth was the bad guy in FF VII. I don't understand fandoms.
There are way more right-leaning wrestlers in the WWE (hey there AJ and Ronda) than in AEW and most of the AEW ones are older (Jericho).
posted by LostInUbe at 9:52 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
/camp on
"Yeah, I bet that sailor collects lots and lots of belts. I hear he crosses the equator on purpose!!"
/camp off
posted by loquacious at 10:41 PM on January 5, 2023
"Yeah, I bet that sailor collects lots and lots of belts. I hear he crosses the equator on purpose!!"
/camp off
posted by loquacious at 10:41 PM on January 5, 2023
Also Sephiroth was the bad guy in FF VII. I don't understand fandoms.
It was the 90's and his style of bishonen angst-driven villainy blew minds. These days, he's been eclipsed in popularity by Emet-Selch, who is a much better written and more compelling villain.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:45 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
It was the 90's and his style of bishonen angst-driven villainy blew minds. These days, he's been eclipsed in popularity by Emet-Selch, who is a much better written and more compelling villain.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:45 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I got kind of hyped for it after seeing Omega's promo delivered in honestly not terrible, at least in comparison to hearing random stars, wrestling/movies/whatever, stumble through written statements they don't even know how to pronounce. Obviously, the guy lived here a while, and yeah, it's stilted in parts, but I gotta respect the guy for playing the "you only think you know Japan" angle. Solid stuff.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:05 AM on January 6, 2023
posted by Ghidorah at 3:05 AM on January 6, 2023
The blood made this match better for me. Not that I'm a death match vampire or anything but because it made Will's normally borderline goofy selling more believable
Hard agree. I spent half the match thinking "Jon Moxley wishes" and the other half just holding my hands over my face and yelling WHAT THE SHIT. A lot of this match felt very not-NJPW and in that context the table spot, the blood--crazy effective.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:04 AM on January 6, 2023
Hard agree. I spent half the match thinking "Jon Moxley wishes" and the other half just holding my hands over my face and yelling WHAT THE SHIT. A lot of this match felt very not-NJPW and in that context the table spot, the blood--crazy effective.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:04 AM on January 6, 2023
Meltzer gave the match 6.25 stars, which ties it with Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada in 2017 for the second-best match he's ever seen.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:05 AM on January 6, 2023
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:05 AM on January 6, 2023
Love these glimpses into whole other worlds and that video was quite a spectacle! Calling that a walkout n song or character reveal doesn’t really do it justice- it’s a whole little production. A mini myth.
posted by zenon at 10:35 AM on January 6, 2023
posted by zenon at 10:35 AM on January 6, 2023
If Cindy Lauper can get sucked in, who is safe?
(Cyndi edit noted)
I rather think Cyndi's involvement in 1985 was a redeeming feature of televised pro-wrestling of the period
I'm not a fan but I'll never forget accompanying a young man with learning impairments to a beer-league match, there's just something about Good Guys duking it out with Bad Guys and I don't begrudge anyone that. It really is unfortunate everything gets sucked into the vortex of our worst natures, but wrestling is not unique to that phenomenon.
posted by elkevelvet at 11:52 AM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
(Cyndi edit noted)
I rather think Cyndi's involvement in 1985 was a redeeming feature of televised pro-wrestling of the period
I'm not a fan but I'll never forget accompanying a young man with learning impairments to a beer-league match, there's just something about Good Guys duking it out with Bad Guys and I don't begrudge anyone that. It really is unfortunate everything gets sucked into the vortex of our worst natures, but wrestling is not unique to that phenomenon.
posted by elkevelvet at 11:52 AM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Count me in also as another person who finds it weird to hear about wrestling being a MAGA coextension when the first AEW show I ever watched featured a native/African American trans woman becoming the women's world champion. Just a couple weeks ago Anthony Bowens went viral for sharing his extremely sweet coming-out story on a podcast, and remains just about the most over man in wrestling. Zack Sabre Jr. spent his Wrestle Kingdom entrance yelling at Rishi Sunak to pay nurses.
In short, wrestling is a land of contrasts.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:31 PM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
In short, wrestling is a land of contrasts.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:31 PM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
In short, wrestling is a land of contrasts.
It's more that the WWE is run by a right wing abuser, and his worldview has colored the promotion.
Speaking of which, guess who's back?
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:04 PM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's more that the WWE is run by a right wing abuser, and his worldview has colored the promotion.
Speaking of which, guess who's back?
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:04 PM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
And it appears that the ghoul's return is so he can sell the WWE to Saudi Arabia.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:01 PM on January 12, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:01 PM on January 12, 2023
And Kenny continues to live his best geek life with his addition to the current Like A Dragon game.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:14 PM on January 26, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:14 PM on January 26, 2023
Supposedly, the reason Kenny hasn't wrestled in the States since winning AEW's Trios titles alongside the Young Bucks is that he's having some sort of visa issue, being a Canadian citizen who's been doing a lot of back-and-forth to Japan recently.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:01 AM on January 27, 2023
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:01 AM on January 27, 2023
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If I may toot a small horn, there is a Fanfare thread for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom over here, and regular coverage of AEW Dynamite (and Rampage) over here.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:04 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]