10 Dumbest Wrestling Controversies That Went Too Far

9. Alan Angels Kills Kenny Omega's Career

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AEW

Even if his first match with Alan Angels match took place under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have done a f*cking thing to dent Kenny Omega's aura.

It didn't.

With strict stay-at-home orders locking down the majority of the AEW roster, Tony Khan had just 29% of his talent to book around and still crafted an excellent tournament under hardly ideal circumstances.

On April 22, 2020, Omega, without his tag team partner, was booked to work a few exhibition matches in QT Marshall's gym because he was a star drawing attraction who couldn't realistically be involved in said tournament without winning it. So he went six minutes with an unknown indie guy and allowed him to kick out of a V-Trigger.

Virtually everyone accepted this under the basis that, while ethically dubious and bittersweet, pandemic wrestling was still something to do.

Except Wade Keller and Ryan Satin, who analysed the match as if it were happening under normal circumstances. This "Kenny Omega has lost his aura!" discourse lasted 18 months (!), saw journalists (or a journalist and a WWE social media manager) sling sh*t at each other as part of a blood feud, and basically underscored how miserable it is to wade through the minutiae.

Satin for his part at least laughed off the fact that they ran a sequel to build the Full Gear 2021 main event, which, incidentally, starred Omega and drew the company's second-highest amount of buys.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!