Kenny Omega Legacy in New Japan Pro Wrestling

Kenny Omega Legacy in New Japan Pro Wrestling

Kenny Omega has announced that he is leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling as of January 2019. Kenny Omega joined the promotion in 2010 and won the following titles while in New Japan Pro Wrestling

G1 climax winner 2016
IWGP Heavyweight Champion
IWGP Intercontinental Champion
IWGP US Champion
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion X2
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champion
IWGP Never Openweight 6 man tag team champion X2

I want to have a look at Kenny Omega legacy on New Japan Pro Wrestling what he achieved there and the new ground he broke there.

To me and in my opinion, Kenny Omega changed the world of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Kenny Omega brought New Japan Pro Wrestling to a Western Hemisphere audience and helped prople the reach of New Japan Pro Wrestling to a new audience along with breaking new ground for what a non Japanese wrestler could achieve in Japanese wrestling.

Kenny Omega Changing Perceptions in NJPW

Kenny Omega when he came into new Japan pro wrestling started off as a junior heavyweight, Kenny would have numerous matches on New Japan against wrestlers such as Prince Devitt, Jado,Gedo and having tag matches with Kota Ibushi but things would really change for Kenny Omega in 2014.

In 2014 Kenny Omega was unveiled as a new member of the Bullet Club as The Cleaner Kenny Omega, at Wrestlekingdom 9 Kenny Omega won IWGP junior heavyweight title defeating Taguchi.

It was then in 2016 that Kenny Omega grabbed his opportunity and became the leader of the Bullet Club as AJ Styles was leaving the company. G1

Kenny Omega was announced in the 2016 G1 climax tournament he wasn’t seen by many as someone that could win the tournament, I remember tweeting that I thought he would win and I was getting mocked by many fans who thought I was out of my mind and that there was no way a former Junior Heavyweight would Win and they also kept pointing out that no non Japanese wrestler had ever won the tournament. I really wanted Kenny Omega to prove them wrong I would watch every G1 match either live or as soon as I could After work, you could feel Omega building momentum, I tweeted Kenny saying you are going to win this.

Kenny Omega then faced Naito in his last G1 block Match and in a total classic he beat Naito and got into the G1 final. Omega match with Naito won Nikkan sports match of the year award The very next day Kenny Omega faced Hiroki Goto

Omega again had another classic match with Goto it was incredible I remember watching it on my iPad live and it was great, I was feeling so much emotion in wrestling again, it was excellent that to me is when wrestling is at its best. Kenny Omega won the match and became the first ever non Japanese wrestler to win the G1!

It was a huge win and it showed that Omega could have consistently great matches one after a another and constantly be able to perform at the Highest level which such a tremendous, unique and awesome Wrestling style which cannot be replicated . I believe  after this win New Japan pro wrestling bosses started to show more faith and believe in Kenny Omega more.

6 Star Match

Omega winning G1 then lead to him having a world title match with Champion Okada at Wrestlekingdom 11. This was Kenny Omega first main event at the Tokyo dome and it was something I really Wanted to see not just on my computer but live.

Kenny Omega Wrestling and my desire to see him live led to my brother and I booking flights and a hotel and me buying NJPW tickets on a Japanese website (this was before NJPW travel packages and English websites) and we did the 12 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan.

To be on the Tokyo Dome was amazing to see Wrestlekingdom we got to the main event match and I was hoping to see the title change hands.

The match I saw was the best match I have ever seen live and is going to be the best match I ever see, it had all the elements of what an extraordinary match should have and took me on an emotional rollercoaster. When Omega got pinned and Okada won the match, there were omega fans around me that were crying because he lost, I remembered feeling so disappointed that Omega didn’t win but also had this feeling of fulfilment that although Omega didn’t win he gave me the chance to see the match of his career and I will always and forever appreciate that. 6 1/4 Star Match

Following this in June 2017 Omega Faced Okada at Dominion on June 11 and the match was a 60 minute draw and the match got rated at 6 1/4 stars by Dave Melter. It was another masterpiece of professional wrestler between the two athletes and again it showed the ability that Omega had to keep delivering at the highest level. First Ever IWGP US Champion

Kenny Omega then won and became the first ever IWGP US Champion, Kenny Omega won a tournament for the title defeated at G1 Special in USA over the 1st and 2nd July 2017. Kenny defeated Omega defeated Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal and finally Tomohiro Ishii.

