Kenny Omega

[Dylan Waco]

Discuss Here.

[Childs]

Naylor seems to think he's the best wrestler in the world. I've always thought of him as a goof. A talented goof, but a goof nonetheless. I could see him finding the right formula and having a very good career. But for a list like this now? I don't see any real qualifications.

[Dylan Waco]

I thought he was great in the Tanahashi match, and he's had some other matches in NJPW I liked (the Dorada match at INvasion Attack was really good for example). Of course he also has a catalog of stuff I absolutely hate. He's clearly really talented and I actually think he's the kind of person I would legitimately like if I ever met him, but I'm not a fan.

 

That said, he probably deserves a nomination because he's been a favorite of many people for years and years now.

[Childs]

I still need to watch the Tanahashi match. I thought his match with Speedball from PWG was a lot of fun. I'm guessing it could be picked apart some on a second watch, but they worked the right match for that setting.

[GOTNW]

I don't see anything great in the Tanahashi match. I'd have it as maybe above average. I thought he was very good as AJPW junior champion but that was a long time ago and even then I thought his work was heavily flawed. Honestly I've thought his work has been pretty shitty since he signed with New Japan. He wouldn't make my 2010s top 100.

[InYourCase]

If Omega would have killed it last year, I think there would be room for him on my list. He's close, but I don't think he's going to make it. The All Japan run is a major plus for him. I love everything about that run. A majority of his DDT run is great and his PWG/part-time New Japan stuff helps his case, but I haven't seen enough of him thriving in New Japan to place him.

[Boss Rock]

Bound to be one of the most controversial candidates this time around, but I like him so here goes.

Kenny is easily one of if not the most polarizing wrestler in the world today. He's either the best in the world and one of the greatest to do it or an overrated hack who can't work. I tend to lean more towards the former as I think he's been one of the best in the world the past few years (arguably top 2 in 2017 and 2018). However, I certainly understand the criticisms. His leg selling can be spotty due to how many V-Triggers he throws per match and his comebacks come a bit too easily. He's certainly not the only wrestler to work a go-go-go style, but the praise he receives often makes him one of the easiest to criticize (very much like Toyota). And while his facials and mannerisms don't bug me nearly as much as others, he can still be histrionic and hammy. He's also not a particularly great babyface.

But on the other hand, he may very well be the best in the world when it comes to offense. Not just the number of moves he uses, but how good he makes them look. Obviously everyone points to the V-Trigger, but his tope suicida is perfect every time. His dragon suplex almost defies logic with how fast it is. His time, execution, and overall athleticism is something to behold. And while his selling can be spotty, he's had a number of very good selling performances and is an underrated bumper. And while his style can be pretty go-go-go, he has a much better sense of pacing and escalation than most folks you see today.

His big match performances are also pretty undeniable IMO. The Okada series is one of my favorites and all 4 matches made my Greatest Match of All-Time ballot. The Naito and Ishii series' also come pretty close. Those matches are also evidence of his underrated sense of pacing and escalation. He can certainly be go-go-go, but compare those matches to what you see in NXT or the indies. And even before his NJPW heavyweight run or current run in AEW, he had several great matches in DDT, AJPW, and in the 2009-2010 BOSJ tournaments. His tag work is also really good, not just with Page (admittedly Page was the bigger star of the two) but with Ibushi in the Golden Lovers. The Strong Style Evolved and Revolution tag matches against the Young Bucks are two of the best U.S. tags I've ever seen.

Like Okada, unless he completely falls apart in the next 5 years he's a solid pick for my top 50.

[El-P]

The three greatest matches I've seen in 30 years of watching pro-wrestling involve Kenny Omega (vs Naito for G1 Climax 17, the third Okada match, with Page vs Bucks in AEW last year). And that's from someone who really hated him at first. I'm gonna go back and watch his stuff in DDT and early NJPW and there's 5 years of US wrestling upcoming. But he was very instrumental in the three greatest matches I've ever seen... That's quite something because I've seen a whole lot of great pro-wrestling from everywhere and every era.

