The One Thing EVERYONE Always Gets Wrong About AEW

At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, Kenny Omega dethroned IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay in a phenomenal match that many consider to be amongst the greatest of all-time.

Omega was on incredible form as both international megastar and in-ring master. Don Callis refers to Omega as the God of Pro Wrestling, and, on January 4, 2023, it was never less hyperbolic.

He annihilated Ospreay in what scanned as a prolonged squash at times. Omega prowled the ring as an invincible hybrid monster. He rediscovered the warp speed with which he lit up the GIFsphere in 2016 by sprinting into the back of Ospreay's head with multiple, gruesome V-Triggers. He cleared the top rope with a Terminator dive, flattening Ospreay, wearing a demented expression on his face that never changed even before the rotation. In reality and in the parameters of the storyline, he worked the match like a man possessed. He used his unbelievable core strength to throw Ospreay from the top turnbuckle to the canvas with a terrifying avalanche Croyt's Wrath. He bashed Ospreay's bloodied head against and smashed it through a wooden table.

At the finish, he used a chess move of chain wrestling to transition from a straitjacket German suplex into the match-winning Kamigoye to avenge Kota Ibushi.

Omega recognised that he was no longer on Ospreay's level as an athlete, and instead emphasised his unreal strength and wrestling acumen to create opportunities to use his 80% body as a weapon in careful bursts. Omega's psychological breakdown of Ospreay was a tactical masterclass from the best sports-oriented wrestler on the planet. He performed as the most complete in-ring wrestler on the planet to make Ospreay feel like he didn't belong on his level.

The match, runaway leader for MOTY in the year that the MJF Vs. Bryan Danielson Iron Man happened, sparked a conversation in the aftermath: why don't we see this version of Kenny Omega in All Elite Wrestling?

CONT'D...(1 of 5)