Ending the undefeated streak of Okada and becoming IWGP heavyweight Champion and a 7 star match Kenny Omega would win  IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion in a 2 out of 3 falls match vs Okada and finally end Okada excellent undefeated streak with IWGP World Championship. Kenny Omega had finally ascended to the top of New Japan Pro wrestling achieving his dream and winning the top prize in his adopted country of Japan. Dave Meltzer rated this match the highest ever rating he has ever given a match 7 Stars it was Kenny omega crowning glory and a perfect example of how to build a storyline and feud that people could invest in. 

Kenny Omega Would defend IWGP Heavyweight Title x3 times and had a 208 day reign is IWGP World Heavyweight Champion

Kenny Omega would hold that title until he lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestlekingdom 13 in 2019.

Kenny Omega Legacy as a wrestler in New Japan is incredible, Kenny went from being a junior wrestler with incredible ability to being told ‘you’ll never be anything more than a junior’  to having one of the best matches in history and then becoming World Champion.

Kenny Omega broke new ground in New Japan, changed the perception of what he can be and showed the world that his style of wrestling and the way he wants to convey Wrestling can be successful and be an emotional draw to an audience. Kenny Omega while wrestling in Japan won the following Awards (Source Wikipedia)
Sports Illustrated Wrestler of the year 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Best Wrestling Maneuver (2016, 2017) for One-Winged Angel
Feud of the Year (2017) vs. Kazuchika Okada
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2017) vs. Kazuchika Okada on January

CBS Sports
Match of the Year (2018) – vs. Kazuchika Okada on NJPW Dominion
Japan Indie Awards
Best Bout Award (2008) vs. Kota Ibushi on August 6
Best Bout Award (2012) vs. Kota Ibushi on August 1
Best Bout Award (2014) with Kota Ibushi vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo on September 28

Nikkan Sports
Match of the Year Award (2016) vs. Tetsuya Naito on August 13
Match of the Year Award (2017) vs. Kazuchika Okada on January 4
Best Tag Team Award (2010) with Kota Ibushi
Toyko Sports Best Bout Award (2010) with Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW, October 11) Best Bout Award (2017) vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, January 4) Best Bout Award (2018) vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, June 9)Technique Award (2016

Kenny Omega Leading New Japan Pro

Wrestling to a brand new Audience

Kenny Omega and others brought New Japan to a new Western audience and how he & The Elite popularity made New Japan a substantial amount of money.

Kenny Omega along with The Elite Nick and Matt Jackson, Cody Rhodes, Marty Scrull and Hangman Page and other wrestlers in the promotion (Chris Jericho etc) became so popular that their popularity both on their YouTube show Being The Elite, In Ring Of Honor, across independent wrestling and across social media this in turn benefited New Japan as there was a whole audience that wanted to see their matches in New Japan but had no way to see them.

This then led to the launch of New Japan World an on demand and live Pay per view service which you could then watch New Japan shows on. Primarily the reason for its launch was to give domestic New Japan Wrestling Fans a new way to watch.

However quickly Japanese translations of how to sign up appeared on Reddit and other sites and then European, American and non Japanese speaking fans were then signing up for the service,

New Japan should give Kenny Omega huge credit for a lot of the subscriptions they gained. Kenny Omega was the reason I signed up as i wanted to see Kenny Omega matches so I signed up and New Japan were making money from me as a brand new revenue source. Kenny Omega helped make New Japan More
Visible.

In 2018 Wrestlekingdom 12 featuring Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega had the highest number of sign ups on the day and the biggest ever sign up subscription from a non Japanese audience.

Not only did Omega help new Japan pro wrestling  become a bigger entity but the also Omega, young Bucks and more helped New Japan sell millions of Bullet Club t shirts, Bullet club t shirts have been one of the biggest wrestling t shirts of all time and is regularly the biggest seller outside of Japan and was a huge commercial success for New Japan Pro Wrestling and was another reason why New Japan popularity has soared over the past few years.

Now Kenny Omega and the rest of the elite aren’t under contract at New Japan, Harold Meji - Boss of New Japan needs to think very carefully about their western expansion and how losing someone like Kenny Omega could affect both your in ring and out of ring factors in their business - It could be Harold Meji biggest mistake, to Me its total insanity I couldn't and wouldn't of let Kenny Omega walk away, will this haunt New Japan? Only time will tell.

To Kenny Omega I want to say thank you, your quest to change The World of New Japan is complete you changed it for the better, you did some incredible things and left an amazing legacy and opened up the possibilities for the men and women who will come after you. Kenny it’s now time to start a new quest and a new adventure where that will take you i don’t know but what I do know is that where ever you do
Go, I’ll be watching.....

Goodbye and Goodnight..BANG

Thanks for Reading

@jon422002

Jonathan Orchard