Kenny Omega

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tyson Smith JapanJapan CanadaCanada
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Omega in 2016.

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Omega in 2016.
Data
Ring name Kenny Omega
Additions to names Best Bout Machine
The Cleaner
The Destiny Flower
Twinkle-Toes McFingerbang
height 183 cm
Fighting weight 92 kg
birth October 16, 1983 (age 36)
Transcona, Manitoba , Canada
Announced from Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada
Trained by Bobby Jay
Mentallo
Vance Nevada
debut 2000

Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983 in Transcona, Manitoba , Canada ), better known by his ring name Kenny Omega , is a Japanese wrestler of Canadian descent who is currently under contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He's not only a wrestler there, but also one of the Executive Vice Presidents. His greatest successes so far are receiving the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the AAA Mega Championship .

Private life

Smith has a younger sister. Besides wrestling, his greatest interests are video games and cartoons. Since most of his love games come from Japan, this is how his interest in Japanese culture began. He also built this into his wrestling character. Because of this interest and his work in Japan, Smith is fluent in Japanese . In 2012 Smith received his Japanese citizenship in addition to his Canadian citizenship. He originally played ice hockey as a goalkeeper, but gave this up in favor of a wrestling career. Smith graduated from the Transcona Collegiate Institute in 2001. He is abstinent and refrains from alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.

Wrestling career

Independent and Development Leagues (2000-2008)

Smith made his Kenny Omega gimmick debut on June 17, 2000 at the Winnipeg-based Independent Promotion Top Rope Championship Wrestling . He later went to other Canadian leagues such as No Holds barred and Premier Championship Wrestling . On October 17, 2004 Smith got at a show of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) a title match against Petey Williams for the TNA X-Division Championship , which he lost.

In October 2005 Smith was invited to the then WWE development league Deep South Wrestling and was so convincing that he signed a development contract. Unfortunately, the success did not materialize and so Smith left the DSW and returned to the PCW, where he became more successful again. He won the PCW Premier Cup in 2007 and drew attention to major Indyligas such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla , Jersey All Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor . Smith then took part in PWG's prestigious Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where he was eliminated in the first round of the first tournament in 2008, but won the follow-up tournament and the PWG World Championship a year later. Smith also took part in the 2009 Survival of the Fittest tournament from ROH, but failed in his qualifying match to Chris Hero .

DDT Pro-Wrestling (2008-2014)

On August 4, 2008, Smith made his debut in Japan and signed a contract with the Liga Dramatic Dream Team, which specializes more in storylines and comedy than in traditional pro wrestling. Here he was proposed to the officials of Kota Ibushi, who was determined to work with Smith. This was the beginning of a partnership that continues to this day, both professionally and privately. Together, Smith and Ibushi formed the Golden Lovers, which quickly became very popular in Japan. They won the KO-D Tag Team Championship three times. Smith caused a sensation on July 24, 2011. Here he competed in the Liga Stardom, which is actually a women's league. There he met nine-year-old Haruka in a match with a time limit of three minutes, which then ended in a draw. The match was uploaded to YouTube and received many clicks. In the match, Smith showed his skills as a heel. The reactions to this have been mixed. Smith was praised for his portrayal, u. a. by Mick Foley , showered, albeit with a lot of hatred, for fighting a nine-year-old girl. Wrestling official Jim Cornette z. B. sharply criticized this match and Smith himself. To this day he describes him as a “disgrace of pro wrestling” . Smith himself stated in an interview that Haruka trained in the dojo of Stardom and wanted a match and that he agreed to grant her this wish.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2010-2019)

Golden ☆ Lovers (2010-2014)

At the same time as his involvement with DDT, Smith also competed for New Japan. He participated in every Best of the Super Juniors tournament from 2010 to 2014, but could not win any of them. Nonetheless, on October 11, 2010, he and Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship.

Bullet Club (2014-2017)

Omega became a member of the Bullet Club in 2014.

Smith announced during a press conference on October 3, 2014 that he will not renew his contract with DDT and will instead sign in full with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He made his debut as a full-time wrestler for New Japan on November 8, 2014 on the Power Struggle show , where he was introduced by Karl Anderson as the newest member of the Bullet Club . He challenged the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Ryusuke Taguchi, whom he was able to defeat at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4, 2015. Smith held the title for 182 days and gave it to Kushida at Dominion 7.5 on July 5, 2015, before getting it back on September 23, 2015. The reign ended on January 4, 2016 at Wrestle Kingdom 10, where he returned the title to Ryusuke Taguchi.

