While they may have been going back and forth online, it is possible that a weekly viewer of AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage may not grasp the depth of the feud between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay.
Heading into tonight’s (August 31) AEW Dynamite, which will see Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks take on Will Ospreay & Aussie Open, let’s take a look at why Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay in an AEW ring is actually a bigger deal than you may realize.
5. There has been tension for years
While recently the war of the words has certainly amplified, the simmering tension has been going on for several years according to Ospreay.
In a recent interview with WrestleInn, Will Ospreay claims the issue stems back to 2019.
Ospreay said regarding the origins of his discord with Omega:
“This whole thing has generated from back in 2019, it was Kenny’s last match and I guess he wanted Ibushi out there to second him. I f**king blew Ibushi’s brain out with the hidden blade. He’s super f*****g mad at me. The thing is, I’m mad at myself when those situations happen. I don’t want to brain somebody, but it’s a legal wrestling move. I’m allowed to do it. I’m allowed to do blows to the back of the head, 12-6 elbows down. This is a 9-3 elbow strike, I’m allowed to do it. Obviously, the repercussion is he got knocked out and it was a bad concussion. Since then, myself and Ibushi, we have gone out for drinks. We don’t talk anymore, but after that point, we went for drinks and meals, we’re fine, but Kenny is butthurt off an accident.”
4. It couldn’t happen at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
When the inaugural crossover event between AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling was announced, it felt impossible to imagine it would occur without landmark NJPW alum, Kenny Omega.
However after a long time of continuing to work while injured, Kenny was taking much deserved time to have multiple surgeries and then recover from said multiple surgeries, on a timeframe that made it highly unlikely he would appear at the show.
In the lead up to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view however, Kenny Omega briefly returned to media spotlight after months away and gave a candid interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.
During the interview, Omega shared his thoughts on Will Ospreay and despite mentioning that he didn’t want to say anything bad about him… he ‘accidentally’ let slip some what sounded to be at the time, true feelings.
Kenny Omega said:
“I don’t wanna say anything bad about Will. But no, OK, here’s the thing, if we’re being completely honest with each other, I do believe that with the current rating system, and how things are viewed, I believe that Will has earned every last one of those five star performances that he has had.
“Now do I think that if you go back into the works of some of the legends, I’m even going to throw my name in the hat, even if you go back to when I was having five star matches and I was sort of ‘that sort of guy’, I just think that the matches from back then were a little more memorable and as hard as Will was working, Will just isn’t quite… Will is there. [Big Sigh.] See I’m digging myself into a hole here.”
Kenny later responded that he was hoping headlines from the interview wouldn’t be reduced to the headlines that sprung forth (See: Kenny Omega Shoots On Will Ospreay: ‘List Of 20 Very Forgettable 5 Star Matches’), but the damage was done.
3. Ospreay doesn’t f**k around, bruhv
For the uninitiated for the sake of brevity, let’s put it this way: Will Ospreay doesn’t f**k around.
Ospreay didn’t take Omega’s comments lying down as he returned volley with some candid thoughts on Kenny of his own… very candid.
Ospreay held nothing back, dropping multiple C-bombs (and no, I don’t mean causation – statistics joke, zing!) when describing his thoughts on Kenny.
Ospreay saying also during his interview with WrestleInn:
“He can think what he wants about me, but the motherf****r is such a little b***h. The same person who is like, ‘I grew up after six or seven five-star matches.’ No you didn’t, you c**t.
You vanity search your name on Twitter to see what everybody says and when it’s bad, you cry in the corner of your million-pound house and you’re still bothered by some c**t who sits doing some wrestling matches, who is trying to help out, not only the British scene, but the Japanese scene, because I’m not an idiot when it comes to my company…
“I don’t have anything to say to him. Be all, end all, I’m sure if everyone was in the same room, I would slap him. The worst thing is, people are gonna listen and be like, ‘They’re building to something.’ We’re not building up to anything. He’s a c**t. I will slap that boy and remind him, ‘You’re a fucking 40-year-old man and you’re f*****g fragile. Do you really want to get with me? I will end you.’”
But it doesn’t end there.
2. Omega sent Ospreay a cease and desist
Going on to provoke the best bout machine some more, Will Ospreay released a t-shirt that turned out to be extremely limited edition as it was relatively quickly removed from ProWrestlingTees.com.
Why?
Well the shirt was emblazoned with a graphic of Will Ospreay hitting Omega’s signature finisher, the One-Winged Angel whilst reading“Billy the Wanker” with a gold leaf design that appears to be a Greek Omega symbol and the back emblazoned with “Better than ‘The Best’ Bout Machine,” there was little doubt who Ospreay was thumbing his nose at.
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to receiving a Cease & Desist warning, we have removed the Will Ospreay – "Billy The Wanker" (Double-Sided) Tee from https://t.co/FhcfxY9Whc.@WillOspreay #UnitedEmpire #KNGP1N #BetterThan pic.twitter.com/dOwoS8nHIe
— Pro Wrestling Tees (@PWTees) July 22, 2022
Within 24 hours, Kenny Omega had sent a cease and desist regarding the design and Ospreay took another vicious shot.
In a video posted to Twitter, Will said in part:
“I have just exposed Kenny as an insecure little b***h. It was fine when those guys were throwing up the Too Sweet and got hit with a cease & desist. They continued to poke the bear.
When it is me doing it to you guys, you have a problem with it. It’s because Kenny is a miserable little p***k. He takes it out on me because I’m actually having fun with my life. I’m doing the things he’s done, plus more…
“.. You’re also pissed off because the vision you had for AEW has now turned into something you don’t like and people are starting to get NXT vibe about the joint isn’t it? or maybe Kenny, it’s because the Joshi girls are not getting TV time, but the 205 Live guys are, aren’t they? [laughs]
“Now the shoe is on the other foot. You’ve turned into the big boys, trying to look down on the little guys.
“I’m going to keep poking the f*****g bear. I just exposed Kenny Omega as everything I’ve been saying, a little f******g c**t. Have a good day Kenny the f*****g p***k.”
1. Plays into the actual AEW drama going on backstage
Some of the most beautiful art is that which most closely imitates life and in professional wrestling, the lines between ‘work’ and ‘shoot’ remain as blurred as ever.
Whether or not both Omega and Ospreay have actually been delicately laying these plot points for quite some time now, building to this eventual meeting or not isn’t abundantly clear.
However, after scathing promos exchanged after AEW Dynamite recently, it would be sort of naive to believe there is zero animosity betwixt the two exceptional athletes… which is becoming an AEW staple of late.
To name a few: CM Punk and Hangman Adam Page, Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara, Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter’s beef with Thunder Rosa, FTR and the Young Bucks and the work/shoot debate continuing around the massive on-screen blow out between MJF and Tony Khan himself that has yet to be paid off.
Does the backstage drama boil over into the ring or is the in-ring drama boiling over to backstage?
Work or shoot, shoot or work; when the eventual moment arrives that Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega face off inside an AEW ring, it really isn’t going to matter.
Either way, this match is going to be epic.
Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks face off against Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in the AEW Trios Championship tournament to crown the inaugural winners on the August 31, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite.
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