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He's the man sitting on top of the heap, the wrestler at the top spot of PWI's annual 500 best pro wrestlers list. He's the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, the 'big belt' of the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, which has made major inroads in the North American sports entertainment market. He's the man who social media and wrestling journalists just can't seem to stop talking about.
He's Kenny Omega, the Cleaner, the One Winged Angel, and for now, he has the world of pro wrestling in the palm of his hand.
Major speculation occurred two years ago when his contract was initially going to expire with NJPW. No less than WWE's poster boy John Cena created major buzz by tweeting just a picture of Kenny Omega. But those fans who wished to see Kenny Omega in a WWE ring had their hopes dashed when he resigned with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
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And here we are again, with Omega's contract rumored to be up early next year. Once more speculation runs wild, and fans and critics seem to disagree on whether or not Kenny Omega will come to the world's largest pro wrestling promotion, and whether or not it would be good for him if he did so.
Here are five reasons Kenny Omega might flounder in the WWE and five he might succeed.
Might Fail in the WWE: He's not big enough
Kenny Omega is just under six feet tall (though he's billed at six foot one) and hovers around two hundred twenty pounds.
While it's not necessarily a death sentence to his WWE career to be on the smaller side, it's also going to be a hurdle he would have to overcome. If one takes a close look at the WWE champions of the past decade, most of them are at least six foot four and two hundred fifty. This is the 'look' that WWE favors for their main event talent.
Omega might not have the size to be the 'top guy' in WWE the way that Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns have.
Might succeed in WWE: He has lots of charisma
When it comes to pro wrestlers, one thing that separates the champions from the also-rans is the charisma factor.
Some pro wrestlers, like Apollo Crews, have tremendous athletic ability but don't connect with the audience. Others, like Enzo Amore, are able to get emotional resonance with the crowd but are poor wrestlers. However, it should be pointed out that Enzo was not fired because he wasn't a great wrestler, but because of his odious personal behavior and other factors.
Kenny Omega has plenty of charisma, the intangible "it factor" to succeed at the highest levels of sports entertainment. The mere fact that Kenny Omega is so popular in Japan despite being a 'gaijin,' or westerner, is a testament to his tremendous strength of personality. It would serve him equally well with the fickle WWE audience.
Might Fail in WWE: Omega is a pure wrestler, but WWE is sports entertainment
Let's establish one thing; The WWE is not primarily a wrestling organization any longer. What that means is that while wrestling matches are central to the product, their goal is to entertain first and foremost. That entertainment could take the form of a wrestling match, or it could take the form of a twenty-minute long skit featuring pancakes and little people in colorful costumes.
Kenny Omega is a great wrestler--some would argue he's the best in-ring performer on the planet--but could he also be a great sports entertainer? Could his pure wrestling character survive in a world that features such out of this world chicanery?
There have been many talented athletes which came to the WWE and failed to become great success stories in spite of their ability to put on great matches. Omega will need to be able to do more than just wrestle if he wants to get over in the WWE.
Might Succeed in WWE: Kenny Omega can do more than just wrestle
We've already established that Kenny Omega has a ton of charisma. Fortunately for him, that charisma can do more than just make fans cheer for him during matches.
His ability to entertain knows no bounds, and neither do the lengths to which he will go in order to put a smile on his fans' faces. He has been willing to go along with some of the craziest, and potentially embarrassing, stories and angles and stunts that NJPW has to offer.
He has dressed up in drag before, such as when he cosplayed as Disney's Princess Jasmine from their Alladin franchise and cartoon series. Omega was also willing to go along with the Golden Lovers gimmick, something many other wrestlers turned down before.
Might fail in WWE: His Bullet Club Brethren are mostly midcarders
While AJ Styles is a no-questions-asked main event talent in WWE, and a multi-time world champion, some of his former Bullet Club brothers aren't doing nearly as well.
Take Finn Balor for example. Balor was wildly popular in NXT and had a great run in New Japan Pro Wrestling as Prince Devitt. However, once he made his transition to the main roster, Balor floundered. He was fortunate enough to be made the company's first Universal Champion, but then he was unfortunate enough to be injured. His momentum has never recovered.
Then there's Andersen and Gallows, AJ Styles' best buds from Japan. While they haven't been unsuccessful, they still are not the top tag team in the WWE by a long shot.
