10 Wrestling GOATs With ONE Fatal Flaw
9. Kenny Omega
GOAT credentials:
Kenny Omega is the best sports-oriented storyteller in wrestling history. With a unique, delayed approach to selling, he understands that the old or "traditional" approach of clutching at a leg is a bit old hat. He uses fatigue, cramping, even a worked botch to convey the sense of struggle. He is the most plagiarised wrestler of his generation. His almost entirely original repertoire is stunning, so it's little wonder, but nobody else does it with his immaculate physical timing. The V-Trigger looks so incredible and sounds so utterly revolting that his not breaking any orbital bones should be a miracle. There's no miracle. He is simply a genius a level above everybody else.
His crumpled 2.99 kick-out is better than anybody's. Consider his rope break from Will Ospreay's Stormbreaker at Forbidden Door. Not a single soul in that building thought he was getting out of it. Omega is so unreal at building drama with his unprecedented athleticism that, every time he ascends the top turnbuckle alongside one of his opponents, it feels like somebody is about to die. His core strength in those frightening moments is inhuman.
Fatal flaw:
A strange reluctance to engage in the process of being a traditional TV star. Annoyingly, it's not as if he's incapable. He was a riot as AEW World champion in 2021, a big draw at that, but since returning from injury, he lacks the same presence. His unconventional approach to episodic storytelling was very compelling between January 2020 and Full Gear 2021 - his subtle use of foreshadowing was ingenious - but too often since then, he just seems oddly removed in non-wrestling segments. He's neither the 2020 nor 2021 Omega at present, the understated storyteller nor the hilarious caricature of a top star. He's a guy on the roster in a good spot.
Why are the two best wrestlers alive too often happy enough to be there?!