Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will know who Kenny Omega is. Wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling, he is one of the most exciting wrestlers at the moment, scoring the first ever 6* match from wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer. But just who exactly is he and what makes him such a star?
Kenny Omega, real name Tyson Smith, started out like most wrestlers as an Indy guy in his native country Canada. Quickly becoming a rising star and grabbing championships, Omega wasted no time in making a name for himself.
It’s no surprise that in 2005, he was offered a WWE developmental contract and signed to Deep South Wrestling on a permanent basis. However, Deep South Wrestling could not keep a hold of Omega, and he left to head back to Premier Championship Wrestling.
Winning more titles and working with other wrestling promotions (Pro Wrestling Syndicate, Jersey All Pro Wrestling and Ring Of Honor) Omega was certainly becoming rather unstoppable.
In 2006, he was shown Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) Pro Wrestling, where he became captivated by Kota Ibushi. He filmed himself doing a DDT style match and an challenge to Ibushi. After seeing the videos, DDT decided to offer Omega the chance to go Japan and face off against Ibushi. From 2008 – 2014, Omega did all sorts of weird and wonderful things from teaming with Ibushi to wrestling a nine year old girl, all whilst establishing himself as a star of professional wrestling.
Omega has also wrestled with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, against the likes of The Young Bucks and earning even more championships. In 2010 (whilst teaming with Kota Ibushi), Omega debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he wrestled many amazing matches with Ibushi as Golden Lovers. In 2013, Omega began working alone with New Japan, he began to take part in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, he made it to the semi finals, where he lost to Prince Devitt following interference from Devitt’s stable – Bullet Club.
In 2014, Omega announced that he will be joining New Japan full time after his DDT contract expired. During his debut match, it was shown he too became member of Bullet Club, as The Cleaner. Omega delevloped even more of a name for himself and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. After losing the belt at Wrestle Kingdom 10, Omega teamed with then Bullet Club Leader AJ Styles, against IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi. After pinnig Nakamura, Omega turned on Styles declaring himself the new leader of Bullet Club in the process. No longer a Junior Heavyweight, he challenged Nakamura to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, that unfortunately never happened due to Nakamura leaving New Japan.
Omega did gain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi. Teaming with The Young Bucks, he became double champion winning the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. After losing both championships, Omega took part in the G1 Climax in which he became the first foreign wrestler to win it. The prize? A chance to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Whilst he didn’t win the match, Omega solidified himself as hot commodity, WWE wanted him, New Japan wanted him to resign with them, for a while it was unsure where he would go, but in the end, he stayed with New Japan, a very wise decision.
The career of Kenny Omega is let’s face it glorious, one man has done so much and continues to do so much more. 2017 is only going to be another stellar year for the Canadian, who knows, he may even finally get his hands on that IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
There truly is no other wrestler quite like Kenny Omega.
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