[Makai Club #1]

His DDT run is excellent in parts. Mostly after 2011 when he grew into himself. Matches I'd recommend of his are: 

Omega vs Kota Ibushi - DDT 18/08/2012

Omega vs Isami Kodaka - DDT 21/01/2013

Omega vs Michael Nakazawa - DDT 29/02/2013

W/Ibushi vs Isami Kodaka/Yuko Miyamoto vs Konosuke Takeshita/Tetsuya Endo - DDT 26/01/2014

Omega vs HARASHIMA - DDT 20/07/2014

 

His DDT run compliments his New Japan run really well. He delivered in two totally different promotions where expectations and styles are very different. 

[Quentin]

Kenny I thought was a strong wrestler as early as 2009 in PWG and HDNet ROH, matches I really enjoyed against the Bucks, Davey Richards, Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels and Austin Aries. The Ibushi Budokan match is what people think of mostly when it comes to his DDT run but a lot of my favorite stuff came from him facing people like HARASHIMA, Shigehiro Irie, and El Generico. Golden Lovers was a great team and they were super instrumental in the development of newer DDT stars like Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo with their series. The All Japan junior run extremely fun, having a legitimately incredible match with KAI and a memorable match with a guy like Hiroshi Yamato. He’s really fun in his first NJPW appearances in BOSJ and teaming with Ibushi. The full time NJPW run is interesting because I think the initial Cleaner run as a junior gets underrated, but most of his matches other than the Taguchi stuff is good vs Dorada, Shelley, Sydal and KUSHIDA. Then we get to his run as a main eventer in New Japan and I echo sentiments that in that run he’s part of matches I would call some of the best I’ve ever seen, the Dominion 2017 match is on the short list on matches I would consider being the best ever. His AEW run has been weird character wise but for the most part the in ring has been great over there too, the crown jewel being the PAC iron man match.
 

If you don’t like Kenny, I get it. He’s not particularly great as a babyface or a heel, as talented as he is. If you’re someone who’s critical of a Kobashi or HBK, you may think he’s a worse version of those two with his overacting or facials. But I see a guy who’s been great 12 years so far with more to give still, someone who was great as a top star in 3 major companies and maybe the single most impactful non WWE contracted person on wrestling in the last 20 years. And that latter point may not matter to everyone when compiling a list like this, you may also argument his impact was for the worst, but it’s something that’s hard for me to separate from a Kenny case.

[strobogo]

I think AEW is probably going to hurt him as it's a lot easier to look like the best in the world when headlining with on top of their game Okada/Ishii/Naito instead of weekly American TV matches. Other than the Bucks vs Omega/Page tag which wildly exceeded expectations, everything he's done since moving to AEW has been a let down, imo. Even when working against some top talent. Maybe especially against them. I've only seen brief glimpses of Big Match Kenny that was setting NJ and the internet on fire in 2016-2018, which seems now pretty clear to me to be just as much the specific opponents he was working with as it was him during that period.

If that goes on for another couple of years, well...

[El-P]

Great match against PAC, great match against Page, great match against Fénix, great match against Mox... Nah, his AEW only reinforces his case thus far. He's been killing it showing up in IMPACT too.

[strobogo]

I don't think his matches against PAC were anything to go on either guy's resumes, the Page match was a let down after the what....year of build to some kind of confrontation and it was a one and done good G1 tier match instead of what should have been promotion/character defining for Page but there was no follow up either. Fenix has been handled so poorly in AEW it's insane. Can't say much about the TNA run as I've only seen the first 6 man tag a few months ago and then completely lost interest in the whole TNA/AEW thing that seems like it's almost entirely Don Callis securing the bag for himself after his TNA contract is up and getting Gallows and Anderson back with Kenny, which I resent because Gallows is just the worst.

 

What I've seen with Kenny in AEW is a guy who doesn't seem nearly as motivated (even pre-COVID) in his own company as he did wrestling in Japan, some of which seemed to be character and some of which did not, and a guy who really needs a higher caliber of opponent to kick into that next gear than what AEW has provided for him thus far.

