Since joining All Elite Wrestling a year and a half ago, most wrestling fans have had a mixed reaction to his time back in North America. Most people expected him to bring his six-star matches with Okada stateside, but he’s definitely gone a different path. But even though it may not be what you love best, it may be doing more to prove his case as the best wrestler in the world.
Let’s face it, the six-star matches were not a likely possibility without an opponent, and maybe just as importantly, a backstory to create those matches, although, credit where credit is due, his matches with Rey Fenix and Pac are pretty damn awesome.
But for the most part, his transition to All Elite Wrestling has been a pivot in his career. And not a single pivot as he refused to be defined by a certain wrestling style. His feud with the Lucha Bros, undeniably great, did represent a transition to more lucha libre in his arsenal. He’s still the AAA Champion, and even I forgot the awesome match he had with Dragon Lee.
After that, it was an even more extreme change as he went hardcore against Joey Janela before carrying that over to the end of his feud against Jon Moxley. This was not Best Bout Machine, Kenny Omega, but he showed that he could transition to a style very different than what he had gotten accustomed to in New Japan.
Now he’s transitioned to tag team wrestling where he and Adam Page are currently the AEW Tag Team Champions. Tag team wrestling is secondary in New Japan so outside of a brief late run with Kota Ibushi, he really didn’t have any recent runs in meaningful tag matches. But he’s transitioned well as the Ricky Morton babyface that can take a beating before making the hot tag to Hangman. On top of that, he’s even dabbled in mixed tag matches with Riho.
Most recently, he had his first street fight, and the man proved he could do it all by wrestling in jeans. He’s trying new things constantly, and he’s excelling in all facets of pro wrestling. There may be nobody better at the epic big show matches than Omega, but he’s proving he’s pretty damn good no matter what style he needs to adjust to. His average star rating may be dropping, but by challenging himself in different ways, he is now proving that he truly is the best wrestler in the world.