IWGP United States Champion Omega in 2017.

One day after the loss to Taguchi, Smith and his stable colleague AJ Styles , who was the leader of the Bullet Club at the time, played a tag team match on CHAOS members Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi, which they also won. After the match, Smith Styles missed his finisher, the one-winged angel. Shortly thereafter, other members such as The Young Bucks , Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall joined in and joined the attack on Styles. Smith declared himself the new leader of the Bullet Club and fired Styles. The background was that he then left New Japan and a short time later switched to WWE. A month later, on February 14, 2016, Smith won a match against Hiroshi Tanahashi and won the vacant IWGP Intercontinental Championship, as previous title holder Shinsuke Nakamura also went to WWE. The following week he was allowed to win the next title, together with the Young Bucks he won the NEVER Six Men-Tag Team Championship.

Smith took part in New Japan's largest tournament, the G1 Climax, in the summer of 2016. Although he lost the first match against Yoshi-Hashi, he was still able to secure group victory and thus also the final. He finally won this against Hirooki Goto and had thus won the right to receive a title match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4, 2017, should he defend this up to that point, which he did after further victories against Yoshi-Hashi and Goto could too. In the title match he was defeated by the champion Kazuchika Okada, but the match received rave reviews from fans and critics. Well-known wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer, who is considered a fan of New Japan, even awarded this match six stars, although its scale only went to five.

During the year Smith mostly competed with the Young Bucks, with whom he formed a subgroup within the Bullet Club, the elite. They did this not only at New Japan, but also at Ring of Honor, where the Young Bucks are under contract. As part of its expansion into the USA , New Japan introduced the IWGP United States Championship and had it fought out in a tournament in which Smith also took part. With wins over Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal and Tomohiro Ishii, Smith won the tournament and title. He also competed again at the G1 Climax and made it to the final again. However, he could not repeat last year's triumph and lost in the final against Tetsuya Naito.

At the Power Struggle 2017 show on November 5, 2017, Smith defended the IWGP United States Title against Barretta. After the match, former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho appeared on the video screen and challenged Smith to a title match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4, 2018 to see who was the best wrestler in the Winnipeg area. Jericho repeatedly attacked Smith, who struck back with the same coin. The fight at Wrestle Kingdom, which was a no disqualification match, was ultimately won by Smith.

Disagreement in the Bullet Club and reunification of the Golden ☆ Lovers (2017-2019)

Omega and the Young Bucks as The Elite.

There was tension between Smith and Bullet Club member Cody in advance . These escalated more and more when Cody Smith's former tag team partner Kota Ibushi, who was meanwhile also under contract with New Japan, attacked and Smith intervened. On the second day of the New Beginning in Sapporo series of shows, Smith handed the IWGP United States Title to Jay White. After Smith's stable colleague Hangman Page snatched the title belt, Smith voluntarily gave the title to White. This led to a confrontation between the members of the Bullet Club, which culminated in the fact that Cody missed his finisher on Smith and wanted to continue attacking him until Kota Ibushi made the save. Then Smith and Ibushi reconciled, which then brought the Golden Lovers back to life.

As a result, Smith vied with Cody for the leadership position in the Bullet Club. Cody himself tried to intrigue the other members of the Bullet Club, especially the Young Bucks, who are still friends with Smith, against him. The first face-to- face encounter at ROH Supercard of Honor XII was won by Cody's unsuccessful superkicks from the Young Bucks who accidentally hit Smith. This defeat wore Smith hard and he distanced himself more and more from them and deepened his friendship with Kota Ibushi, who then increasingly appeared as Golden Lovers, including against the Young Bucks.

On June 9, 2018 Smith got the second chance at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and met Kazuchika Okada again at Dominion 6.9 , this time in a 2 out 3 falls match with no time limit. Okada was able to achieve the first fall after 29 minutes, but Smith countered after 48 minutes and after 64 minutes he managed the decisive fall, making him IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Similar to their first encounter 18 months earlier, this match was enthusiastically praised and Meltzer even awarded seven stars. By winning the title, he was reconciled with the Young Bucks, who won the IWGP Tag Team Championship that same evening. A month later, Smith defended his title against Cody, but was attacked in the final segment of the show by other members of the Bullet Club, namely the Guerillas of Destiny and their father Haku , who split off from the members of the elite and with the Bullet Club OGs their own Open subgroup. Cody was offered to knock Smith down with a chair, but Cody took Smith's side again and was reconciled with him, but was beaten down for doing so.

