[2020-12-12-AAA-Triplemania XXVIII] Kenny Omega vs Laredo Kid

[paul sosnowski]

Kenny Omega defends the AAA Mega title.   Talk about it here

[FMKK]

I've seen this compared to a travelling NWA champion defending against the local babyface and I can see the parallels. They started off with some grappling before Omega used his size and strength advantage to take the lead. Outside brawling led to a wacky dive by Laredo from a stack of tyres and involvement from Vikingo, which sets up Omega's next defence. Kenny almost died on a dive when Laredo pulled Nakasawa in front of him but he totally failed to catch him. Omega basically jumped from the ring to the floor and landed on his ass. When they got back in, it seemed like they settled into a groove to trading big spots, including some V-Triggers and a Tiger Driver from Kenny and a Spanish Fly and poison 'rana from Laredo. Kenny gave him some nice nearfalls here. Things got more interesting when Laredo cut off the spot trading to work on Kenny's leg, exploiting a missed V-Trigger into the corner to put on an Indian Death Lock and then doing a super cool roll through on a One Winged Angel attempt to get on a reverse cloverleaf type of thing. Kenny really teased tapping on this. Finish came when Laredo was distracted by Nakasawa when he was on the turnbuckle, allowing Kenny to pop up with a OWA from the second rope. This was good stuff but would have gained a lot from a crowd with so many teased finishes.

 

****

[Boss Rock]

Very good match. Kenny's AAA matches have always been worth watching and this was no exception. A lot of the aerial spots were impressive and Kenny's leg selling, which has historically been spotty, was really good. A very good showing by Laredo but was kind of annoyed by him basically getting the shoulder up at 3.1. The One Winged Angel has been treated as a kill shot for years and while someone will most likely kick out of it when Kenny loses the AEW title, I felt this took some of the steam out of the move.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

There's some nice charm to this kind of a "Kenny Omega as the touring champ" type of match, and him as a base for an exciting luchador works more than well, so this definitely looked to be a promising match-up already on paper. I thought it was a real good match. Kenny pretty much brutalized Laredo Kid any moment he got a chance to do so, including big spots on the apron & the guardrail. Very enjoyable work by him on the offense in all of its viciousness. Laredo Kid also delivered with his fun lucha moves, but what I liked the most about him in this match was the legwork; the way he started it early, and especially the way it came into play in the closing stages of the match w/ terrific amounts of great drama & urgency, it was some pretty great stuff all in all. Kenny's selling was also on point; they milked those what-I-assume-are Laredo Kid's signature submissions extremely well. ***1/2