How Kenny Omega Is Bringing Back AEW's Biggest Weapon
He was a major part of All In. AEW Double Or Nothing, promoted around Omega Vs. Jericho II, sold out a large-scale U.S. arena in 14 minutes. AEW All Out sold out on the strength of his (subsequently postponed) main event with Jon Moxley. There would be no Stadium Stampede without Kenny Omega raising the profile of DDT's madcap absurdity in the west, and Double Or Nothing 2020, like every AEW pay-per-view to which Omega was integral, drew in excess of 100,000 North American PPV buys.
He is an international draw, too. You can't make the argument that Omega serves the same group of Bullet Club babe-detecting fans. That classic DDT match of 2012 sold out Budokan Hall in what was only an embryonic period of growth for the Japanese pro wrestling industry. Omega is the biggest non-WWE draw since 2000.
And, since every last f*cking thing in professional wrestling is filtered through the lens of WWE, it is for this reason that he proves such a divisive figure. It is for this reason that his gotten-to critics will latch on to every perceived flaw. It is insanity; it is like watching trolls watching a virtuoso guitarist, waiting for one bum note, and defining him by it. You sense that this real-life frustration is informing Omega's recent demeanour, as much as the onscreen canon. He seems newly determined to prove that there's an Ace in AEW's hand.
Kenny likely won't play the vintage 2015 Cleaner on AEW TV - it's not his style to rest - but it's no longer a gimmick, nor a persona. It's a state of mind that he is gradually, thrillingly, unravelling into - and not, perhaps, before time.
The war is still raging, and with WWE as prone to an attack as ever before, there is no better time for AEW to unleash its most formidable weapon.