[InYourCase]

I'm finishing up a five year refresh of my 2016 ballot with Alan4L right now and Omega is the person who will benefit the most from the little bit of time that has passed since we last did GWE. I should've ranked him in 2016. He was one of my last cuts and I felt dumb about not including him shortly after the fact. He's a Top 40 guy for me at this point. I think he's undeniably brilliant. The Okada matches, mainly the 2/3 falls match, are some of the greatest matches I've ever seen. He has the Ishii series, the Naito series, and the Goto matches. There's nothing this guy can't do. He's worked as a junior successfully, he's worked as a heavyweight ace successfully, he's been a face, he's been a heel, he's been in great tag matches, he's been the best singles match wrestler in the world. 

Like Quentin said, if you don't like him, I get it, but I think he's someone that does too many things at an elite level to ignore. 

[Cap]

I'm on the side that his AEW run (so far) really helps his case.  Not only do I think he has lots of good matches (I would really add the Page/Omega vs FTR to that list, but I know I'm a little on an island with how high I am on that), but I think we are seeing him flex different in ring muscles. He is wrestling to different parts of the card and against people with carrying skill sets. Regardless of how you feel about Joey Janela, he ain't no Naito and Omega had some entertaining matches against him. I personally don't see the lack of motivation. I think he came off less motivated (sweat pants, aloof body language) while tagging with page to set up this heel turn, but I don't see any genuine signs of a lack of motivation. Again, just personally.

Kenny is quite likely to make my list. I've enjoyed his work in varying ways and to varying degrees across a number of promotions. I get he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I find a lot of value in his brand of modern wrestling (a different conversation for a different space probably).  Within that style, it is hard to pick someone better. His physical body control and timing are crazy.  I also quite appreciate that he tells (in the ring) wrestling stories that are often really focused on friendship first and animosity second. He doesn't always do this, but often, enough to make him stand out in this regard. He strikes me as a physically gifted wrestler who is passionate about telling stories in his own way. His way just happens to connect with some fans and REALLY miss others.

[NotJayTabb]

Omeg'a final placing is going to be interesting, I think. He feels like the candidate who's most divisive, where the people who like him will vote him very highly, but the people who don't wont place him at all. I don't feel like he'll get many votes in the 75-100 range.

[Jmare007]

Indeed someone who's final placing is no doubt going to piss off one portion of the voters, no matter where he ends ups.

I think Omega is fine, for that reason I find him extremely overrated as he gets so much praise but I understand how and why he appeals to so much people. Don't think I'll be rating him because 1) Even though I've enjoyed a good number of his New Japan and DDT matches, it never warranted a GWE ballot in my view, and 2) I don't see myself doing the work and watching his AEW stuff, and I only saw like the first month of TV and two PPV matches of his. Which didn't change my opinion one bit but regardless of that, I'm just not gonna have enough of him to put him in.

But who knows, he'll more than likely be back working in Japan in some capacity and if I check some matches there and come out impress with his stuff, maybe I'll check AEW.

[Microstatistics]

Omega is a tricky one. I agree with the predictions above regarding the polarized placements. 

He seems to embody many of the faults of modern pro wrestling, particularly the flagrant emphasis on generating "bangers", further unconcealed by his "best bout machine" moniker. Having said that, I would counter by saying his fundamentals are far stronger than a lot of his peers, on both the offense and selling fronts. That, alongside his admirably ambitious match layouts, makes him more likely to actually meet that objective. The three matches below are amongst the best of the past 10 years.

vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, 8/13/2016)

vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 8/12/2017)

vs. Will Ospreay (NJPW, 1/4/2023)

The facial expressions don't bother me and are no different than those of William Regal and Devil Masami. My issue lies in the wild inconsistency. No wrestler nails every big match but the drop-off for when he misses the mark is remarkable, even if it's not exclusively his fault. The Tanahashi 1/2019, Ishii 8/2018, and Takeshita 8/2023 matches, for instance, are genuinely poor to mediocre. 

His best output is probably enough to secure a Top 50 spot, with a shot at the Top 25, but the hit-or-miss nature of his work likely keeps him below the top tier of past greats.