via 411Mania
Kenny Omega will have his biggest match of his career against Kazuchika Okada in the main event at Wrestle Kingdom 11 for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Photo credit via Youtube
Redemption
Kenny Omega’s career started in 2005 where he was signed to Deep South Wrestling. At the time it was a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment which would later be known as Ohio Valley Wrestling. OVW was responsible for developing talents such as John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Shelton Benjamin.
Kenny Omega was offered a WWE developmental contract and he was assigned to Deep South Wrestling on a full-time basis. Omega had multiple matches with former WWE wrestlers Matt Striker and Oleg Prudius who would later be known as Vladimir Kozlov in the WWE.
Omega requested his immediate release from his contract and he made his return to the Indies circuit. Kenny Omega claimed that WWE contacted him multiple times during 2014 and 2015. He turned them to down because he loves the Japanese culture and New Japan.
Influences
It is no secret that Kenny Omega loves anime and video games. Kenny generates a lot of ideas from them. Omega got one finishing maneuvers the One-Winged Angel, a reference from Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth. Omega got his ring name “Kenny Omega” from the character Omega Weapon also from Final Fantasy. He even used the Hadouken from Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter as a signature move.
Photo credit via Youtube
via Sports Illustrated
Photo credit via Cageside Seats
Bullet Club Success
Kenny Omega made his name in Japan but 2016 was his coming out party. Omega became a superstar after the tag team match with AJ Styles against IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi. After the match, The Bullet Club turned on Styles, and Omega officially became the leader of the faction. In February at The New Beginning show, Omega defeated Tanahashi and he became the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Just six days later at Honor Rising: Japan 2016, Omega made history and he became a double champion when he and The Young Bucks defeated Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
The Young Bucks and Omega only held the titles for a couple of months. They lost the titles to the team of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Yoshitatsu in April at Invasion Attack 2016.The Young Bucks managed to regain their Never Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship. Then a month in June Omega lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Elgin in New Japan’s first ever ladder match. The losing continued a month later in July when Omega and The Young Bucks lost their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship once again this time to Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Satoshi Kojima.
G1 Climax 2016
In late July to August, Omega was involved in the 2016 G1 Climax tournament. It is a four-week tournament and your objective as a wrestler is to win as many matches as possible in your respected block A or B. On August 14, Omega made the finals he defeated Hirooki Goto to win the 2016 G1 Climax. Omega earned a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11 which is New Japan’s biggest show of the year in the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2017. Omega made history as he was the first non-Japanese G1 Climax winner in history. Therefore the cards are lined up in Omega favor as 2016 was his year and no doubt Kenny Omega will carry the momentum into 2017.
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