Smith then took part in the G1 Climax 2018, but this time could not qualify for the final, as he had to admit defeat to his friend Kota Ibushi in the final match for group victory. During Chris Jericho's Rock'n'Wrestling: Rager at Sea tour, the elite announced that they were no longer part of the Bullet Club. On January 4, 2019 at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Smith lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, also announcing that he would be leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling.

All Elite Wrestling (since 2019)

Immediately after fulfilling his contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Smith followed his elite colleagues to the new wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling , where he not only became a wrestler, but also one of the Executive Vice Presidents. It made its debut on February 8, 2019 during a press conference announcing the first AEW PPV Double or Nothing on May 25, 2019 in Las Vegas , Nevada . Smith's debut match against Chris Jericho was set for this event. He lost this match for participation in the first AEW World Championship title match.

At the AAA Heroes Inmortales XIII event of the Mexican AEW partner promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide , Smith won the AAA Mega Championship from Fénix on October 19, 2019 . On January 21, 2020 Smith was allowed to play the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Adam Page in a match against the title holder SoCal Uncensored ( Frankie Kazarian.) At the Dynamite recording during Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise on the Norwegian Pearl and Scorpio Sky).

Trivia

  • Smith is a permanent cast member of the Young Bucks' Being The Elite web show , which is published weekly on YouTube.
  • Smith is the cover star of the PlayStation 4 game Fire Pro Wrestling: World alongside Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Natio .
  • The name of Smith's finishing move One-Winged Angel is based on the character Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII .
  • Smith is an avid gamer and can often be seen in public sessions. Among other things, he played Street Fighter V several times against Xavier Woods, who is under contract with WWE . This was then built up as a kind of wrestling feud, in which Smith's stable colleagues from the Bullet Club, the Young Bucks, as well as Xavier Woods stable colleagues from The New Day were involved.

Titles and awards

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Omega in 2015.
G1 Climax winner Omega in 2016.
  • 4 front wrestling
    • 4FW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • Canadian Wrestling's Elite
    • Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 ×)
    • CWE Tag Team Champion (1 × with Danny Duggan)
  • Canadian Wrestling Federation
    • CWF Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • DDT pro-wrestling
    • KO-D Openweight Championship (1 ×)
    • DDT Extreme Championship (1 ×)
    • KO-D Tag Team Championship (2 × with Kota Ibushi, 1 × with Michael Nakazawa)
    • KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship (1 × with Kota Ibushi & Gota Ihashi, 1 × with Kota Ibushi & Daisuke Sasaki)
    • King of DDT (2012)
  • Jersey All Pro Wrestling
    • JAPW Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
    • JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • Premier Championship Wrestling
    • PCW Heavyweight Championship (4 ×)
    • PCW Tag Team Championship (2 × with Chris Stevens, 1 × with Rawskillz)
    • Premier Cup (2007)
  • Top Rope Championship Wrestling
    • TRCW Tag Team Championship (1 × with Ronnie Attitude)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sports Illustrated: The future Mr. WrestleMania: Kenny Omega on New Japan, WWE, New Day
  2. ^ Winnipeg Free Press: Transcona's Omega Man
  3. ↑ Fightful: Jim Cornettes Hatred for Kenny Omega Has Gotten Out Of Hand
  4. ↑ Fightful: Kenny Omega Talks About Wrestling A Nine-Year Old Girl And A Blow-Up Doll
  5. ^ Wrestling Inc .: The Young Bucks Say That The Elite Is No Longer Part Of The Bullet Club
  6. ↑ Games Radar: Meet Kenny Omega, the wrestler every Gamer should know
  7. ↑ WWE.com: Xavier Woods and Kenny Omega to battle in Street Fighter showdown at E3

Web links

Commons : Kenny Omega  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Omega, Kenny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Tyson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese wrestler of Canadian descent
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Transcona, Manitoba , Canada