Kenny Omega has officially been a contracted member of the AEW Galaxy since February 7th, 2019. He's wrestled 71 matches for the promotion, has been a part of some of the most exciting makes of the past three years regardless of promotion, and for 346 days, had one of the most consequential championship runs in recent memory that will forever simply be known by the phrase “The Belt Collector.”
Surely AEW Omega has been as advertised and when he returns, be that in the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament, at All Out, or on another event of Tony Khan's choosing in the not too distant future, it will be a major shot in the arm to a promotion that has been hampered with injuries over the past few months but recall, if you will, that many of “The Best Bout Machine's,” um, best bouts, actually came in NJPW, with 15 of his 19 five-star matches coming in the promotion known for being the “King of Sports.”
There are his four matches with Kazuchika Okada, his bout with Chris Jericho, and his bouts with and against his “Golden Lovers” partner Kota Ibushi, of which there were four. And yet, not every match has to be a barn-burning classic to be consequential. No, for some, just getting into the ring with Omega was special enough to make an impact on their careers, even if said match isn't mentioned all that often otherwise.
On Twitter, Omega was informed about one of these matches by a fan, and he shared some thoughtful insight into the man known to the wrestling world as El Desperado.
Omega reciprocates the praise of an AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door wrestler.
When one thinks about Kenny Omega's great feuds in NJPW, his bout with El Desperado seldom comes up, and for good reason. Though the duo were contracted by the same company for multiple years, they only wrestled on three occasions, once in 2010 as part of a trios match, in another trios match between Suzuki-Gun and the Bullet Club in 2017, and in a Best of the Super Juniors match in 2014 that saw “The Cleaner” put over his masked foe.
Now at the time, this probably didn't mean too much to Omega, as he was in the middle of a near-month-long tournament where everyone wins and loses at least a few matches, but for Desperado, this meant a lot, as he said in the quote passed along by Twitter user @t_to_k0926_Rin.
“I was nothing back then, but Kenny pulled out of me all the abilities I had and created a great match. He is truly amazing and a genius.”
While Rin clearly thought this was a cool enough quote to share on Twitter with an @ sign thrown in next to their admitted favorite wrestler – which, admittedly, it was – the response returned must have been even cooler, as Omega responded with some thoughtful praise of his own.
“Despe getting a high position in this vote speaks to fan perception of weight divisions, factions, characters, and results for those living in Japan. He gave his best effort consistently and now the fans are recognizing what he showed me long ago.”
Textual mistakes aside, it's certainly nice to see Omega sent some praise back El Desperado's way, especially as a whole new collection of American fans have become familiar with his in-ring work thanks to his appearance at Forbidden Door. In a sport that can get very clique-y – or Kliq-y in the WWE – it's cool that Omega is willing to lift up a former foe where he can.
Despe getting a high position in this vote speaks to fan perception of weight divisions, factions, characters, and results for those living in Japan.
He gave his best effort consistently and now the fans are recognizing what he showed me long ago. https://t.co/ueTGTB6uCS
— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) August 13, 2022
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