The Misunderstood Genius Of AEW's Kenny Omega
The problem with Kenny Omega's approach to storytelling is that he's too good at it...
The most believable story told in wrestling all year was Will Ospreay Vs. Kenny Omega.
A real long-term story years in the making - the saga extends back to 2019 - it began when Omega departed New Japan Pro Wrestling and tasked Ospreay with succeeding him. The conflict developed a meta quality when, seemingly out of nowhere, Omega took to burying Ospreay on social media and in press interviews last year.
On February 4, 2022, Ospreay tweeted "The chase begins," a reference to a record - the most five star and above match ratings awarded by Dave Meltzer - he was set to break. Omega quote tweeted Ospreay in response: "Keep sending your fan cam footage of your 0 pressure indies and you might just pull it off. I’d do the same for some EZ 5’s but I understand the difference between what an Arena/Dome/Budokan main event means compared to when you play with your mates a few blocks over at York Hall."
Omega was "shook".
A divisive blurred lines approach, in which wrestling was portrayed as something to excel at in its predetermined form, and not something real, it was nonetheless a great tactic. Omega and Ospreay later tweaked the narrative to immerse fans in the fiction of it, but the establishing premise was credible in a form defined by its lack of credibility. Two elite, massively acclaimed wrestlers with inflated egos would naturally resent one another. Consider the way Michael Jordan talks about LeBron James.
He can't sanction the idea that James might be a better basketball player, because he himself was driven to be the very best, but he knows he can't say James isn't great. He'd look foolish, desperate, sad. In 2020, during a press conference held ahead of the NBA Paris Game, Jordan was asked to give his thoughts on James. Choosing his words carefully, Jordan said James was "one of the best players in the world, if not the best". This was clever. He reframed the conversation, slyly, to suggest that, if there was a player from this generation that could compare to Jordan, it might not even be LeBron. "He's a heck of a basketball player without a doubt," he followed up. This verged on patronising. Cristiano Ronaldo was very quick to praise Pele as the greatest football ever weeks after his rival in that conversation, Leo Messi, had achieved victory in the World Cup final with Argentina - the one major honour that eluded Cristiano throughout his career.
This is what top athletes do.
They are egomaniacs. What drives them to succeed also drives them to play these pissy games. They cannot abide the fact that somebody is better than they are. They are simply not wired to accept it.
Omega, utilising the media to tell a unique story, was similarly defensive throughout 2022 with NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 in mind.
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