Omega might meet a similar fate if he signs with WWE.
Might Succeed in WWE: He's already got legions of fans in the USA
Back in the 1980s, and prior to the internet, it was quite understandable that many American wrestling fans would be unfamiliar with Japanese talent. After all, the only thing on television was often regional broadcasts, the NWA, or WWE. And none of those outlets were likely to have talent from other promotions on their programming.
These days, however, no one professional wrestling company can be said to exist in a vacuum. People pay attention to the contractual status of various wrestling talents just as fervently as they once did for Major League Baseball, for example.
Many pro wrestling fans watch far more than just one promotion, and that includes a huge segment of the WWE Universe. Likely, there will already be millions of fans waiting for Omega should he make the switch from NJPW to WWE.
Might Fail in WWE: Vince McMahon prefers 'homegrown' talent
One thing that has been a hallmark of the WWE is their tendency to push talent that was brought up primarily in their own system over those that found success elsewhere first.
You'll find examples of this all throughout the WWE's history. Men like Randy Orton often enjoy a protected status because they have only wrestled for the WWE throughout their entire career.
Then there's Roman Reigns, who was picked to replace Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) in the first inception of the Shield. Vince McMahon did so because the other Shield members, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins, had both wrestled quite prominently for other promotions.
Rollins is even a former Ring of Honor world champion. Reigns has been only involved in the WWE's developmental program from the start. Now, which of those three men has received the greatest push in WWE?
Kenny Omega's past success might actually hold him back in WWE because of this attitude.
Might Succeed in WWE: Other talent love to work with him
Some of the most famous wrestlers in the world were not necessarily people who the other talent liked to work with.
For example, while Ultimate Warrior was one of the most famous wrestlers of his generation, and a former WWE world title holder, many of his peers were not thrilled that they had to wrestle him. Rick Rude believed him to be too 'stiff'--meaning his shots caused real pain and injury.
The Nature Boy Ric Flair once dragged a match with Ultimate Warrior far past the scheduled twenty minutes because he was trying to get a 'good' performance out of Jim Hellwig.
That's not the case with Kenny Omega. Many wrestlers salivate at the chance to work with the man they call the 'best bout machine.' Chris Jericho is rumored to have been tempted to NJPW just for a chance to work a program with Omega, and the WWE locker room is full of athletes who would love to wrestle him as well.
Might Fail in WWE: The audience can be fickle
Wrestling fans have the right to cheer for or boo whoever and whatever they want. That comes with the price of a ticket or WWE.com membership.
It's the fans who decided that Stone Cold Steve Austin--the beer swilling, foul-mouthed angry and violent antisocial Texan--was going to be the company's top babyface. It's the fans who revolted when third-generation babyface smiling hero Rocky Maivia was going to be booed into oblivion, only to rise from the ashes as the Rock.
Most recently, at WWE's TLC event, a red-hot feud between two popular wrestlers was greeted with 'this is boring' chants from the crowd. While there are many factors behind this--for one, the match was full of technical wrestling and rest holds when fans were expecting a pier six brawl--the fact remains that the WWE Universe changes its mind as often as the wind blows. Even if Kenny Omega were to debut with a lot of fanfare, the fickle fans might not remain solidly behind him.
Might Succeed in WWE: He truly is the best in the world today
While many wrestlers make the claim to be the best in the world, from CM Punk to Ric Flair, the fact of the matter is neither of those men has ever had their matches rated as highly as Kenny Omega.
Kenny Omega can literally do it all in the wrestling ring. Do you want a fast-paced slugfest with plenty of striking? Kenny has you covered. Or perhaps you don't believe a wrestling match is complete without some top rope daredevil flying? Kenny can do that, too.
And if you're a wrestling purist who can extrapolate on the nuances of an armlock for fifteen minutes (AHEM), then Kenny's supreme technique and scientific execution are sure to please.
Even if you're more into sports entertainment than wrestling, and like the skits and stunts that go along with wrestling matches, Kenny can thrive in that environment, too. In short, he is the best in the world today, and that is the most significant factor in his possible success in the WWE.
Do you think Kenny Omega would do well in WWE? Please comment below and let us know, and as always thanks for reading!
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
