The Misunderstood Genius Of AEW's Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega
AEW

He was clever. He didn't rubbish Ospreay as a glorified gymnast or anything quite so cliched. Modern elite athletes, bluntly, are more c*nty than that. Speaking to Fightful ahead of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door - but with a long-term goal in mind, promoting a different show - Omega said the following:

"Ospreay, he's doing great in his role, not my thing so much. Will, the first thing he does is goes online and brags about his next five-star match. It's five to one guy, it's maybe three and a half to me, but it doesn't matter."

Omega constantly talks up what it means to be an all-time great or best-in-class pro wrestler. Across several interviews in 2022, he insisted that a great wrestler is great at everything: comedy, hardcore, main event epic, tags, week-to-week episodic TV.

Pore over these words carefully, words that aren't screamed in your face via mid-match monologue, and the subtext reveals itself. While he believes these words - this is a man who embraced the range of wrestling before he even crossed paths with his WK17 opponent - Omega, indirectly, is talking about Ospreay. Ospreay stays in one lane, the big epic match, and some believe he has surpassed Omega in that field. Omega, the character, is defensive over the critical acclaim that Ospreay generates.

Who is the "everyone" referred to in this (pinned) tweet?

Omega is moving the goalposts of what it means to be a pro wrestler because Ospreay is constantly smashing it into the postage stamp with his in-ring output.

The irony here is that, yet again, the video gamer Kenny Omega - the man who once worked a match with a nine year-old girl, whose facial expressions are exaggerated - is telling a fantastic and thoughtful sports-oriented story.

CONT'D...(2 of 5)

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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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!